What Did the Georgians Eat at a Dinner Party?

'What Did the Georgians Eat at a Dinner Party?'
The Georgian era was a time of luxury and decadence. At least if you were one of the fortunate few who were members of the upper class, gentry or nobility. From fancy balls to trips into the ton, life was good for the glamorous Georgian elite, and it’s easy to see why the period is portrayed so often in films and TV shows, like ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and ‘Bridgerton’.
One of the many extravagances the nobility enjoyed in this period was fine dining. Dinner parties were huge, complicated affairs with multiple courses served at once and strict rules of etiquette to follow.
In this video, Dan Snow takes on some of the weird and wonderful foods that would have graced a Georgian dining table.
First, he tries some Claret, a red wine from Bordeaux that was very popular at the time. Wine was an essential component of any social event in the Georgian calendar and there were strict rules governing what you could drink, when and with whom.
Next, he samples some white soup, a mainstay of Georgian dinner parties which crops up in Jane Austen’s novels. The soup, which was made from veal stock, egg yolk, ground almonds, cream, chicken and bacon, was commonly served at balls and is not exactly to Dan’s taste.
He goes on to try some venison pie, which is more to his liking. Meat made up a large part of the Georgian diet and venison and game were particularly popular, because they had to be procured from country estates and were therefore a status symbol.
Next up, he tastes some sweetly named but not so sweet tasting sweetbreads. Sweetbreads are offal from the thymus gland (throat) and the pancreas gland (stomach) of calves or lambs. Unsurprisingly, this is not Dan's favourite part of the meal!
Finally, Dan enjoys some juicy pineapple. Pineapples were a sign of wealth in the Georgian period because to get ahold of them, you'd have to be able to either ship them over from the tropics or grow them in England and therefore, would have to be extremely rich. Pineapples were so popular that businessmen opened pineapple rental shops across the country. Weird!
Do you think you’d be able to stomach a Georgian dinner party? What would be the dish you’d least want to try? Let us know in the comments!
And keep your eyes peeled for the next episode of ‘History Bites’ where Dan tackles a feast fit for King Henry VIII.
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[@therevolutionwillbecaffeinated]

I'd be very interested to see another version of this describing what the lower classes were eating

[@therevolutionwillbecaffeinated]

(this was a really interesting video though 😅)

[@kelrogers8480]

It's easily looked up, no secrets here. Potatoes. They were lucky if there was a single piece of bacon for the father of the household - who likely worked down the mine - once a week!

[@T3t4nu5]

I'd be interested in a version with someone who isn't so squeamish about food.

[@BrahmaDBA]

Make no mistake even in our day and age fruits are still a status symbol. My friend who worked in Japan told me that giving people a basket of fruits, especially imported fruits, is considered a very high praise. Because off season and imported fruits in Japan can fetch up to hundreds of USD.

[@maciejtomkiewicz6733]

An example? Red sweet Watermellons of Cherson, just received back by Brothers & Sisters of Ukraine!

[@andrewmountford3608]

In HKG & China also bought from Japanese suppliers. These are specially selected & packaged fruits; absolutely perfect. A single peach might cost GBP100 or more

[@Matatabi6]

Some of this has to do with Japanese fruit growing practices with the prestige fruits. The one fruit one tree method. And also the historic culture of Japanese class systems and gift giving

[@evalevy2909]

It's more than that In Japan only fruits of the most uniform beauty and highest sugar content will make it to market. They are designer fruits. Not meant to be snacked on lightly. Luckily in most other countries we have boring fruit available

[@ollyravenhill7341]

Also because fresh fruit goes bad so quickly for a fair few people it’s just not something worth spending the money on as you either need to absolutely demolish a whole carton/box of fruit in one sitting or if you even look at the wrong way it’ll start going bad. Like berries only really last a couple days, and this is in the us where stuff isn’t like so warm that the life cycles are being shortened by climate.

[@jmc7034]

I do enjoy watching Dan’s face as he tries all this food

[@margo3367]

He’s adorable.

[@Satu-zs7gm]

@@margo3367 he is hot

[@samabrahams7687]

Pineapple was so exspensive roughly about £500 of todays money. They often bought them or rented them but they often didn't eat them as they were to exspensive they were just to show off.

[@anaterka231]

I have an idea why offal was a thing: when an animal is butchered, meat could be preserved somewhat, by salting, brining or smoking, offal on the other hand had to be eaten pretty much immediately. So i imagine good quality offal was a bit harder to come by (and pricier) especialy in cities or towns, therefore a suitable flex to your diner guests.

