William Ellis's "The Country Housewife's Family Companion" www.townsends.us/products/the-country-housewife-s-family-companion-c-7323 and Primitive Cookery www.townsends.us/products/primitive-cookery-book-bk627-p-1434 two great resources for understanding food for the working man in the 18th century!
Sir: This might be a dumb question but how prevalent was venison in the 18th centuries diet? I hunt with a musket and also a bow, as friends and family have said I was born in the wrong century, Thank you for your time.
I grew up in a remote island in Greece and also have experienced that kind of lifestyle in a way. My grandmother and mother would make "lunch" for the workers in the fields/vineyards daily and bring it to them around 1pm as well. Everything in that meal was basically lentils, rice, thick cuts of meat, fish, many stews, huge pieces of spinach pies made with REAL dough, pan-fried liver, entrails stews made from any animal part, and even some Greek/Slavic soups served just cold. Think of lentil and rice cook just right with butter and just a hint of tomato paste that literally disappeared when cooked. Also chick peas and rice with very little tomato paste and butter. Also, rice pudding as dinner....yes rice pudding. She would make rice pudding in a huge pot enough to feed 20-30 people of rice pudding (no raisins, yuck). After it cools off its thicker and you put on it cinnamon. She would also make spaghetti with small fried German sausages doused in olive oil and with lots of island parmesan cheese on it. I just love JUST butter with my spaghetti.
This video brought back memories of back in the 1960's, when my grandfather used to work at the Northern Pacific Railroad shops. The noon whistle would blow, he would make the short walk home, and my grandmother would have a hearty lunch ready for him. He would have a short nap after lunch, and then back to work. Supper was a light meal, maybe a sandwich or leftovers. Thank you for bringing those wonderful times back to mind.
In many places a 'lunch' used to mean a light meal, or snack, that could be had at any time of day. An overnight guest might be asked if he's like a lunch before bed at 10 PM. The main meal was called 'dinner' and was always around noon for people working physically. A large meal in the evening was unhealthy because they we're too beat by then to digest it. They would instead have an evening lunch, which eventually came to be known as 'supper'. We would all be much healthier if we lived like your grand father. An hour for a big meal at noon and then back to work rather than a large supper and straight to the couch.
When researching our family tree my Mum found a note written by my great (x5) grandfather in the 1820s, who at that time was a farm labourer living in Lincolnshire, England. In this note he detailed what he ate and drank for dinner that day - a stew of bullock, suet dumplings, carrots, onions and potatoes with cold milk tea. The labourer's wives brought it out to the field they were working in.
Cool! I predict that plenty of the current inhabitants of Lincolnshire will be enjoying exactly that for their evening meal tonight. The tea will probably be hot though.
John, I am 74 years old and my paternal Grandparents were from Northern Italy. They always served the main meal at lunch. My grandparents were somewhat married in name only by the time I knew them. Though they remained together fo 59 years before my grandfather's death in 1963, they were more like roomates that a married couple. Except for my grandmother cooking and serving up lunch or what they called dinner, and keeping up the house and cleaning, they lived separate lives with different friends, different sources of income, and different times to eat excepting lunch. My grandfather would be up at 6:00 a.m. and make a breakfast of a half of a jelly roll broken in pieces and soaked in a mug of milk and a cup of black coffee. My grandmother would wake at 7:30 of an omelet or bacon and eggs with coffee and a shot of bourbon in it with cream. She would start lunch at 10:15 so it would be ready for my grandfather at 12:00 when he came in from touring the bars with his friends and getting the mail. Lunch could be anything from pasta, to a weisswurst garlic sausage which was only made in two or three stores in the area by people who were Northern Italian like my family, or baked or fried chicken with some sort of potatoes. baked, fried, or mashed and always with a salad. Bibb lettuce from the garden, dandelion in the spring, and head lettuce with carrots and radishes in the winter. Followed with Nona's cookies, or her apple or lemon merigue pie. At 4:00 pm on the dot my grandfather would come home and read the paper while eating a peeled apple and watching the local news. At 6;00 pm he would make himself a light supper, maybe the other half of the jelly roll, or a headcheese sandwich, or leftover pasta or chicken from lunch. By 7:00 he was in bed for the night Nona and I would have supper together. Sometimes it was the warmed leftovers from lunch. Other times she would have spent the afternoon making something we both liked, like kadenlies , an Italian version of the German Knodels but with a grand touch off diced bacon, ham, salami celery, onion, and parsley and boiled in chicken broth to make mere dumplings into something incredible. Or we would have braunschweger or Italian salami sandwiches, or spaghetti and homemade tomato or vegetable soup, eggs fried in butter, and always coffee and a glass of wine with dessert or a light combination of the above. I miss her and her cooking,
@JJR0 Yes my grandfather was born in 1879 and my grandmother in 1885. My grandfather came to the US as a 20 year old after serving in the Italian Army. He was in the Military Band and played a French horn as he did in the local miners band in this country. My grandmother came over with her mother, one older sister and three older brothers, when she was a baby in 1886
No JRR My grandmother and grandfather being Italian were borh Catholic, my grandmother fervemtly so, my grandfather not so much, The family had a saying about him, that he went to Church twice. The first time two people carried him in and the second , six people carried him out. From what I understand, he could be mean to her, He was already in his seventies when I knew him and he hardly evn acknowledged us grandchildren except at Christmas when he would give us each a silver dollar. I stll have mine, as well as a twenty dollar gold piece and two 2 and 1/2 coins. But when I knew him his routine was to leave the house at 7:30 came bacsk at 11:00 for lunch and leave agsin, coming home at 4:00 to watch the news, make his supper, and go to bed. But though he treated grandmother badly, she would not leave him because of her faith and fear if what people woulld think. I remember well the morning he died. I and my cousin Carol were brough to the hospital to say our goodbyes and were sleeping on a couch in the waiting room when my uncle took us to grandmothers house to go to bed. About 7:00 am I heard my grandmother just wailing he heart out as she came up the stairs to the apartment. Since it wa August and school hadn't started, i stayed with her until it did. There for a while she would refer to herself as the widow Grandone when answering the phone until the family told her that it was dangerous to let people that she did not know that she lived alone, She lived in that apartment over the tavern that my grandfather built and ran for another 14 years, moving to a nursing home at age 92 just a few months before her death in 1977. The tavern is still a going affair, now over 110 years old, owned and run by a friend of mine from high school. A picture of my grandparents and great greatgrandfather in the bar on the day that Prohibition ended is pomniently displayed over one of the two bars in the now expanded bar and restaurant. I, my wife and daughter ,and two of my cousins go together for a family reunion there celebrating my and my wife's 50 Anniversary of our first meeting and the birth of our first chiild 6 years later to the exact day July 2nd@JJR0
@@nicholasfevelo3041 When Grandma made a roast on Sunday there was always polenta. And it aways lasted into the week in some form or another. But she had so much work to do in her later years that she reserved it for Sundays when everyone got together . She would not have been married for 59 years to a Peidmontese if she did not make polenta at least once a week.
This is one of the best channels on youtube, hands down. Every video you guys put out is wholesome, educational, and oddly comforting in a "Joy of Painting" sort of way. The world gets crazier every year, but the past remains the same.
it's easy to not only reminisce but also respect these pioneers. townsends could easily talk to any group of families for example, spending time in the outdoors and spending time telling stories and knowledge of our pioneers making it
well said... but i would choose to put a slight twist on your last line... "the world has always been crazy, but "right now" is where the most delicious choices can be made". i've been watching this channel since (at least) 2013. every video produced is an eagerly anticipated and most welcome addition to my "now" moment: . john and crew, you are pure gold. i couldn't express how much i've appreciated your contributions of passionate productions. many thanks.
In rural Poland well into XX century mid-day meal was often delivered to people working of far away fields or forests in clay vessels called "dwojaki" (roughly translating to "doublets"). Basically two small clay pots joined together, so they could be carried as one. One part usually contained a soup of some kind (often borscht), while in other part was kasha or potatoes with whatever was available - pork, piece of chicken, boiled eggs, sometimes just milk. It was supplemented by piece of bread wrapped in clean cloth, sometimes with cheese added. Usually it was the duty of young children to deliver this meal to father and older siblings - preferably before it all cooled down LOL
My mother is Greek and said in her school similar pots were used to serve up a hot lunch made at home but heated at the school and that was in the 1960's. Even what you described as the meal was very similar to what she ate. It's a shame how much we've lost and what we've changed as time goes on.
I live in an old mining town and the miners had something very similar made of tin or aluminum. It would have two or three sections, The top would hold bread ,butter some raw veggies, and a knife fork and hankerchief, the middle section kept the hot food, and the bottom hot coffee to keep the food warm.
I'm a younger (early 20's) working-class man, and it routinely surprises me how few of my peers have inherited the habit of a late midday "dinner." It's something I adopted from my grandfather - a routine of a decently hearty breakfast, a robust dinner (usually in the field or on the job site), and a modest supper once you've gotten back home. The habit doesn't make much sense if you aren't working throughout the day. However, after working your fingers to the bone for 10-12 hours, you are routinely so tired that you can't be bothered to eat something complex. But, you're probably still hungry, so you get a little plate of something easy to eat and then wash up before bed.
