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From: "Joan in Colorado" <>
Subject: Re: OLD CORNWALL- MEALS
Date: Mon, 2 Nov 1998 16:18:52 -0700


A.K. Hamilton Jenkin in "The Story of Cornwall", talking about "a hundred
years ago" (he was writing in 1934), quotes the average wage of a working
man in Cornwall as seven shillings a week or less per week. Tea was 7s. or
8s. a pound and poor people in consequence used herbs instead. He states,
"Broth or soup, made from a few meat bones and vegetables, was looked upon
as the best dinner of the week, and on that account was reserved for
Sundays.. On the other days, the dinner of a working man generally
consisted of nothing better than a slice or two of bread and treacle, or at
best a barley pasty consisting of only potatoes and turnips. The miners
often preferred a "hoggan". This was a solid lump of flour mixed with
water, and baked without any leavening. Occasionally it had a little bit of
green pork embedded in its centre."

Best wishes, Joan

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