People living in poor, rural communities had the best eating habits in Victorian Britain, according to new research.
Their diets consisted of locally grown vegetables, potatoes, fish, milk and small amounts of meat, which peasants in mid-19th century Britain were often given in exchange for work.
“If you take the diets in Britain in that era, they would nutritionally be akin to the Mediterranean diet today,” said Dr Peter Greaves, who led the study.
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“The rural diet was often better for the poor in more isolated areas because of payment in kind.”
The most nutritious diets were found in isolated parts of England, the mainland and islands of Scotland and the west of Ireland.
This was reflected in the diseases that people died from, says The Times. “Tuberculosis, which is associated with worse nutrition, was twice as prevalent in cities,” it reports.
After the 1860s, while rural economies stood still, “in urban communities things slowly improved”, Dr Greaves says. “People got a bit wealthier and there was more availability of food.”
He argues that such a diet would be relatively easy - and affordable - to stick to today.
“If you walk into a supermarket you will still find cheap vegetables so people could still eat like this,” he says. “I think the problem today is that people have too much choice.”
Not everyone on social media was convinced, however.