[@marksimons8861]

I thought offal was the basis of most sausages eaten today.

[@jillwanlin9558]

I always get a kick out of Dan taking one for the team. Thanks for the laugh HH. 😊

[@margo3367]

I got a kick out of it too and the bonus was reading excerpts from Pride & Prejudice. ❤

[@elizabethcornwell4156]

Claret should be served from a claret jug,not a flat bottomed ship’s decanter.Additionally ice cream was even more a symbol of status at this time.In an era before electricity it provedyou had access to an ice house as well as servants who could sit & churn cream in a pot of ice to produce ice cream.It would then be served in elaborate dishes of ice with an inner to contain the ice cream,or moulded into fancy shapes.

[@configuremakeinstall]

Where’s max miller and tasting history. White soup episode please! 3:12

[@Victoriacariad]

Bridgerton is a fantasy drama. I'm not sure we learned much about history from it... Compared with Jane Austen who lived at the time.

[@Satu-zs7gm]

it's just a reference for those people who never opened a history book, and they are the majority sadly

[@vickywitton1008]

Just remembering Sue Perkins and Coren eating a Georgian dinner party meal.and getting absolutely peed out of their heads!

[@andreasobuaculla9511]

I must do some research!

[@paddyf24_17]

Cheers Dan, one of those things I find strangely entertaining. Please keep eating for me.

[@giraffesinc.2193]

This is such a delightful series! More, please!

[@bigtex4058]

Guests in the Antebellum South were welcomed by being presented with a pineapple. One who overstayed his welcome would wake up one morning to find a pineapple at the foot of his bed. That meant it was time to go.

[@adamhauskins6407]

Man southerners sure do now how to tell people to go away

[@DJL78]

They had a slave labor surplus for pineapple presents? Or was this something the children of slaves were forced to do?

[@edennis8578]

​@@DJL78In the Confederacy, fewer than 6% of the free population owned slaves. Do you force your slave children to give pineapples to your guests?

[@DJL78]

@@edennis8578 Where do you get you facts from? A pop-up book in David Duke’s basement? The proportion of Southern white families that owned slaves in 1860 was 25-30 percent. According to the Census of 1860 30.8 percent of the free families in the contederacy owned slaves. That means that every third white person in those states had a direct commitment to slavery. Facts are facts.

[@nomdeguerre247]

​@@edennis8578My my so defensive of slave holders, dennis

[@Sir_Gerald_Nosehairs.]

Bridgerton is not a Georgian period drama, it's an alternate universe one if anything. Hence the astonishing historical inaccuracy.

[@justinbradfield1489]

Wokedom.

[@CATTYNESS1]

It's annoying that people are referencing it like this. You might as well say Hogwarts is a true representation of English schools and magic is real.

[@jityavallabhaneni5774]

But George was King during this era, yes technically it was Regency period as well but surely that would also cause this era to be a Georgian era

[@Satu-zs7gm]

​@@jityavallabhaneni5774Bridgerton is fantasyland for black American and appropriated the regency timeline with real life Georgian King. anyhow all those Georgian people grow up and live into the regency, Daphne was born during late Georgian period

[@welshman8954]

It's a god awful mistake

[@Maybeabandaid9]

"A drink with you sir." Indubitably.

[@Crytica.]

The pineapple information was so entertainingly interesting! Especially thanks to the pictures that showed great examples! I've seen those shapes here and there and now I know what they represent and from what century they come or are inspired from. Thanks for that!

[@DARK_NRG]

I wonder if the Pineapple on top of the Wimbledon Men's singles trophy is due to the fruit being a status symbol of the past.

[@jonatmelbourne7239]

Thank you! Great video!

[@joeclark2104]

sweet breads are thymus glands and can be fantastic if prepared correctly.

[@Informed21]

Yes, they can be great. I have never had a bad one. I don't know why Dan thinks that sweetbreads included testicles, the stomach, etc. Those are offal. I have never heard sweetbreads referred to as offal, although I suppose technically they are such. They are just too good to be included in that category, in my opinion.

[@michaelgray2279]

Sweetbreads are the THYMUS glands which are situated in the neck of spring lambs....Absolutely delicious fried in olive oil and with a squirt of lemon juice

[@katherinecollins4685]

Enjoyed this

[@kimberlypatton205]

Dan is wonderful!

[@RogerMoore-gq7ck]

That was a great catch. Impressive.

