Buzz
In today’s world of convenience, where indulgent treats like bacon-loaded pizzas are just a phone tap away, it’s easy to forget the culinary challenges faced by our 19th-century ancestors. Their diets included some truly bizarre and unusual foods.
For many low-income families living in cramped tenements without kitchens or fireplaces, cooking was out of the question. Street vendors provided the original fast food, offering sustenance that, while strange by modern standards, kept people fed. Imagine traveling back in time and encountering these ten peculiar dishes—perfect for those with an adventurous appetite and a sturdy constitution.
10. Sheep’s Trotters
Sheep’s trotters were available either cold or hot. Vendors sourced these inexpensive delicacies from slaughterhouses, prepared them by skinning and parboiling at home, and then sold them on the streets. Buyers would enjoy a whole trotter, savoring the gelatinous meat and fat directly from the bones. If fortunate, customers might find that the vendor had cleaned the unappealing residue from between the toes before cooking—or at least before consumption.
9. Hot Eels
Imported from Holland, eels were chopped into pieces and boiled. The broth was thickened with flour and parsley, seasoned with pepper, and kept warm for sale. Customers received a cup of eel meat with the broth served separately. Vinegar was optional, and a dab of butter came at an additional cost. Diners had to eat quickly, as vendors required the cups back promptly. Occasionally, the cup might be rinsed in a bucket of murky water before reuse, though this was rarely a priority.
8. Saloop
Saloop, a beloved beverage since the 1600s, was a hot, sweetened drink believed to be nutritious, originally made from ground orchid roots. By the late 1800s, sassafras bark became the base, enhanced with milk and sugar. Regardless of its ingredients, saloop was cherished as a hearty and satisfying way to begin or end the day. Ideally, it was crafted with genuine roots or bark, though some vendors might have substituted less savory alternatives like discarded tea leaves.
7. Plum Duff
Essentially a carb-heavy delight, plum duff was a British boiled pudding with a dense, doughy texture. The “plum” in its name referred to the raisins mixed into the dessert. While somewhat sticky and heavy, it was a favorite among working-class families, who valued its filling nature over nutritional content. A drizzle of treacle could be added for an extra cost. If fortunate, the raisins were actual dried fruit and not mistaken for something far less appetizing.
6. Pickled Oysters, Whelks, and Periwinkles
Shellfish, available at incredibly low prices, had a short shelf life, making pickling a popular method to extend their usability. When sold fresh, nearly half of the customers opted to consume the shellfish raw and alive rather than cooked. Ideally, the oysters, whelks, and other shellfish were reasonably fresh before being submerged in the pickling brine.
5. Donkey’s Milk
During summer, cow’s milk was sold directly from udders by street vendors, while others resold skim milk from dairies, balancing pails or milk cans on yokes. Some patrons, however, sought richer alternatives like donkey’s or asses’ milk, believing it offered rejuvenating benefits. A few women even thought consuming curds and whey (cottage cheese) could help them maintain a youthful appearance. Ideally, the milk was genuine and not a concoction of chalk and water.
4. Bloaters
A bloater, famously depicted by Van Gogh, was a whole herring salted and cold-smoked, including its head, eyes, and entrails, which caused it to bloat. Vendors would spear the fish on a long fork and toast it over a flame before selling it to customers, who ate the entire soft, pungent fish.
If fortunate, the fish contained roe in its belly. Even luckier was the scenario where the fish slipped off the fork, a stray cat snatched it, and you were spared from eating it altogether.
3. Blood
While not traditionally a street food, this item earns its place on the list due to its historical significance. During a time when tuberculosis, known as consumption, was widespread, it was believed that consuming the fresh, warm blood of a recently slaughtered animal could strengthen the sick and combat the disease. Patients would gather at slaughterhouses with cups, ready to collect and immediately drink the blood. Ideally, the animal was already deceased when the blood was collected.
2. Rice Milk
Rice “milk” was created by boiling rice in skim milk. Served hot in a cup, it was sweetened with sugar and spiced with a pinch of allspice, resembling a thin, watery rice pudding. This affordable dish was often sold by women vendors from metal basins heated over charcoal fires. Customers typically enjoyed it standing in the street. Ideally, the vendor would clean the spoon before handing it to you.
1. Ginger Beer
Traditional ginger beer was a lightly alcoholic drink made by boiling water with ginger and sugar, then adding yeast, citric acid, and cloves for flavor. It was bottled and sold within a few days, with fermentation sometimes taking just twelve hours. A cheaper version, known as “playhouse ginger beer,” used molasses for sweetness. Vendors brewed it at home, and if fortunate, they avoided using the same washtub for brewing as they did for washing dirty diapers.
+ Meat Pies
Meat pies were a staple of street food, typically filled with mutton or leftover beef scraps—tough, chewy, or gelatinous parts that others avoided. Vendors often faced ridicule, with people jokingly calling out, “Meow! Meow!” as they passed. In Henry Mayhew’s *London Labour and the London Poor* (1851), a pie seller claimed that using cat meat had become a rarity.
While the Victorian poor endured indigestion, heartburn, and even nightmares from consuming unusual foods, the lower middle class also indulged in their share of peculiar dishes—though that’s a story for another time.
