Amongst the Romans, porridge appears to have been the
national dish until wheaten bread was introduced from
Greece; they had also a very coarse bread made of bran
and a little coarse flour, which was made expressly for dogs
and slaves. Their leaven, according to Pliny, was made
from millet or wheat-bran, soaked in wine and dried in the
sun, or of a dish of barley paste placed on red-hot coals
till it boiled, and then put into vessels till it became
sour.
Barley bread is now so entirely discarded, that it is hard
to realise that even up to the beginning of the present
century, it was the common food of the English peasantry,
even as it was in ancient times the bread of Egypt, and of
the Jews in the days of Christ, as we learn from the miracle
wrought upon the lad's five barley loaves. We remember
once talking to an old man, who grumbled at the hardness
of the times and the difficulty of getting a living. * But,' we
BREAD 29
said, ' you get a great deal more wages now than when you
were young.' 'Oh, ay,' he said, 'but it don't seem to go
so fur.' ' That's because you live better, perhaps ? ' said we.
' For instance, you didn't get white bread and butter every
day then.' 'Noa, noa,' said he, 'that we didn't; barley
bread as black as my hat and a bit of thin cheese was what
we did get mostly, and a slice of fat bacon and cabbage
now and then — that's what we did live upon when I were
young.' ' Well,' we answered, ' if you would eat the same
now, you'd soon be quite rich.' But he only shook his
head, repeating, ' Barley bread as black as my hat — noa,
noa, couldn't eat it now: teeth baint so good as they wer.'
In truth, it must have been hard, dry stuff, and we are
not surprised that it should have been superseded by
wheaten bread as soon as wheat became sufficiently cheap
to be used in common. In like manner oat cake is now
discarded, even in Scotland, ' the land of cakes,' except in
some few districts, and it is more difficult to get oat cake in
Edinburgh than in London, in which latter city it is con-
sumed as a luxury by the rich, instead of forming the staple
food of the working classes. Yet it is good wholesome fare,
and might be eaten advantageously, especially by children,
instead of the much-adulterated and unsatisfying white
bread now so largely, and, indeed, exclusively eaten by the
English poor, for they will not eat whole-meal bread if it is
offered them, partly, perhaps, owing to the price, which is
always higher than that of white bread, but chiefly because
of its traditional use by poor people, so that white bread has
come to be regarded as a luxury by the poor, and therefore
preferred.
When, however, we come to rye bread, we find that,
30 OUR VIANDS
Our viands
1893Page 11
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Amongst the Romans, porridge appears to have been the
national dish until wheaten bread was introduced from
Greece; they had also a very coarse bread made of bran
and a little coarse flour, which was made expressly for dogs
and slaves. Their leaven, according to Pliny, was made
from millet or wheat-bran, soaked in wine and dried in the
sun, or of a dish of barley paste placed on red-hot coals
till it boiled, and then put into vessels till it became
sour.
Barley bread is now so entirely discarded, that it is hard
to realise that even up to the beginning of the present
century, it was the common food of the English peasantry,
even as it was in ancient times the bread of Egypt, and of
the Jews in the days of Christ, as we learn from the miracle
wrought upon the lad's five barley loaves. We remember
once talking to an old man, who grumbled at the hardness
of the times and the difficulty of getting a living. * But,' we
BREAD 29
said, ' you get a great deal more wages now than when you
were young.' 'Oh, ay,' he said, 'but it don't seem to go
so fur.' ' That's because you live better, perhaps ? ' said we.
' For instance, you didn't get white bread and butter every
day then.' 'Noa, noa,' said he, 'that we didn't; barley
bread as black as my hat and a bit of thin cheese was what
we did get mostly, and a slice of fat bacon and cabbage
now and then — that's what we did live upon when I were
young.' ' Well,' we answered, ' if you would eat the same
now, you'd soon be quite rich.' But he only shook his
head, repeating, ' Barley bread as black as my hat — noa,
noa, couldn't eat it now: teeth baint so good as they wer.'
In truth, it must have been hard, dry stuff, and we are
not surprised that it should have been superseded by
wheaten bread as soon as wheat became sufficiently cheap
to be used in common. In like manner oat cake is now
discarded, even in Scotland, ' the land of cakes,' except in
some few districts, and it is more difficult to get oat cake in
Edinburgh than in London, in which latter city it is con-
sumed as a luxury by the rich, instead of forming the staple
food of the working classes. Yet it is good wholesome fare,
and might be eaten advantageously, especially by children,
instead of the much-adulterated and unsatisfying white
bread now so largely, and, indeed, exclusively eaten by the
English poor, for they will not eat whole-meal bread if it is
offered them, partly, perhaps, owing to the price, which is
always higher than that of white bread, but chiefly because
of its traditional use by poor people, so that white bread has
come to be regarded as a luxury by the poor, and therefore
preferred.
When, however, we come to rye bread, we find that,
30 OUR VIANDS