The food of London : a sketch of the chief varieties, sources of supply, probable quantities, modes of arrival, processes of manufacture, suspected adulteration, and machinery of distribution, of the food for a community of two millions and a half / by George Dodd.

  • George Dodd
Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The food of London : a sketch of the chief varieties, sources of supply, probable quantities, modes of arrival, processes of manufacture, suspected adulteration, and machinery of distribution, of the food for a community of two millions and a half / by George Dodd. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    anti tapsters, that scum of the rabble, would imme- diately go a begging ! What regiments of gaugers and excisemen, tidewaiters and searchers, and all the mob of custom-house and excise officers would be dis- banded, and left to the grave and the gallows! and what an innumerable throng of women and children, the wretched dependants of these miserables, would come to the parish for bread! And what must be done in this case? It is a dreadful story, that’s the truth of it: the nation’s prosperity is built on the ruin of the nation’s morals.”* Many are embarrassed at the pre- sent day with the questions which thus perplexed Defoe a hundred-and-forty years ago; while others run full tilt at the indulgences without regard to the traders. The matter is mentioned here simply to indicate one mode in which the quantity and nature of the food and beverages purchased by a community may to some extent be influenced by conscientious scruples. There is another direction in which morality, or rather mere common honesty, is concerned with the food of a great city. Are the commodities such as they seem ? Do we really know how much is eaten of the several kinds ? Is a pound of nominal coffee a pound of authentic coffee ? The tea or the chocolate, the wine or the beer, the milk or the vinegar, the bread or the flour — do these, as purchased and consumed, correspond with their names; or if not, to what extent do they depart from genuineness? These questions are of no small moment when considering the quantity of any article of food consumed by two millions and a * Complete English Tradesman, ii. chap. iv.
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