Working class jobs here would have a lunch break where you ate what you had packed from home. You can still find places that cater to road crews where they will serve a sturdier, hardier lunch.
Thank you for clarifying. I'm in the U.S., and have been confused by the term tea. I have usually figured it's either lunch, or a meal that's eaten around 4 pm.
That`s how we were taught at our schools, at English language classes, 30+ years ago. Then came, through media mainly, the American English influence :).
In Massachusetts ("New England") we called our evening meal supper a lot but still call mid-day lunch, we don't do tea. It's interesting how we kept some things like that while mixing it with US terms
I've always loved history, but this channel takes it to a whole new level. Being able to learn so many little details about everyday life for people in the 18th century is interesting and really helps bring life to the subject. There's something humbling about it, too. I think by understanding more about the struggles people had to survive back then, it makes me appreciate how well we all have it now, even if we're not very wealthy.
What I like is how it touches on what everyday life was like for the average person. Usually we only get to learn about how things were for the ultra wealthy because that was most of what was written down.
I grew up in the Midwest, farming country. And we usually ate what was called locally, a "farmers breakfast." And it was a huge meal, heavy in protein and starch. Whereas lunch was more of a quick meal on the go, and dinner (supper) was a light meal. For example, steak and eggs with a large side of fried potatoes was very common for breakfast. Lunch was a sandwich or two that you carried out with you, and dinner might be as simple as a salad with a desert. And desert was probably a pie or a simple cake. You needed that heavy, fat and carb load early on, for energy. Lunch was just a sustainer, and supper was just there so that you didn't wake up hungry. And you could get away with a diet like that, because you were expending a tremendous amount of calories just doing the daily chores. It was worse during planting and harvesting season. If you ate like that today, you'd weigh 600lbs.
That's how we were taught: eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and supper like a pauper. That way all your bulk of calories got used up as energy for your daily work. But now it's opposite.
@@annettefournier9655 Yep. Americans don't know how to eat properly anymore. It explains why everybody is overweight. For example, if you go out for a steak dinner and also get a salad, the salad comes first. It should come last. You want that fiber to push the rest through the digestive tract. But you'll never get the salad at the end in a restaurant. I know why they don't do it, but it's contrary to how you SHOULD do it.
Interesting. In Germany, where I'm from, a farmer's breakfast (or Bauernfrühstück) is actually a well-defined hearty meal consisting of fried potatoes with onions, bacon and eggs mixed in, all fried up in the same pan.
It's wonderful how little has changed about making a pot roast. This is basically exactly the same as how we make a simple pot roast dinner today, except I use baby carrots which probably weren't a thing back then.
So I honestly didn't know that baby carrots are shaved down large carrots unless they look a certain way. What a waste of food, doubt I'll be buying them again after learning that. I honestly thought they were just a different breed of carrot like we have grape and cherry tomatoes. 😆
As a Brazilian, I need to add that lunch is still the most important meal of the day for almost everyone around here and isn't much different from what the video described. Our lunch typically includes carbs, often rice and beans, a protein source such as chicken, beef, or the like, and a salad and/or cooked vegetables. Some people eat the same meal for dinner as they had for lunch, but I'm more accustomed to an afternoon breakfast, like eating bread with eggs and having a coffee around 5:30 PM, and then a fruit later in the evening around 8:00 PM.
@@hopefulpellinore5490 Have you ever made something an idol, used God’s name as a cuss word, dishonor your parents, murder (God views hate as murder), lusting, stealing, lying, wanting something another has that isn’t rightfully yours? Doing so we violating the law, which is sin, and because of sin there is a punishment…If a serial killer like Ted Bundy tells a judge of all the good things he’s done for society do you think the judge would let the serial killer off free? The same is with us; we’ve committed such crimes against God that we are separated from God forever; we are punished by suffering Hell for eternity, a place with no hope for us. But God loves us so much and with all his heart that he gave his only Son, Jesus Christ, to this cursed world to be crucified on the cross. (John 3:16-17) Now anyone who accepts Jesus Christ, God’s Son, as their Lord and Savior and believes he rose from the dead the third day will be saved from eternal damnation in Hell and live in Heaven in paradise with him forever. Many will choose to follow Satan, whether it be because they think they won’t succeed otherwise or won’t have any joy or friendships, but he will soon reveal himself as a murderer and a liar as he was since the beginning and he will curse all his followers as he cursed God and all of Satan’s followers will be cased into ever burning Hell. Don’t believe this lie I too believed in! Our God is a loving God full of compassion, yet he is a righteous God with righteous judgment. (Matthew 13:41-42)
I could practically smell that through my screen, it really shows you don't need to be fancy in order to make a fine dish. I also just got back from dealing with 'difficult' people so you being respectful of the working class is really appreciated right now.💖
Another great video. I grew up on a Kentucky farm 50 years ago. During the summer my mother would make a big noon "dinner" and we sat around outside under the trees to eat then went back to work. I have great memories of those times!
In northern England and some other parts of the U.K. we’d have Breakfast, Dinner and Tea, whereas in London and other parts they’d call it Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. Dinner is generally considered the main meal of the day.
@@peterdunlop7691 Something I’ve always wondered: When one thinks of the UK, they often think of the meals as Breakfast, Lunch, Tea in the mid-afternoon, and then Dinner later at night. Is that something that’s commonly done in an average household, or is the four-meal structure more of a thing from a long time ago or just among the upper classes like royalty and nobility?
@@terminallumbago6465tea was usually btwn 4-5 so quite late Dinner was ridiculous, 8ish? They just got rid of dinner as a rich thing and ate tea no earlier than 5 n went to bed by 8 to get up early to work
A breakdown of my typical meals: Breakfast is bread olives and cheese. Lunch(sometimes dinner), I use a pipkin that I purchased from you. Half an onion,not diced or anything,just halved,with bone broth and a root vegetable like potato carrot or beet,and salt and pepper. I place the pipkin in the oven for about 45 minutes at 320 degrees,and eat it with bread. I also frequently use the pipkin to bake beans,with a bit of pork,be it bacon,or pig feet,also with bread. Dinner: Well,honestly,I tend to go to my moms house,she’s Italian,that’s where I get my meat fix!
I know plenty of people in the rural midwest who still refer to the middle meal of the day as 'dinner' and the later meal as 'supper' with no 'lunch' whatsoever. Confused me a good bit when I started doing more work out of town and everyone started talking about breaking for dinner at noon!
In Germany there is a proverb "Morgens wie ein Kaiser, mittags wie ein König, abends wie ein Bettelmann" (eat) like an emperor in the morning, like a king at noon and like a beggar in the evening. I believe it contains a great deal of wisdom. No matter whether you work physically or intellectually, it's not healthy to have your biggest meal at the end of the day.
The same is true in the rural South and was true in the Anglophone world on both sides of the Atlantic so long as that world was largely agrarian. My older relatives (I am in my 60s) ate their largest meal midday and ate supper from the leftovers of dinner. In my childhood, we still called the midday meal "dinner" and evening meal "supper," though with the passage of time we came to call the midday meal "lunch," except on Sundays, when after church the extended family sat down to the largest meal that day-hence, "Sunday dinner." We still maintained (as I do to this day) the word "supper" for the evening meal, and in my family we still eat Sunday dinner after church at midday. This is actually a healthier way to eat: the largest meal at midday, with a smaller meal in the evening.
My parent grew up during the depression and we were raised that way, too. Largest meal of the day was between noon and two and a light supper afterwards after sunset. I’m almost eighty now and still eating that way. I find it hard to sleep on a big meal. Our big family Thanksgiving meal is always around one pm.
I love your videos man. It's so damn cozy and makes me appreciate the food I have today. And if I ever feel like taking a trip to the past I can replicate dishes here. And that's not even mentioning the historical lessons that come with the food presentation. Just perfect level of comfy, hunger, and history. Good production as well.
this channel feels like a warm hug in a winter morning from a friend you havent seen in so long. that first sip of coffee, you feel the warmth going towards your tummy. Hmmm. Comfort. :)
0:15 Both of my dad's parents grew up in farming families in Iowa. Even in their formative years (the early 1920s to the mid 1940s) the importance of lunch as the main meal of the day was still essentially the same as you describe it in colonial times. I remember being VERY confused as a kid because they referred to lunch as "dinner", when everyone knew that "dinner" is the evening meal!
Yes! My mother grew up the same way (but in Minnesota)! And it still flavors how the holidays are done even today! Thanksgiving and Christmas Dinner is at noon/1 o'clock and supper on those days is both light and made up of leftovers.
My dad's family were farmers, and noon meal was dinner. But my mom would use dinner and supper interchangeably for the evening meal. Once, my dad asked me over for dinner, and I asked, "Country dinner or city dinner?" What was more confusing was that my dad could tell me a story about grandma, and he could have meant mine, his or grandma's. The really confusing part was that my grandma was named after hers, so they both were grandma Hazel. My grandma's grandma died the year I was born, she was 99.
For some reason, I find myself wanting to eat more like my ancestors. I don't like to have to think too much about what I'm eating and it doesn't excite me like it does other people. Boiled eggs for breakfast and bread and pate for lunch and then something in the slow cooker for tea. I love these new ideas and I appreciate all the work that must go into themes videos. Thanks Townsend!
Only eating those things is objectively more unhealthy than eating proper fruits and vegetables though. You can eat simply without only eating carbs and meat.
