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Popular Myths about the Workhouse

Myth 4 - All that workhouse inmates were given to eat was gruel.

In Oliver Twist, the workhouse inmates received "three meals of thin gruel a day, with an onion twice a week, and half a roll of Sunday". Gruel (a thin porridge) did indeed feature on the menu of many, though not all, workhouses. In reality, though, gruel was never the only thing inmates had to eat. The diet usually included meat and vegetables for dinner two or three times a week, and and even the children received a varied diet which included foods such as bread, milk, suet pudding, meat and vegetables. The food steadly improved over the years. In 1883, workhouses trialled the inclusion of weekly fried fish dinners for their inmates. After 1900, the workhouse diet was considerably expanded to feature dishes such as shepherd's pie, Irish stew, pasties, fish pie, roly-poly pudding and cake.

One of the official 1835 workhouse weekly menu plans.

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* * *  For US readers  * * *

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