[@KokkiePiet]

I don’t know how your sweetbreads where prepared but you are wrong. Veal Sweetbreads are very nice to eat. Cleaned, salt and pepper, flour and then fried in butter, very tender in structure and mild in taste. I would eat them a lot more but they are quite expensive here (Germany, Netherlands)

[@goodputin4324]

where prepared? 😂

[@darthos6257]

How can he be wrong? It's a matter of taste.

[@KokkiePiet]

@@darthos6257 He is Talking about a strong gamey taste, sweetbreads taste rather mild.

[@ageingviking5587]

Another great one H H . How much will Dan need to be paid to eat peasant foods. 🙂 . Thank you for posting.

[@marksimons8861]

If I am not mistaken, Georgian wine glasses were rather small compared to what we use today. My guess is they could not have been too concerned about the bouquet.

[@Kimmy-pw8tm]

I loved watching such shows as Bridgeton and Pride and the Prejudiced.

[@ChrisOliver4307]

As Jane Austen said, Georgians only moved their bowels once a season.

[@anya93918]

The ending: how ungainly King George the fourth's corpse was 🤣

[@user-kj6gj5zg6i]

Nice catch

[@patrickpowell5430]

I would have been a little more impressed with this video if they hadn't resorted to using processed items for the cild meats. Both the ham and especially the 'other one' - I think that is pressed turkey breast - look to be straighnt from Asda. And the pork pies also look like shop-bought.

[@acerrubrum5749]

Recipe: 1 food Historian, 1 Cook, + quality ingredients, care and attention. This video is lacking in all accounts.

[@ThomasD66]

Agreed, the only possible way for white soup to taste gamey would be to start from a gamey meat stock.

[@PS-vy6ln]

Did you notice that the cold meats and pork pies were just ripped from a packet? It looks like something from a kids birthday party.

[@ac1646]

@@PS-vy6ln Yes. And that was soooooo disappointing.

[@roddo1955]

What a dish! Food looks good, too.

[@Nerathul1]

A quick google search tells me a pineapple during the time was 60£, which translates to somewhere around 5000£ in today's money.

[@apsetiadi]

I was mesmerised by him catching the pineapple 07:56

[@yieeeeeeeeeeeeee]

every struggling "aAaUgh" 😩 felt in my bones also why did that pie sounded so crunchy af

[@michaelpage4199]

That looked great. Well other than the sweet bread. Cheers

[@HFC786]

Should be fascinating

[@PolymurExcel]

Hey it came back!

[@autumncortez6254]

That white soup, the way he practically choked it down, it did not look appetizing.

[@hmq9052]

Chicken slices from Tesco Pork pies Tesco That ham. Tesco. Props department phoning it in a bit here

[@eliotreader8220]

that Ham looks tasty. thought they invented the Sandwich

[@TheWitchfinderGenral]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the Georgians didn't eat Pukka Pies

[@BigHenFor]

​@@TheWitchfinderGenralThat wasn't a pukka pie it was far too big.

[@54mgtf22]

Hey Dan. Love your work 👍

[@ThomasD66]

In the American State of South Carolina the image of the pineapple persists, carried over from the Georgians. But it has been ever so genteelly rebranded as a "symbol of hospitality" rather than one of wealth or status.

[@elizabethcornwell4156]

In England it was also considered a symbol of hospitality as well

[@Informed21]

Same in Virginia. Same in New England in the seafaring towns like Salem, MA.

[@maxshiraz3447]

Oddly, the Wimbledon trophy has a pineapple on its top

[@colonial6452]

Years ago, I saw an episode of "The Galloping Gourmet", featuring sweetbreads. Nasty delicacy.

[@aubs400]

Isn't Bridgerton infamously innacurate?

[@blvp2145]

Most of these pictures are historically in accurate

[@D4n1t0o]

Dude really just caught that spiky pineapple 😂

[@TheoneandonlyJobis]

love these because I despise Dan Snow's advertisements at the beginning of videos. Suffer Dan as you have made us suffer!

[@Chapdadddy]

So I’m curious how this diet translated to colonial America during this period - perhaps you could cover that as well? Loved this episode!

[@janehollander1934]

I know that there was a real crossover when it came to Pineapples during this time period, between 🇬🇧 and "The Colonies". If you look at the "Christmas" decorations in 'Colonial Williamsburg' Pens. the Pineapple together with Pomegranates seem to be everywhere - when people were really affluent, ofcourse✌🏻😊.