They ate that way because they had to. It is a very modern and privileged position to be in to have the entire culinary world at your disposal and find it boring. Your ancestors would scramble at the chance to eat as well as you are able to but are bored by.
I think that's why some people still focus so much on Sundays for this kind of food, when they have the time to do so. My kids love it when I have time to do a big stew or meat pie in the winter
@@marcbaigrie2295 That's a rather defeatist attitude. The way I feel about things changes all the time with new information and perspectives introduced. The way you feel about things shouldn't be set in stone.
I love that the cooking video aspect of this is fully paired with a historical rundown of how and why their life was the way it was, and how that leads logistically to the recipe. Great stuff!
1:12 "theyre working from dawn to dusk, and you working hard like that, you HAVE to eat in a different way then we certainly do today" later in video: one single pudding for lunch
I tend to benefit from a bigger midday meal and a smaller dinner. Also, every time you break out that dutch oven I know I'm going to be envious by the time you've made it
Townsend ~ a man after my own heart. Like him, I love to study American history and positively LOVE to eat with cooking being my # 1 hobby. GREAT video once again.
My grandfather worked his oil wells until he was in his 90s, back in the 1960s. He would eat a big breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast and a big bowl of oatmeal. Grandma pack him a big lunch and thermos of coffee. Back home for big evening meal after dark. He worked really hard and burned it all off, never gained weight.
When I was in my late teens, I often spent weekends with a family that lived in a small, Midwestern town. Dinner was the main meal, served at noon, after which the parents took a 20 minutes nap, then went back to work. The evening meal was nourishing but not as elaborate and it was called supper.
This is almost exactly the meal that my wife, son and I are having for our lunch. Turnips included, it’s a one pot wonder that keeps body and soul connected!
Thanks for these videos. No matter how crazy life gets, it's good to know that I can take a few minutes to enjoy a wholesome, friendly Townsends video and get re-centered. And I learn something, which is great because my kitchen is my zen.
My mother grew up on a farm in the mid 30s and 40s. It was still very common to send lunch out to the fields for the workers and family members working out there. And it was called dinner. By the time I was born, the word dinner had shifted to mean going out to eat and if you ate in it was lunch or supper depending on the time of day. But that was for the farmers. The rest of the US had already shifted the word dinner to the evening meal and used lunch for the midday meal. It was really confusing for me growing up because my family grew up in the suburbs and the only farms were fairly small. So using the "wrong" word when talking to my classmates was frustrating at times.
A lot of people get 30 minutes to an hour for lunch and work in an office, so a sandwich makes more sense. School children also usually get about the same amount of time and not everyone has access to a microwave or anything else to heat your food. You wouldn't have time to make much else.
@@megapussi yes, and as I mentioned, NOT EVERYBODY has access to a microwave. Therefore, not everyone CAN have a hot meal. I was explaining that is where sandwiches make more sense. Why are you trying to make it about yourself?
Here in Brasil this is the case too, in fact workplaces are legally required to have a fridge, microwave, table and sink for workers to use at lunchtime, or pay an allowance for workers to go to a restaurant in their noon break. So even people who eat in the workplace still usually have full meals. We even have restaurants that specialize on making lunchtime meals and deliver in workplaces, kind of like Japanese "bento", we call it "marmita".
@@KroltanMG In Colombia people also usually pack their lunch like "marmita" and heat it in their workplace, or go out to lunch in a restaurant nearby. Streets with office buildings are usually packed with these cheap popular restaurants catering to workers.
In Western Saskatchewan, Canada, us farmers still call lunch "dinner". In the cities we get looked at like we have 3 heads when we say we have dinner after breakfast and before supper. An interesting linguistic turn I thought I'd point out, an isolated geographic pocket of folks who use the vernacular of 300 years ago surrounded by those who use a more modern lexicon.
Thanks for sharing with us Jon, meals back then were nutritious at the right time of the day to get the most energy so you could get more work done and it worked. Stay safe and keep up the great videos. Fred.
I've watched only a few videos on this channel so far and I love it. I think a lot of people (myself included) tend to forget just how large a portion of our culture is defined by the food we eat, and looking back at what meals used to look like in a given historical context is grounding, in a way. Helps to remember both how much the world has changed, and yet how humans have stayed relatively the same. Also have to mention how well edited these videos are, presentation is phenomenal. Thank you for making these!
after not eating anything for a day and finally sitting down just so i can eat a hot meal and watch a video ABOUT hot meals back then, its a different kind of peaceful bliss
Reminds me of working out in the country. Sometimes your working outside all day, when that happens our mom or one of us would begin cooking up a larger lunch and have us come in or bring it out to us so we could keep working.
This is incredibly interesting! Brings the past to present by helping us better understand through food what things were like for our ancestors! Thank you!
As a massage therapist...which I would call a blue collar job, (to an extent), I've noticed that a large lunch is so important. I can't keep up for the rest of the day on a meatless salad and soup. That's my supper!
My spouse doesn't eat breakfast so we have our main meal of the day at 1 PM. As for the milk & bread, I eat a couple slices of bread dipped in a cup of milk as a snack in the evening. My granny used to mush up bread & milk in a bowl as an easy light meal too.
We had "milk toast" as a light meal, especially for someone who was sick. It's delicious. Just make toast, butter it, then cut it into cubes, put it in a bowl and pour milk over it.
My husband is a baker in a chain bakery shop and he stands all day, working bread and baking it. He also bikes to work because we don’t have a car. He comes back home absolutely ravenous at the end of the day and I struggle to find meals that satisfy him. I’m definitely gonna try to feed him this meal. Thank you for the share!
In southern Scotland, the large meal of the day is “dinner” which is served at midday. The later meal is called “tea” which is served traditionally as a smaller meal, often oatmeal or soup and bread. The term “supper” is derived from “soup.” These days, of course, the big meal is served in the evening, but it’s still called “tea.” Midday meal is still often called “dinner.”
You guys have kept the tradition, that's cool. Here (USA) my grandparents did meals that way and it always confused me as a kid lol "Why are we eating dinner at 1pm?". My parents would sometimes slip up and use the old terms, my dad still always calls dinner supper. Watching things change through generations is interesting.
My family came from England in 1634 , settling on Long Island then moved to southern New Jersey in 1693 and finally "removing" to central Illinois in the 1850's to farm. My grandparents farmed with horses and even my dad did some horse farming while quite young. That was hard work and they still ate their big meal at mid day and called it dinner. Fresh beef and pork were generally more available in cold weather since they had no modern refrigeration. Chicken, duck and pan fish (caught in small farm ponds and creeks) was more likely proteins in warmer weather and eggs were ever present. I'm speaking about our locality in the late 19th and earlier portion of the 20th centuries but my point is that some of the customs and menus had not changed greatly from the time period of which you speak! I really enjoy your videos and this is another winner!
In East England where there are still a lot of farm land, they still call the middle meal, dinner! But then they call the evening meal, "tea" 😂 language is amazing. Thanks for the video it is fascinating
I absolutely appreciate and adore your historical channel. I often find myself binge watching 😊. I never in my early years as a child and teen found myself interested in history. Now with me being an adult I’m constantly watching and learning about history. My son is always teasing me by saying “mommy loves her history stuff” and I just smile and say yes baby I am. Please never stop on educating us with your knowledge 😊❤😊❤. I was curious to know if you could do and show us the history of the wealthy. And how they would treat their slave/ servants and what they were given
Funnily enough this one pot stew is still often considered very festive and universally loved sunday family dinner comfort food in Finland. It's often made for occasions such as weddings, independence day and christmas. Putting more effort into the broth and mixing in different meats like pork, lamb, beef, elk, reindeer and so on makes it basically higher quality for a bigger event. This is also traditionally served with mashed potatoes side so can't honestly call it one pot tho.
@@5roundsrapid263It’s interesting to think of how universal a lot of these familiar dishes are. They transcend culture and time. It’s a reminder of how alike we all are, no matter where in the world we are or what time period we lived in.
I still eat like that :-) Something small for breakfast, a hearty meal for lunch, and something small for dinner (although, in Sweden, the word for the midday meal was called "middag" (means "mid day"...)
I read the passage from Ellis as saying the proper dinner victuals include both the meat/veg dish AND a pudding. I think you might be misreading him when you imply that the pudding would be the whole meal for these people, as hard as they worked. I might be wrong, but to me, it reads as "[this or that entree dish with vegetables], is, with [this or that pudding], good dinner victuals" - the "with" implying that both should be served.
I interpreted it the same way. "is, with" separates the two lists of possible elements of each part of the meal. A big lunch of meat and a vegetable, along with a good pudding. It made me think of the pasties some miners would be given, with their meat in one side and sweet dessert in the other.
Even up to the 1970's my grandmother would bring lunch out to the field for the men harvesting. Thick cut roastbeef sandwiches, cake or cookies , cut up carrots . And large jugs of cold sweet tea.
some of my relatives (grandparents, aunts and uncles) are or have been farmers, and in my childhood and youth I spent many summers and winter holidays there, and when doing work on the field, we ate pretty much exactly like that... big, filling lunch, just one simple filling dish (but loads of it) and water or watered down beer/hard cider (for the adults)... breakfast and supper were mostly the same (and usually cold) dark bread, cheese, bacon, sometimes eggs and apples
The way described, I am an 18th century peasant. I work blue collar 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, 330 days a year from home and only eat a large lunch and small dinner with coffee and cream for breakfast. I grew up in we4stern South Dakota in a Scots-Irish household and we called it breakfast, dinner and supper. If I was caught sitting down during the day, my folks would find something for me to do. I would rather choose my chore and am still a hard worker. 🙂
What do u do blue collar from home? And how do u work 14 hrs a day, every single day, rarely a day off? R u talking about working round the house once ur home from work, keeping urself busy instead of watching tv?
