Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Counties of the Eastern Lowlands before 1975
- A Note on Old Scottish Weights and Measures
- INTRODUCTION
- Chapter 1 THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE
- Chapter 2 KAILYARDS AND FARM SERVANTS
- Chapter 3 COTTAGERS’ GARDENS
- Chapter 4 POTATO GROUNDS
- Chapter 5 THE MIDDEN
- Chapter 6 THE RURAL DIET
- Chapter 7 COMPETITIONS AND SHOWS
- Chapter 8 THE COTTAGE GARDENER’S EDUCATION
- Chapter 9 THE IDEA OF THE COTTAGE GARDEN
- EPILOGUE
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
- Garden and Landscape History
Chapter 6 - THE RURAL DIET
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 October 2022
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Counties of the Eastern Lowlands before 1975
- A Note on Old Scottish Weights and Measures
- INTRODUCTION
- Chapter 1 THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE
- Chapter 2 KAILYARDS AND FARM SERVANTS
- Chapter 3 COTTAGERS’ GARDENS
- Chapter 4 POTATO GROUNDS
- Chapter 5 THE MIDDEN
- Chapter 6 THE RURAL DIET
- Chapter 7 COMPETITIONS AND SHOWS
- Chapter 8 THE COTTAGE GARDENER’S EDUCATION
- Chapter 9 THE IDEA OF THE COTTAGE GARDEN
- EPILOGUE
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
- Garden and Landscape History
Summary
Thus hae we played through a long simmer's day,
We thocht on nae ill, and we dreaded no wae;
Till ance the bricht sun fell a-hiding his nose,
And then we gaed hame to get our kail-brose.
A dish o’ guid brose wi’ the kail and the says
A herdie was needin’ jist aff the leas; [meadows]
The kail and the says and the drappie o’ ream [cream]
Wad set me a-sleepin’ as seen's they were deen.’
The HerdieMost eminent physicians of the last age were in use to ascribe a remarkable improvement in the health of the Scottish peasantry, – the alleviation of some prevailing diseases, and the extirpation of others – to the general introduction of cottage gardens and consequent increased use of coleworts [kale], cabbage and potatoes.
Thus Patrick Neill in 1813. Not only was this diet more wholesome than before, it was cheaper and so appealed to the Scots’ sober and frugal habits. It was also, as he noted, based on the garden: the ingredients of Scotch Broth – ‘the national dish’ – ‘are chiefly derived from these gardens’. These ingredients include leek, onion, cabbage or kale, turnip and carrot as well as pearl barley and, for those who could afford it, a piece of mutton or beef. Scotch or barley broth is still popular today.
However, the aversion of modern Scots to vegetables of any kind other than in broth and with the exception of potatoes is notorious. Recent studies document the significantly lower consumption of vegetables and fruit in Scotland today, compared to England. All social classes appear to share the habit of vegetable-avoidance, but the poorer you are the less likely you are to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day (and the less likely you are to be able to afford them).
Was Neill correct about the importance of vegetables in the rural diet in the early 1800s, and if so, what happened to it later? This chapter investigates the food and the meals of rural workers and their nutritional value, as they changed during the period.
‘Even at a nobleman's table we had only flesh meat of one kind, and no vegetables of any kind’, recalled John Wesley after his first visit to Scotland in 1762.
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- Cottage Gardens and Gardeners in the East of Scotland, 1750-1914 , pp. 125 - 152Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2021