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Royal Society of Chemistry in the Soup

On January 13th 2009, the Royal Society of Chemistry launched their "Year of Food" with a recreation of the workhouse gruel that Dickens' Oliver Twist so famously wanted more of. Despite the RSC's claim that the onion-flavoured recipe was based on "the novel and other old sources", they rather got things wrong.

  • Workhouses did not flavour their gruel with onions but with salt, with treacle and allspice occasionally being provided.
  • Rather than the pewter bowls used by the RSC to serve their gruel, workhouse inmates would have been rather more likely to have eaten from wooden bowls or trenchers, or bowls made from tin.
  • Contrary to the impression given by Dickens, nine-year-old Oliver Twist would not have lived solely on gruel workhouse. In 1837, when the novel was written, he would have received the same food as an adult woman whose workhouse rations would have also included bread, cheese, and meat and vegetables at least once a week.
For a complete history of food in the workhouse, including original and authentic recipes for gruel, see The Workhouse Cookbook

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Unless otherwise indicated, this page () is copyright Peter Higginbotham. Contents may not be reproduced without permission.