Funny how you instinctively do this when working heavy, labour-intensive jobs. I noticed how most of my friends who work white-collar or service jobs tend to eat light breakfasts, moderate lunches and big dinners, while I (an ironworker/welder) eat huge breakfasts and big lunches, and a light dinner - I have much more energy for my workday that way, eating my calories beforehand. When I'm off work for a while (it's seasonal work in Canada) and am working on a computer, I'll find myself eating light breakfasts/lunches and bigger dinners. I don't plan this out, it just sort of happens by efficiency/necessity.
I had that as a light supper often as a kid. When I developed a lactose Intolerance, I'd have cornbread lightly drizzled with molasses, a piece of fruit, or raisins, and water. I could still go lightly buttered, maybe a little cheese. But I couldn't have milk after I turned 7. Still love fresh cornbread. Still making it like my Granny Mac did! From scratch! It's good eating anytime!
@@5roundsrapid263 My hit practically overnight. Suddenly every time I had milk, I got sick. This was in the early 70s, so there was no milk substitutes. I had to have a Doctor's note to the school because they gave half pints of milk with lunch. Nothing else! I had to bring a plastic cup from home, and get water from a fountain. It was a different world! Both my Grandpas had buttermilk with their cornbread. Even now, I have to be careful how much butter I use. 🤷😁
I'm 20 years old and as much as I enjoy some of the modern media we have on UA-cam, I always look forward to whenever Townsends uploads a new video, especially videos that gives us a look into what people eat back in the 17th and 18th century. It gives a nice, calming vibes that most modern media lacks in.
This gave me an interesting thought, my parents are middle eastern and the main meal of the day has always been around 3pm and it had the kinds of food people would normally eat dinner. I was never really sure why, but the idea that its a hold over from a working class tradition makes a lot of sense now.
The Spanish way is. 7:00 Breakfast 11:00 Snack of a smaall sandwich 14:00 Lunch of a full meal, 3 courses 17:00 Snack of bread or fruit 20:00 Dinner light meal but with meat and veg or later a supper of snack things, meats cheese Some people have two big meals a day but i personally can't handle that. @@YeshuaKingMessiah
Super interesting! Traditionally in Germany lunch is the biggest meal too. Theres still a big part of the country that eats a larger warm meal at lunchtime and then some cold bread and spreads (Abendbrot) in the evening. There is a shift however, with the longer working hours a lot of families opt for a warm evening meal for togetherness.
Looks delicious 👍 I often cook something similar, however instead of a Dutch oven I use a hot air oven, it's so easy to cook meat, potatoes, carrots and onions all at the same time. Works great with both beef and pork.
in northern UK, the meal around noon to 1pm is still called Dinner as apposed to lunch in the South , The late evening meal around 6 or 7pm being tea as opposed to Dinner in the South.
"Today, most people that we think of here in america are middle class" Uh... I think of americans I think of a shrinking middle class, worker exploitation, wages that haven't kept up with inflation, republican workers that are lower class but think they are middle class telling people who are doing jobs that used to pay a living wage to "get a real job" when they complain they are getting paid $6.75/hr for a job that used to be enough to buy a house with.
Here, it was very common to have a large breakfast, dinner and supper. And it was very common to have what we see as desserts today, as a mainstay in the dinner. Sugar gave quick energy, so when you had been working for a longer time, having that little extra helped a lot. Similar to how some people today use energy drinks to get themselves more energy.
As an Irish person who grew up on a farm, I can see such strong similarities with the Ireland I grew up in of the 1990s and indeed strong remnants through to today - having your main meal in the middle of the day is very common in rural/farming households and meat and two veg, one being potatoes, is a daily thing. Indeed you will hear occasional mention of "those who have their dinner in the middle of the day" as a distinct socio-economic group or voting bloc
I stayed with a family in Wexford in 1981 for a week Tiny half house, ate in the living rm at a small table, couple at a time. I think the mom n dad slept on a pull out couch in living rm. 2 bdrms upstairs for the 6 kids. No big meals at all lol except one time they made blood pudding at brkfast
William Ellis's "The Country Housewife's Family Companion" www.townsends.us/products/the-country-housewife-s-family-companion-c-7323
and Primitive Cookery www.townsends.us/products/primitive-cookery-book-bk627-p-1434
two great resources for understanding food for the working man in the 18th century!
Sir:
This might be a dumb question but how prevalent was venison in the 18th centuries diet? I hunt with a musket and also a bow, as friends and family have said I was born in the wrong century,
Thank you for your time.
I grew up in a remote island in Greece and also have experienced that kind of lifestyle in a way. My grandmother and mother would make "lunch" for the workers in the fields/vineyards daily and bring it to them around 1pm as well. Everything in that meal was basically lentils, rice, thick cuts of meat, fish, many stews, huge pieces of spinach pies made with REAL dough, pan-fried liver, entrails stews made from any animal part, and even some Greek/Slavic soups served just cold.
Think of lentil and rice cook just right with butter and just a hint of tomato paste that literally disappeared when cooked. Also chick peas and rice with very little tomato paste and butter. Also, rice pudding as dinner....yes rice pudding.
She would make rice pudding in a huge pot enough to feed 20-30 people of rice pudding (no raisins, yuck). After it cools off its thicker and you put on it cinnamon.
She would also make spaghetti with small fried German sausages doused in olive oil and with lots of island parmesan cheese on it. I just love JUST butter with my spaghetti.
Hi, are you a lefty?
Im neither left nor right@@Doo-l5x
I don’t believe this was the working man’s lunch. Did time start again ? 250 years ago the food was better
This man is seriously the definition of "Find a job you love and never feel like you're working again".
Plus: "add nutmeg."
find one that involves food too and you'll never go hungry either!
It makes me feel bad knowing I'll likely never have this deep a work fulfillment in my life.
He was literally born into it.
@@AdHall97 Mmmmmmmm *nut*
This video brought back memories of back in the 1960's, when my grandfather used to work at the Northern Pacific Railroad shops. The noon whistle would blow, he would make the short walk home, and my grandmother would have a hearty lunch ready for him. He would have a short nap after lunch, and then back to work. Supper was a light meal, maybe a sandwich or leftovers. Thank you for bringing those wonderful times back to mind.
Right
Supper was lunch at dinner time!
In many places a 'lunch' used to mean a light meal, or snack, that could be had at any time of day. An overnight guest might be asked if he's like a lunch before bed at 10 PM. The main meal was called 'dinner' and was always around noon for people working physically. A large meal in the evening was unhealthy because they we're too beat by then to digest it. They would instead have an evening lunch, which eventually came to be known as 'supper'. We would all be much healthier if we lived like your grand father. An hour for a big meal at noon and then back to work rather than a large supper and straight to the couch.
When researching our family tree my Mum found a note written by my great (x5) grandfather in the 1820s, who at that time was a farm labourer living in Lincolnshire, England. In this note he detailed what he ate and drank for dinner that day - a stew of bullock, suet dumplings, carrots, onions and potatoes with cold milk tea. The labourer's wives brought it out to the field they were working in.
That sounds fantastic!
You might want to send that to a museum, they might find it very useful
Thats the joy of genealogy. How cool.
Cool! I predict that plenty of the current inhabitants of Lincolnshire will be enjoying exactly that for their evening meal tonight. The tea will probably be hot though.
What is bullock?
