A TIMELINE OF FOOD
By Tim Lambert
c 20,000 BC People in Europe eat mammoth, reindeer, red deer, bison and wild horses
c 1,200 BC People in Egypt eat bread and beer. The also eat sheep, pigs, cows and goats as well as ducks, geese and fish. They grow marrows, beans, lentils, leeks, radishes and lettuces
c 400 BC Ordinary people in Greece eat a great deal of bread. They also eat cheese and fish and (if they can afford it) meat. They also eat beans, onions, garlic and olives. Greeks drink wine and water.
c 70 AD The Romans introduce new foods into Britain, celery, cabbages, radishes, carrots, cucumbers, broad beans and walnuts.
c 800 AD The Saxons eat bread and fish, cheese and eggs. They drink beer and mead.
1300 The wealthy eat meat including ducks, swans, herons and blackbirds. Poor people live on bread and cheese and pottage (grain boiled in water with vegetables and (if you could afford it) meat or fish.
c 1525 Turkeys are introduced into England.
c 1585 Potatoes are introduced into England. However the English diet remains very much the same as in the Middle Ages.
1633 The first record of bananas being sold in England
c 1680 The well to do eat pineapples and ice cream. Coffee and tea are popular drinks. Otherwise little changes. Poor people still live on bread and pottage.
1760 Eating potatoes and drinking tea has become common among ordinary people. Bread is still a very important part of peoples diet. 1861 Garibaldi biscuits are introduced in Britain. 1885 The cream cracker is invented 1892 Digestive biscuits are introduced 1900 The diet of ordinary people has greatly improved since 1900. Meat and sugar have become cheaper. People eat less bread and a more varied diet. 1927 Jaffa Cakes go on sale 1940 Food rationing begins in Britain 1950 The diet of ordinary people has improved since 1900. Food has become much cheaper. 1954 In Britain food rationing ends 1986 HobNobs are introduced