1/12^th Scale Victorian Table Food

                       Circa 1837 - 1900

              

Towards the end of the third decade of the 19th Century,
great strides had been made in the kitchen, cooking
facilities had made a great deal of progress and this was
reflected in the dining room and in what people ate.

The rapid rise of the railways revolutionized the movement
of food supplies, resulting in fresher fish, dairy products,
vegetables and grocery products of all kinds, now able to be 
delivered quickly and easily to markets far way from their
point of origin. This meant different and more interesting
items on the dinner menu.

The last quarter of the 18th Century had seen meals
become more varied with many more 'made up' dishes
being introduced from France, instead of just roasting,
boiling or stewing, meat and fish could now be prepared
and served with a savoury sauce and a combination of ingrediants. Popular cookery books were being published
to help the 'plain cook' to lift her cuisine to a more
interesting level and by the middle of the 19th Century,
grocers and merchants had begun to manufacture and
package many dry goods, savoury table sauces such as Worcestershire and Ketchup, to help the average housewife.   Cornflour had begun to replace ordinary flour for thickening, but it was now also mixed with sweeteners and flavours for blancmanges, dessert moulds and custard powder.  Tea had started to be packaged in individual grocers packs earlier
in the Century and spices were pre-mixed and sold; savoury
for such as curries, nutmeg, cinnamon, mace etc for sweet dishes.