John, I am 74 years old and my paternal Grandparents were from Northern Italy. They always served the main meal at lunch. My grandparents were somewhat married in name only by the time I knew them. Though they remained together fo 59 years before my grandfather's death in 1963, they were more like roomates that a married couple. Except for my grandmother cooking and serving up lunch or what they called dinner, and keeping up the house and cleaning, they lived separate lives with different friends, different sources of income, and different times to eat excepting lunch. My grandfather would be up at 6:00 a.m. and make a breakfast of a half of a jelly roll broken in pieces and soaked in a mug of milk and a cup of black coffee. My grandmother would wake at 7:30 of an omelet or bacon and eggs with coffee and a shot of bourbon in it with cream. She would start lunch at 10:15 so it would be ready for my grandfather at 12:00 when he came in from touring the bars with his friends and getting the mail. Lunch could be anything from pasta, to a weisswurst garlic sausage which was only made in two or three stores in the area by people who were Northern Italian like my family, or baked or fried chicken with some sort of potatoes. baked, fried, or mashed and always with a salad. Bibb lettuce from the garden, dandelion in the spring, and head lettuce with carrots and radishes in the winter. Followed with Nona's cookies, or her apple or lemon merigue pie. At 4:00 pm on the dot my grandfather would come home and read the paper while eating a peeled apple and watching the local news. At 6;00 pm he would make himself a light supper, maybe the other half of the jelly roll, or a headcheese sandwich, or leftover pasta or chicken from lunch. By 7:00 he was in bed for the night
Nona and I would have supper together. Sometimes it was the warmed leftovers from lunch. Other times she would have spent the afternoon making something we both liked, like kadenlies , an Italian version of the German Knodels but with a grand touch off diced bacon,
ham, salami celery, onion, and parsley and boiled in chicken broth to make mere dumplings into something incredible. Or we would have braunschweger or Italian salami sandwiches, or spaghetti and homemade tomato or vegetable soup, eggs fried in butter, and always coffee and a glass of wine with dessert or a light combination of the above. I miss her and her cooking,
@JJR0 Yes my grandfather was born in 1879 and my grandmother in 1885. My grandfather came to the US as a 20 year old after serving in the Italian Army. He was in the Military Band and played a French horn as he did in the local miners band in this country. My grandmother came over with her mother, one older sister and three older brothers, when she was a baby in 1886
No JRR My grandmother and grandfather being Italian were borh Catholic, my grandmother fervemtly so, my grandfather not so much, The family had a saying about him, that he went to Church twice. The first time two people carried him in and the second , six people carried him out. From what I understand, he could be mean to her, He was already in his seventies when I knew him and he hardly evn acknowledged us grandchildren except at Christmas when he would give us each a silver dollar. I stll have mine, as well as a twenty dollar gold piece and two 2 and 1/2 coins. But when I knew him his routine was to leave the house at 7:30 came bacsk at 11:00 for lunch and leave agsin, coming home at 4:00 to watch the news, make his supper, and go to bed. But though he treated grandmother badly, she would not leave him because of her faith and fear if what people woulld think. I remember well the morning he died. I and my cousin Carol were brough to the hospital to say our goodbyes and were sleeping on a couch in the waiting room when my uncle took us to grandmothers house to go to bed. About 7:00 am I heard my grandmother just wailing he heart out as she came up the stairs to the apartment. Since it wa August and school hadn't started, i stayed with her until it did. There for a while she would refer to herself as the widow Grandone when answering the phone until the family told her that it was dangerous to let people that she did not know that she lived alone, She lived in that apartment over the tavern that my grandfather built and ran for another 14 years, moving to a nursing home at age 92 just a few months before her death in 1977. The tavern is still a going affair, now over 110 years old, owned and run by a friend of mine from high school. A picture of my grandparents and great greatgrandfather in the bar on the day that Prohibition ended is pomniently displayed over one of the two bars in the now expanded bar and restaurant. I, my wife and daughter ,and two of my cousins go together for a family reunion there celebrating my and my wife's 50 Anniversary of our first meeting and the birth of our first chiild 6 years later to the exact day July 2nd@JJR0
Thank you for sharing
@@YSerafyna Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for letting me know.
@@nicholasfevelo3041 When Grandma made a roast on Sunday there was always polenta. And it aways lasted into the week in some form or another. But she had so much work to do in her later years that she reserved it for Sundays when everyone got together . She would not have been married for 59 years to a Peidmontese if she did not make polenta at least once a week.
This is one of the best channels on youtube, hands down. Every video you guys put out is wholesome, educational, and oddly comforting in a "Joy of Painting" sort of way. The world gets crazier every year, but the past remains the same.
Bob Ross would approve of this comment!
@@augustsmith9553hahahaha! Well stated!
I love the last line
it's easy to not only reminisce but also respect these pioneers. townsends could easily talk to any group of families for example, spending time in the outdoors and spending time telling stories and knowledge of our pioneers making it
well said...
but i would choose to put a slight twist on your last line... "the world has always been crazy, but "right now" is where the most delicious choices can be made".
i've been watching this channel since (at least) 2013. every video produced is an eagerly anticipated and most welcome addition to my "now" moment: .
john and crew, you are pure gold. i couldn't express how much i've appreciated your contributions of passionate productions.
many thanks.
There is something about the simple and minimalistic meals that is really appetizing. Meat, potatoes and some vegetables. Simple yet delicious.
Honestly what meal should be lol
In rural Poland well into XX century mid-day meal was often delivered to people working of far away fields or forests in clay vessels called "dwojaki" (roughly translating to "doublets"). Basically two small clay pots joined together, so they could be carried as one. One part usually contained a soup of some kind (often borscht), while in other part was kasha or potatoes with whatever was available - pork, piece of chicken, boiled eggs, sometimes just milk. It was supplemented by piece of bread wrapped in clean cloth, sometimes with cheese added. Usually it was the duty of young children to deliver this meal to father and older siblings - preferably before it all cooled down LOL
My mother is Greek and said in her school similar pots were used to serve up a hot lunch made at home but heated at the school and that was in the 1960's. Even what you described as the meal was very similar to what she ate.
It's a shame how much we've lost and what we've changed as time goes on.
@@rustyhowe3907 Food of poor working people. There are only so many ways to prepare cheap, filling meals.
@@FrikInCasualMode Agreed.
If the young ones dithered and the food arrived cold, they would surely walk home holding their sore rear.
I live in an old mining town and the miners had something very similar made of tin or aluminum. It would have two or three sections, The top would hold bread ,butter some raw veggies, and a knife fork and hankerchief, the middle section kept the hot food, and the bottom hot coffee to keep the food warm.
I'm a younger (early 20's) working-class man, and it routinely surprises me how few of my peers have inherited the habit of a late midday "dinner." It's something I adopted from my grandfather - a routine of a decently hearty breakfast, a robust dinner (usually in the field or on the job site), and a modest supper once you've gotten back home. The habit doesn't make much sense if you aren't working throughout the day. However, after working your fingers to the bone for 10-12 hours, you are routinely so tired that you can't be bothered to eat something complex. But, you're probably still hungry, so you get a little plate of something easy to eat and then wash up before bed.
Working class jobs here would have a lunch break where you ate what you had packed from home. You can still find places that cater to road crews where they will serve a sturdier, hardier lunch.
Mr yap
get of your high horse, holier than thou thinking in this aspect lmaoo
Oh please, every working class man knows, eats, and prays to the dreaded "gas station diet"
@@throwdown1776 Historically it depends on things like "Can these people afford a kitchen?" Urban working class in antique cities might not.
Much of Britain still calls the midday meal 'dinner' and the evening meal either 'tea' or 'supper'
Thank you for clarifying. I'm in the U.S., and have been confused by the term tea. I have usually figured it's either lunch, or a meal that's eaten around 4 pm.
That`s how we were taught at our schools, at English language classes, 30+ years ago. Then came, through media mainly, the American English influence :).
In Massachusetts ("New England") we called our evening meal supper a lot but still call mid-day lunch, we don't do tea. It's interesting how we kept some things like that while mixing it with US terms
Depends on class though. The working classes call evening dinner 'tea'. The upper classes will call it dinner or supper.
Also in parts of Australia
I've always loved history, but this channel takes it to a whole new level. Being able to learn so many little details about everyday life for people in the 18th century is interesting and really helps bring life to the subject. There's something humbling about it, too. I think by understanding more about the struggles people had to survive back then, it makes me appreciate how well we all have it now, even if we're not very wealthy.
What I like is how it touches on what everyday life was like for the average person. Usually we only get to learn about how things were for the ultra wealthy because that was most of what was written down.
I grew up in the Midwest, farming country. And we usually ate what was called locally, a "farmers breakfast." And it was a huge meal, heavy in protein and starch. Whereas lunch was more of a quick meal on the go, and dinner (supper) was a light meal. For example, steak and eggs with a large side of fried potatoes was very common for breakfast. Lunch was a sandwich or two that you carried out with you, and dinner might be as simple as a salad with a desert. And desert was probably a pie or a simple cake.
You needed that heavy, fat and carb load early on, for energy. Lunch was just a sustainer, and supper was just there so that you didn't wake up hungry. And you could get away with a diet like that, because you were expending a tremendous amount of calories just doing the daily chores. It was worse during planting and harvesting season. If you ate like that today, you'd weigh 600lbs.
That's how we were taught: eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and supper like a pauper. That way all your bulk of calories got used up as energy for your daily work. But now it's opposite.
@@annettefournier9655 Yep. Americans don't know how to eat properly anymore. It explains why everybody is overweight.
For example, if you go out for a steak dinner and also get a salad, the salad comes first. It should come last. You want that fiber to push the rest through the digestive tract.
But you'll never get the salad at the end in a restaurant. I know why they don't do it, but it's contrary to how you SHOULD do it.
Interesting. In Germany, where I'm from, a farmer's breakfast (or Bauernfrühstück) is actually a well-defined hearty meal consisting of fried potatoes with onions, bacon and eggs mixed in, all fried up in the same pan.
@@Kuchenwurst That sounds scrumptious.
@@Kuchenwurst Many restaurants in the US have what they call a skillet breakfast that are variations on what you describe.
I retired and my husband started coming home for lunch so we now have our big meal midday and we actually feel better.
It's wonderful how little has changed about making a pot roast. This is basically exactly the same as how we make a simple pot roast dinner today, except I use baby carrots which probably weren't a thing back then.
Baby carrots are just fully grown carrots that are cut into pieces and had the outside shaved off.