[@BlaBla-pf8mf]

The Townsends channel has many videos of the food of the georgian era both in Britain and in North America.

[@EK14MeV]

Meanwhile French high society fops urinated in Versailles Palace stairways.

[@RataStuey]

The sweetbread is the thymus gland of a lamb usually. 6:00

[@neilfleming2787]

no idea what he was eating as 'sweetbreads' - they were NOT sweetbreads in their correct form they are defined as "Sweetbreads are an organ meat from the thymus gland and pancreas"...they do NOT include testicles as he said

[@andrasszabo1570]

He didn't say there were. He said these sweetbreads were glands from the stomach (like the pancreas). He just said it was funny that in Jane Austen's books the characters were having nice, polite conversations while munching on testicles or ovaries.

[@maryjackson1194]

@@andrasszabo1570 The pancreas is not in the stomach, nor is the thymus. And, properly prepared, sweetbreads are delicious.

[@jo-vf8jx]

@@maryjackson1194Dan Snow didn’t say they were from the stomach, but drawn from it. Imagine a stomach as a tree trunk and drawn as the branches. That’s what he’s trying to say.

[@pheart2381]

Why the ship's decanter?

[@nicolad8822]

Bridgerton isn’t a period drama though? It’s a bit of enjoyable fluff.

[@LordPenny95]

Exactly what a load of bollocks

[@nomdeguerre247]

You're a bit of enjoyable fluff.

[@MoonChild-yg3nw]

He's table manners 😮

[@ooglyboogly6258]

I thought they already posted this video???

[@Fa1con87]

Ah how I miss those parties

[@rogerhenderson8617]

How do you get a slice of pineapple?

[@Fruduz]

What form of drink is Buçellus?

[@xXScissorHandsXx]

22k to build a greenhouse and facilities to grow pineapples and selling for £150/unit. Sheesh 😅

[@amarullahanam5825]

next episode should be "Fitness throughout history of civilisation"...Dan Snow needs to talk about the first bench press and the first protein powder

[@elizabethclaiborne6461]

Sweetbreads are still eaten today, Anthony Bourdain loved them.

[@phill2065]

Is this a re upload? Why do I remember watching this before

[@bktfrank]

Same, i thought i was going mad

[@MlTCH]

I would have been jailed back then. I just today discovered that I accidentally let a pineapple go overripe in the back of my fridge.

[@MrPh30]

Sweetbreads became more of status as we now know it as during late Victorian ,early Edwardian . And most known recent years Marco Pierre White and others took them forward again into the levels.

[@RataStuey]

Sweetbreads are delicious when cooked properly.

[@spankflaps1365]

So did the Georgians hang out with Zippians and Bunglians?

[@dalestreeter341]

What happened to William IV?

[@Heresheis0818]

6:15 Jane awesome

[@StinkyPeteThePirate]

Most of the Georgians (Atlanta) I know like barbecue....

[@StinkyPeteThePirate]

Chicken and Waffles!

[@StinkyPeteThePirate]

Peach Pie!

[@StinkyPeteThePirate]

Biscuits & Gravy, Fried Okra, Grits, Pecan Pie, Cornbread, Fried Green Tomatoes, Peach Cobbler.

[@janehollander1934]

😂

[@Liyana333]

I really wish this foody section of the channel would have been hosted by someone who has an adventurous palate and isn’t just constantly saying everything is terrible then leaving it at that. He was the same in the one about the monks who abstained from meat and considered pickled herring (actually a nice food, as well as almost everything else they ate to be hideous.) It would be nice to have good descriptions so even if something isn’t to his taste, we still get some interesting information that compares to things we all know and do understand. That would give a real bit of history 😅lesson substance.

[@Katmando376]

Georgian Era included William IV 1830-1837.

[@jprehberger]

I see Dan eating with his fingers occasionally. Is that period authentic?

[@pheart2381]

Yes,there were finger bowls down the table to rinse your fingers in.

[@craigmignone2863]

A little cultural and historical appreciation..... typical of the BBC as Ministry of Truth

[@Your.Uncle.AngMoh]

George IV weighed nearly half again what I do- and I'm nearly 6'6.

[@johankotze42]

Wait... let me fill my pinotage! 😀

[@statinskill]

There needs to be some disambiguation here between Georgia, the country and this certain era in British history. I clicked expecting to learn about the country.