@@Oddball_The_Strange actually baby carrots are the off spring of carrots
@andreas.6303 I'm pretty sure vegetables exist since forever
So I honestly didn't know that baby carrots are shaved down large carrots unless they look a certain way. What a waste of food, doubt I'll be buying them again after learning that. I honestly thought they were just a different breed of carrot like we have grape and cherry tomatoes. 😆
@@andreas.6303 it's often done to use carrots that aren't visually appealing (bent/broken)so that they don't go to waste.
"As soon as I finished breakfast I thought about lunch" me too John, me too.
This wonderful, enthusiastic man still uploading these amazing videos after so many years is a true pearl in the UA-cam ocean.
Man this is an important channel. We need more like you for sure. Thanks for digging up these recipes and keeping history alive.
As a Brazilian, I need to add that lunch is still the most important meal of the day for almost everyone around here and isn't much different from what the video described. Our lunch typically includes carbs, often rice and beans, a protein source such as chicken, beef, or the like, and a salad and/or cooked vegetables. Some people eat the same meal for dinner as they had for lunch, but I'm more accustomed to an afternoon breakfast, like eating bread with eggs and having a coffee around 5:30 PM, and then a fruit later in the evening around 8:00 PM.
Bread with eggs at any time of day sounds great to me :)
Yeah pao de queijo and coffee is about it for breakfast around here, some eggs too of course.
@@nevercommentnotevenonce9334 macaco branco for a while in bjj its true
@@hopefulpellinore5490 Have you ever made something an idol, used God’s name as a cuss word, dishonor your parents, murder (God views hate as murder), lusting, stealing, lying, wanting something another has that isn’t rightfully yours?
Doing so we violating the law, which is sin, and because of sin there is a punishment…If a serial killer like Ted Bundy tells a judge of all the good things he’s done for society do you think the judge would let the serial killer off free? The same is with us; we’ve committed such crimes against God that we are separated from God forever; we are punished by suffering Hell for eternity, a place with no hope for us.
But God loves us so much and with all his heart that he gave his only Son, Jesus Christ, to this cursed world to be crucified on the cross. (John 3:16-17)
Now anyone who accepts Jesus Christ, God’s Son, as their Lord and Savior and believes he rose from the dead the third day will be saved from eternal damnation in Hell and live in Heaven in paradise with him forever.
Many will choose to follow Satan, whether it be because they think they won’t succeed otherwise or won’t have any joy or friendships, but he will soon reveal himself as a murderer and a liar as he was since the beginning and he will curse all his followers as he cursed God and all of Satan’s followers will be cased into ever burning Hell. Don’t believe this lie I too believed in! Our God is a loving God full of compassion, yet he is a righteous God with righteous judgment. (Matthew 13:41-42)
Same in Central Europe, dinner(lunch in America) is the biggest and the most important meal of the day. The most social one as well.
I could practically smell that through my screen, it really shows you don't need to be fancy in order to make a fine dish.
I also just got back from dealing with 'difficult' people so you being respectful of the working class is really appreciated right now.💖
Another great video. I grew up on a Kentucky farm 50 years ago. During the summer my mother would make a big noon "dinner" and we sat around outside under the trees to eat then went back to work. I have great memories of those times!
Sounds like the kind of memories one would look back on fondly, sounds great
In northern England and some other parts of the U.K. we’d have Breakfast, Dinner and Tea, whereas in London and other parts they’d call it Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. Dinner is generally considered the main meal of the day.
@@peterdunlop7691 Something I’ve always wondered: When one thinks of the UK, they often think of the meals as Breakfast, Lunch, Tea in the mid-afternoon, and then Dinner later at night.
Is that something that’s commonly done in an average household, or is the four-meal structure more of a thing from a long time ago or just among the upper classes like royalty and nobility?
@@terminallumbago6465tea was usually btwn 4-5 so quite late
Dinner was ridiculous, 8ish?
They just got rid of dinner as a rich thing and ate tea no earlier than 5 n went to bed by 8 to get up early to work
What was in this "Big Noon Dinner" if you don't mind me asking?
A breakdown of my typical meals:
Breakfast is bread olives and cheese.
Lunch(sometimes dinner), I use a pipkin that I purchased from you.
Half an onion,not diced or anything,just halved,with bone broth and a root vegetable like potato carrot or beet,and salt and pepper.
I place the pipkin in the oven for about 45 minutes at 320 degrees,and eat it with bread.
I also frequently use the pipkin to bake beans,with a bit of pork,be it bacon,or pig feet,also with bread.
Dinner:
Well,honestly,I tend to go to my moms house,she’s Italian,that’s where I get my meat fix!
Olives just go so well w/cheese! I like cucumbers too, including pickled.
My fav is salami also, can’t have bread 😭
Oh man this is exactly what I needed right now. 13 hour 3rd shift with commute and I’m enjoying ramen before bed lol. This is what I’m watching.
Commuting is the pits
Add to too long shifts n life just sucks
I know plenty of people in the rural midwest who still refer to the middle meal of the day as 'dinner' and the later meal as 'supper' with no 'lunch' whatsoever. Confused me a good bit when I started doing more work out of town and everyone started talking about breaking for dinner at noon!
In Germany there is a proverb "Morgens wie ein Kaiser, mittags wie ein König, abends wie ein Bettelmann"
(eat) like an emperor in the morning, like a king at noon and like a beggar in the evening.
I believe it contains a great deal of wisdom. No matter whether you work physically or intellectually, it's not healthy to have your biggest meal at the end of the day.
The same is true in the rural South and was true in the Anglophone world on both sides of the Atlantic so long as that world was largely agrarian. My older relatives (I am in my 60s) ate their largest meal midday and ate supper from the leftovers of dinner. In my childhood, we still called the midday meal "dinner" and evening meal "supper," though with the passage of time we came to call the midday meal "lunch," except on Sundays, when after church the extended family sat down to the largest meal that day-hence, "Sunday dinner." We still maintained (as I do to this day) the word "supper" for the evening meal, and in my family we still eat Sunday dinner after church at midday.
This is actually a healthier way to eat: the largest meal at midday, with a smaller meal in the evening.
My parent grew up during the depression and we were raised that way, too. Largest meal of the day was between noon and two and a light supper afterwards after sunset. I’m almost eighty now and still eating that way. I find it hard to sleep on a big meal. Our big family Thanksgiving meal is always around one pm.
In the south. It is Lunch, then Dinner/Supper means the same thing.
In the British working class, the midday meal is commonly known as "dinner" and the evening meal as "tea".
My grandpa ate bread in milk for breakfast almost everyday.
That's cool. I've been baking sourdough bread recently, and often have a piece of it with milk to dip it in for breakfast :)
That's where the words "milquetoast" and "milksop" come from!
My late father (1941-2023) ate that on occasion. Grew up poor in the far north of Appalachia.
Though I think I always saw him toast it first.
@@odinfromcentr2Memory eternal to your father, I'm sorry. May he find Paradise. Seems like he was a practical guy.
Mine 2 😂
I love your videos man. It's so damn cozy and makes me appreciate the food I have today. And if I ever feel like taking a trip to the past I can replicate dishes here. And that's not even mentioning the historical lessons that come with the food presentation. Just perfect level of comfy, hunger, and history. Good production as well.
I'm not ready for this video. I tried the working man's breakfast after the last one and I've been drunk by 9 a.m. for a month
You need to accustom yourself my friend! 😂
I love seeing you folks experiment with editing and direction! keeps everything fresh and improving
The chillest yet the best channel i ever seen!
this channel feels like a warm hug in a winter morning from a friend you havent seen in so long. that first sip of coffee, you feel the warmth going towards your tummy. Hmmm. Comfort. :)
0:15 Both of my dad's parents grew up in farming families in Iowa. Even in their formative years (the early 1920s to the mid 1940s) the importance of lunch as the main meal of the day was still essentially the same as you describe it in colonial times. I remember being VERY confused as a kid because they referred to lunch as "dinner", when everyone knew that "dinner" is the evening meal!
Gf
Yes! My mother grew up the same way (but in Minnesota)! And it still flavors how the holidays are done even today! Thanksgiving and Christmas Dinner is at noon/1 o'clock and supper on those days is both light and made up of leftovers.
Yes, breakfast, dinner and supper is what my parents called the meals. Grew up in Iowa, my parents born just before and after 1940.
My dad's family were farmers, and noon meal was dinner. But my mom would use dinner and supper interchangeably for the evening meal. Once, my dad asked me over for dinner, and I asked, "Country dinner or city dinner?"
What was more confusing was that my dad could tell me a story about grandma, and he could have meant mine, his or grandma's. The really confusing part was that my grandma was named after hers, so they both were grandma Hazel. My grandma's grandma died the year I was born, she was 99.
I've posted separately, but yes here in rural Ireland I refer to my midday meal as dinner , much to the confusion of my urbanite friends
my god i love this channel so much... it reminds me of the simple things, a life that i strive to live
In parts of the UK such as the north of England, dinner is still the midday meal, with tea at evening time - even if there's no actual tea involved!
You always need tea.
No tea at an English meal??
They used to lag if hungry, now our PCs lag when you apply too heavy working schedule to it. What a world.
For some reason, I find myself wanting to eat more like my ancestors. I don't like to have to think too much about what I'm eating and it doesn't excite me like it does other people. Boiled eggs for breakfast and bread and pate for lunch and then something in the slow cooker for tea. I love these new ideas and I appreciate all the work that must go into themes videos. Thanks Townsend!
Only eating those things is objectively more unhealthy than eating proper fruits and vegetables though. You can eat simply without only eating carbs and meat.
They ate that way because they had to. It is a very modern and privileged position to be in to have the entire culinary world at your disposal and find it boring. Your ancestors would scramble at the chance to eat as well as you are able to but are bored by.
@Toastybees you're telling me mate. I can't help it though, it's just how I feel.
I think that's why some people still focus so much on Sundays for this kind of food, when they have the time to do so. My kids love it when I have time to do a big stew or meat pie in the winter
@@marcbaigrie2295 That's a rather defeatist attitude. The way I feel about things changes all the time with new information and perspectives introduced. The way you feel about things shouldn't be set in stone.
I love that the cooking video aspect of this is fully paired with a historical rundown of how and why their life was the way it was, and how that leads logistically to the recipe. Great stuff!
It's always great to hang out with the Townsends!😊
1:12 "theyre working from dawn to dusk, and you working hard like that, you HAVE to eat in a different way then we certainly do today"
later in video: one single pudding for lunch
I tend to benefit from a bigger midday meal and a smaller dinner. Also, every time you break out that dutch oven I know I'm going to be envious by the time you've made it
Same here. Small breakfast, biiiig lunch after work, and a small meal before bed, if not just a snack.
Townsend ~ a man after my own heart. Like him, I love to study American history and positively LOVE to eat with cooking being my # 1 hobby. GREAT video once again.
Happy Sunday everyone
Happy Sunday!!! 🎉
Sunday Funday!
Happy Sunday god bless
Hello, there! Great to see you! I hope you have an awesome week.
Happy Sunday to you as well 😊
My grandfather worked his oil wells until he was in his 90s, back in the 1960s. He would eat a big breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast and a big bowl of oatmeal. Grandma pack him a big lunch and thermos of coffee. Back home for big evening meal after dark. He worked really hard and burned it all off, never gained weight.
I just want to say that I discovered this channel today and I can't stop watching it. It's just amazing!
Oh my friend you are in for good times!!!
When I was in my late teens, I often spent weekends with a family that lived in a small, Midwestern town. Dinner was the main meal, served at noon, after which the parents took a 20 minutes nap, then went back to work. The evening meal was nourishing but not as elaborate and it was called supper.
This is almost exactly the meal that my wife, son and I are having for our lunch. Turnips included, it’s a one pot wonder that keeps body and soul connected!
Thanks for these videos. No matter how crazy life gets, it's good to know that I can take a few minutes to enjoy a wholesome, friendly Townsends video and get re-centered. And I learn something, which is great because my kitchen is my zen.
Enjoyed the video also the film crew did a great job! Production value is top notch.
I love your videos.
My wife and I are raising our kids on all home cooked meals and this channel provides a lot of inspiration and motivation.
I'm from the south of England but my Grandma is from up north (born 1939). she still calls lunch dinner and dinner supper.
Pot roast used to be a common Sunday lunch for us. Mom would put it in the crock pot on low heat to simmer until we got home from church.
My mother grew up on a farm in the mid 30s and 40s. It was still very common to send lunch out to the fields for the workers and family members working out there. And it was called dinner. By the time I was born, the word dinner had shifted to mean going out to eat and if you ate in it was lunch or supper depending on the time of day. But that was for the farmers. The rest of the US had already shifted the word dinner to the evening meal and used lunch for the midday meal. It was really confusing for me growing up because my family grew up in the suburbs and the only farms were fairly small. So using the "wrong" word when talking to my classmates was frustrating at times.
Lunch is still the biggest and most important meal of the day in my country. I can't imagine having just a sandwich for it lol
A lot of people get 30 minutes to an hour for lunch and work in an office, so a sandwich makes more sense. School children also usually get about the same amount of time and not everyone has access to a microwave or anything else to heat your food. You wouldn't have time to make much else.
@@crystalh450 It's 2023, we have refrigeration. I cook my lunches ahead of time in batches and then put it in containers to take with me to work.
@@megapussi yes, and as I mentioned, NOT EVERYBODY has access to a microwave. Therefore, not everyone CAN have a hot meal. I was explaining that is where sandwiches make more sense. Why are you trying to make it about yourself?
Here in Brasil this is the case too, in fact workplaces are legally required to have a fridge, microwave, table and sink for workers to use at lunchtime, or pay an allowance for workers to go to a restaurant in their noon break.
So even people who eat in the workplace still usually have full meals.
We even have restaurants that specialize on making lunchtime meals and deliver in workplaces, kind of like Japanese "bento", we call it "marmita".
@@KroltanMG In Colombia people also usually pack their lunch like "marmita" and heat it in their workplace, or go out to lunch in a restaurant nearby. Streets with office buildings are usually packed with these cheap popular restaurants catering to workers.
Love the movement/animation in the pictures and the information. So interesting. Thanks for all you guys put into the videos
One of my fav meals! Their would probably be less diabities in the America if we ate more like our ancestors . Very informative vid. Cheers!
Diabetes has been with us at least as long as we've been an agrarian people. The Egyptians knew about it.
they said LESS . since more thing had less sugar and additives.@@Kearnach
@@DerlChur Additives have nothing to do with diabetes.
In Western Saskatchewan, Canada, us farmers still call lunch "dinner". In the cities we get looked at like we have 3 heads when we say we have dinner after breakfast and before supper. An interesting linguistic turn I thought I'd point out, an isolated geographic pocket of folks who use the vernacular of 300 years ago surrounded by those who use a more modern lexicon.
Thanks for sharing with us Jon, meals back then were nutritious at the right time of the day to get the most energy so you could get more work done and it worked. Stay safe and keep up the great videos. Fred.
I've watched only a few videos on this channel so far and I love it. I think a lot of people (myself included) tend to forget just how large a portion of our culture is defined by the food we eat, and looking back at what meals used to look like in a given historical context is grounding, in a way. Helps to remember both how much the world has changed, and yet how humans have stayed relatively the same. Also have to mention how well edited these videos are, presentation is phenomenal. Thank you for making these!
Love the historical aspect of this channel and yes its got that old school warmth, which I enjoy too.
I grew up in the Midwest, and people in rural communities -- especially farmers -- still call the midday meal "dinner" and the evening meal "supper"!
Thank you mister Townsends for another video.
Great video Jon, glad to see it and other call it dinner. Where i come from its Breakfast, Dinner, Supper.
after not eating anything for a day and finally sitting down just so i can eat a hot meal and watch a video ABOUT hot meals back then, its a different kind of peaceful bliss
Reminds me of working out in the country. Sometimes your working outside all day, when that happens our mom or one of us would begin cooking up a larger lunch and have us come in or bring it out to us so we could keep working.
This is incredibly interesting! Brings the past to present by helping us better understand through food what things were like for our ancestors! Thank you!
It's no wonder men and women back in the day were able to stay fit because of how they lived and they valued it.
As a massage therapist...which I would call a blue collar job, (to an extent), I've noticed that a large lunch is so important. I can't keep up for the rest of the day on a meatless salad and soup. That's my supper!
Really seems to depend on your metabolic schedule. Those who eat a big breakfast rarely need a big lunch.
U massage all day, daily? That’s unusual.
@@YeshuaKingMessiah 5 days full, 1 half day!
My spouse doesn't eat breakfast so we have our main meal of the day at 1 PM. As for the milk & bread, I eat a couple slices of bread dipped in a cup of milk as a snack in the evening. My granny used to mush up bread & milk in a bowl as an easy light meal too.
We had "milk toast" as a light meal, especially for someone who was sick. It's delicious. Just make toast, butter it, then cut it into cubes, put it in a bowl and pour milk over it.
Ah but have you ever soaked some hard bread in milk then rolled it in honey and fried it? Oh my days its so good.
My husband is a baker in a chain bakery shop and he stands all day, working bread and baking it. He also bikes to work because we don’t have a car. He comes back home absolutely ravenous at the end of the day and I struggle to find meals that satisfy him. I’m definitely gonna try to feed him this meal. Thank you for the share!
Keep up the good work guys!🍻
I love these little history lessons. Townsend is one of the best channels in UA-cam.
Another great episode as always.
In southern Scotland, the large meal of the day is “dinner” which is served at midday. The later meal is called “tea” which is served traditionally as a smaller meal, often oatmeal or soup and bread. The term “supper” is derived from “soup.” These days, of course, the big meal is served in the evening, but it’s still called “tea.” Midday meal is still often called “dinner.”
We say the exact same in Northern England also.
You guys have kept the tradition, that's cool. Here (USA) my grandparents did meals that way and it always confused me as a kid lol "Why are we eating dinner at 1pm?". My parents would sometimes slip up and use the old terms, my dad still always calls dinner supper. Watching things change through generations is interesting.
A good and hearty lunch sure hits the spot. A great series. Cheers!
My family came from England in 1634 , settling on Long Island then moved to southern New Jersey in 1693 and finally "removing" to central Illinois in the 1850's to farm. My grandparents farmed with horses and even my dad did some horse farming while quite young. That was hard work and they still ate their big meal at mid day and called it dinner. Fresh beef and pork were generally more available in cold weather since they had no modern refrigeration. Chicken, duck and pan fish (caught in small farm ponds and creeks) was more likely proteins in warmer weather and eggs were ever present. I'm speaking about our locality in the late 19th and earlier portion of the 20th centuries but my point is that some of the customs and menus had not changed greatly from the time period of which you speak! I really enjoy your videos and this is another winner!