[@georgerobartes2008]

Sweetbreads are the pancreas of the beast. Gamey , soft and tender . Even the French and Chinese dont eat testicles and they rule nothing out ( almost ).... The pineapple was first grown in the 17th C for Charles 2nd .

[@SandraWambold]

Why is he eating out of serving pieces?

[@williamrobinson7435]

Well this diet is such that it seems entirely appropriate that the video is a repeat 🤣OOPS! Forgive me. Plink plink fizz, Alka Seltzer anyone? White soup always seems delicious but dodgy to me, I think I'd want to be able to trust the chef. In the other edit I seem to remember a Gilray cartoon with "cholera soup" mentioned.. Bon appetite! 🌟👍

[@MissBlueEyeliner]

My impression of this food is that you’d feel like you’d swallowed an anvil after eating.

[@ardotte]

all that food looks cold - which I suppose is authentic

[@simon-oy6um]

Sweetbreads = sheeps balls 😂😂😂

[@jlshel42]

Guess you needed to be romantic to get someone in an age before mints

[@aswathythayil6346]

😍🥰🥰🥰😍🥰💞😍💞😍🥰💞💞✨✨

[@giacogiaco5540]

Yes didn't they have Great Grub!... while the peasants were starving...

[@janehollander1934]

Still a cute video, even if it's a "re-upload". BUT at 08:25 you show a famous painting that is thought to have been painted around 1675. So still quite some time away from the 'Georgian' (1714-1830) or let alone 'Regency' (1811-1820) Period!! The painting shows your 'Restoration' King Charles II. Who is presented with a Pineapple. And where to the left of the King, a man, possibly John Rose, the Royal gardener, kneels before the King, and presents him with what is said to have been the first pineapple grown in England. (Although it is thought that at this date it is more likely that the pineapple had been imported). ✌🏻

[@michaelwest8471]

If only he had Georgian table manners.

[@anosluz]

Eats like a pig

[@BobSmith-fx9sz]

The relatives are getting pineapples for Christmas now

[@janehollander1934]

👌🏻😂

[@mikeplatts2603]

Did not like the finger clicking for a spoon.

[@MrSunlander]

I take it all those are servings for one? All that double dipping in that 'tureen' of soup and bowl of sweetbreads sure guarantees it.....

[@matthewestep6071]

Sweetbreads are calf brains not testicles and ovaries.

[@TheExvangelicalCat]

Jesus, no wonder gout was such a problem in the Georgian era.

[@LaMoria.]

Cheers to pineapple

[@scootergoat98]

you're a braver man than me, Dan

[@williamromine5715]

I'm kind of surprised that sweetbreads were included at such gala meals. They were generally considered ofal, what was left over for the poor to eat, who couldn't afford a better quality of meat. My father grew up in the Southern States in the U.S. during the Great Depression. He said he had eaten sweet breads, but only because there wasn't anything else to eat.

[@lindoriel7286]

Well, the same can be said of bone marrow or things such as lobsters and salmon, which were common "peasant" food back in the day, but (especially with the latter two) are considered quite middle-class and posh foods for someone to eat regularly. Bone marrow and sweetbreads can still be found fairly often in Michelin Star restaurants today. The sweetbreads of Jane Austin's time would have been sauteed in wine and cream, and served with a rich sauce, not likely to be the grey-looking lumps that the host eats here. But tastes vary with time. Tucking into a fully baked pig's head would have been a banquet centrepiece back then, but would probably get you looked at strangely if you tried to serve it up for Sunday dinner today.

[@ThomasD66]

@@lindoriel7286 Grew up in Florida, where you could commonly find Mexican menudo, or soul food chitlins, soup. Both often made with the same parts of beef intestines. But proper handling and preparation were essential. Done right they were not the least bit offensive. Done wrong and they would drive you from the table no tasting required. But some people actually enjoyed the funk - it was comfort food from their childhood (same way many middle eastern people like the barnyard smell of lesser quality oud oil.)

[@Arkantos117]

A history channel should not be using stills from incredibly historically inacccurate media.

[@nomdeguerre247]

Cry about it until you can't whine some more.

[@devhunter35]

2:13 is that a human heaf

[@setituptoblowitup]

Which 1 the state or the contray?we be eating turnup greens fried chicken and watermelon down here ✌️🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲

[@Mr_krabz_mcfc]

The era 😂

[@setituptoblowitup]

@@Mr_krabz_mcfc new era new era nnnnuera

[@janebooth3751]

What a ridiculous fuss about eating sweetbreads. They're still eaten today and are delicious.