In East England where there are still a lot of farm land, they still call the middle meal, dinner! But then they call the evening meal, "tea" 😂 language is amazing. Thanks for the video it is fascinating
Seems like most of the country. Another guy was saying Up North, you are saying in the East, and I know there are definitely some in the Southwest.
I absolutely appreciate and adore your historical channel. I often find myself binge watching 😊. I never in my early years as a child and teen found myself interested in history. Now with me being an adult I’m constantly watching and learning about history. My son is always teasing me by saying “mommy loves her history stuff” and I just smile and say yes baby I am. Please never stop on educating us with your knowledge 😊❤😊❤. I was curious to know if you could do and show us the history of the wealthy. And how they would treat their slave/ servants and what they were given
Funnily enough this one pot stew is still often considered very festive and universally loved sunday family dinner comfort food in Finland. It's often made for occasions such as weddings, independence day and christmas. Putting more effort into the broth and mixing in different meats like pork, lamb, beef, elk, reindeer and so on makes it basically higher quality for a bigger event. This is also traditionally served with mashed potatoes side so can't honestly call it one pot tho.
That sounds tasty. I think every culture has their own version.
@@5roundsrapid263It’s interesting to think of how universal a lot of these familiar dishes are. They transcend culture and time. It’s a reminder of how alike we all are, no matter where in the world we are or what time period we lived in.
If there’s starchy vegs IN the pot why have mashed too??
I still eat like that :-) Something small for breakfast, a hearty meal for lunch, and something small for dinner (although, in Sweden, the word for the midday meal was called "middag" (means "mid day"...)
I read the passage from Ellis as saying the proper dinner victuals include both the meat/veg dish AND a pudding. I think you might be misreading him when you imply that the pudding would be the whole meal for these people, as hard as they worked. I might be wrong, but to me, it reads as "[this or that entree dish with vegetables], is, with [this or that pudding], good dinner victuals" - the "with" implying that both should be served.
I interpreted it the same way. "is, with" separates the two lists of possible elements of each part of the meal. A big lunch of meat and a vegetable, along with a good pudding. It made me think of the pasties some miners would be given, with their meat in one side and sweet dessert in the other.
Or the ooor had only pudding
Food was n is tough to buy
Even up to the 1970's my grandmother would bring lunch out to the field for the men harvesting. Thick cut roastbeef sandwiches, cake or cookies , cut up carrots . And large jugs of cold sweet tea.
some of my relatives (grandparents, aunts and uncles) are or have been farmers, and in my childhood and youth I spent many summers and winter holidays there, and when doing work on the field, we ate pretty much exactly like that...
big, filling lunch, just one simple filling dish (but loads of it) and water or watered down beer/hard cider (for the adults)...
breakfast and supper were mostly the same (and usually cold) dark bread, cheese, bacon, sometimes eggs and apples
You can never go wrong with a pot roast it’ll fill anyone up
The way described, I am an 18th century peasant. I work blue collar 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, 330 days a year from home and only eat a large lunch and small dinner with coffee and cream for breakfast.
I grew up in we4stern South Dakota in a Scots-Irish household and we called it breakfast, dinner and supper. If I was caught sitting down during the day, my folks would find something for me to do. I would rather choose my chore and am still a hard worker. 🙂
What do u do blue collar from home?
And how do u work 14 hrs a day, every single day, rarely a day off?
R u talking about working round the house once ur home from work, keeping urself busy instead of watching tv?
Funny how you instinctively do this when working heavy, labour-intensive jobs. I noticed how most of my friends who work white-collar or service jobs tend to eat light breakfasts, moderate lunches and big dinners, while I (an ironworker/welder) eat huge breakfasts and big lunches, and a light dinner - I have much more energy for my workday that way, eating my calories beforehand. When I'm off work for a while (it's seasonal work in Canada) and am working on a computer, I'll find myself eating light breakfasts/lunches and bigger dinners. I don't plan this out, it just sort of happens by efficiency/necessity.
U eat ur breakfasts out? How do u have time to cook that all, before work?
Crumbled cornbread in milk is still somewhat common in the South for a midday meal.
My father ate it almost every night!
I had that as a light supper often as a kid.
When I developed a lactose Intolerance, I'd have cornbread lightly drizzled with molasses, a piece of fruit, or raisins, and water.
I could still go lightly buttered, maybe a little cheese. But I couldn't have milk after I turned 7.
Still love fresh cornbread. Still making it like my Granny Mac did! From scratch! It's good eating anytime!
Same for my grandfather. Cornbread and scallions for him.
@@BlitzenSpeaks I was always lactose intolerant, so I never had cornbread in milk.
@@5roundsrapid263
My hit practically overnight. Suddenly every time I had milk, I got sick. This was in the early 70s, so there was no milk substitutes. I had to have a Doctor's note to the school because they gave half pints of milk with lunch. Nothing else! I had to bring a plastic cup from home, and get water from a fountain.
It was a different world!
Both my Grandpas had buttermilk with their cornbread.
Even now, I have to be careful how much butter I use. 🤷😁
Some of the few channels that makes me feel warm and cosy!
I'm 20 years old and as much as I enjoy some of the modern media we have on UA-cam, I always look forward to whenever Townsends uploads a new video, especially videos that gives us a look into what people eat back in the 17th and 18th century. It gives a nice, calming vibes that most modern media lacks in.
This gave me an interesting thought, my parents are middle eastern and the main meal of the day has always been around 3pm and it had the kinds of food people would normally eat dinner. I was never really sure why, but the idea that its a hold over from a working class tradition makes a lot of sense now.
I wish i could eat like that everyday for lunch
Wish I could even just eat it for dinner!
Who can afford meats and most produce beyond potatoes n carrots??
I'm sick as a dog atm and I gotta thank you, your videos are good for the brain and easy on the senses.
Here in Spain, lunch is very important. They have a huge meal. Ive never gotten used to it.
Well isn’t ur dinner a lunch then? After the big meal at noon?
So u would be hungry by noon next day
I could very much get used to stopping for few hrs to nap daily
Having to cook it all? Not so much lol
The Spanish way is.
7:00 Breakfast
11:00 Snack of a smaall sandwich
14:00 Lunch of a full meal, 3 courses
17:00 Snack of bread or fruit
20:00 Dinner light meal but with meat and veg
or later a supper of snack things, meats cheese
Some people have two big meals a day but i personally can't handle that.
@@YeshuaKingMessiah
very informative as always. i love how after all these years watching this channel, I'm still learning! thanks everyone!
Just found your channel love it binge watching thanks for posting
People eat like they work 15 hours in a field just to type numbers into Excel.
I have a beard
Hey, the brain is the most energy-intensive organ of the body! Now if only I could figure out how to use it...😅
@@kainaaguiarferreira4351I can’t grow one :(
Jon: What pops into your mind...
Me: When I hear "working man?" Probably that killer Rush song.
Jon: ...when I say "Lunch?"
Me: Oh...
lol yeah. man i wish i could have seen them live
Finally someone else who thinks about them on a regular basis
I think about them at times becuz I think about my late husband (died in 1990)
He saw them live, yes 🙂
Super interesting! Traditionally in Germany lunch is the biggest meal too. Theres still a big part of the country that eats a larger warm meal at lunchtime and then some cold bread and spreads (Abendbrot) in the evening. There is a shift however, with the longer working hours a lot of families opt for a warm evening meal for togetherness.
Longer working hrs so can afford the energy costs?
Or just affording food?
I like the idea of evening bread!
Simple easy meal with nut butter, cream cheese, chicken salad etc
Looks delicious 👍 I often cook something similar, however instead of a Dutch oven I use a hot air oven, it's so easy to cook meat, potatoes, carrots and onions all at the same time. Works great with both beef and pork.
in northern UK, the meal around noon to 1pm is still called Dinner as apposed to lunch in the South , The late evening meal around 6 or 7pm being tea as opposed to Dinner in the South.
"Today, most people that we think of here in america are middle class"
Uh... I think of americans I think of a shrinking middle class, worker exploitation, wages that haven't kept up with inflation, republican workers that are lower class but think they are middle class telling people who are doing jobs that used to pay a living wage to "get a real job" when they complain they are getting paid $6.75/hr for a job that used to be enough to buy a house with.
Here, it was very common to have a large breakfast, dinner and supper.
And it was very common to have what we see as desserts today, as a mainstay in the dinner.
Sugar gave quick energy, so when you had been working for a longer time, having that little extra helped a lot.
Similar to how some people today use energy drinks to get themselves more energy.
As an Irish person who grew up on a farm, I can see such strong similarities with the Ireland I grew up in of the 1990s and indeed strong remnants through to today - having your main meal in the middle of the day is very common in rural/farming households and meat and two veg, one being potatoes, is a daily thing. Indeed you will hear occasional mention of "those who have their dinner in the middle of the day" as a distinct socio-economic group or voting bloc
I stayed with a family in Wexford in 1981 for a week
Tiny half house, ate in the living rm at a small table, couple at a time. I think the mom n dad slept on a pull out couch in living rm. 2 bdrms upstairs for the 6 kids.
No big meals at all lol except one time they made blood pudding at brkfast