Food

There was also a change in diet. Peasmeal, oatmeal and barley bannocks gave place to wheaten bread and baxter’s shops were opened. Sowens, an oatmeal dish, were supplemented by potatoes, which began to be extensively cultivated only in1750. With the imposing of a malt tax, home brewed and other ale was largely superseded by spirits, much of it smuggled from the Continent. Tea was just becoming widespread as a beverage. The improvement and increase in the growing of turnips meant that cattle could be wintered and the slaughterings of the “Martinmas Mart” in November to give meat for salting during the cold months decreased. Previously, fresh meat in winter had been extremely scarce. In Glasgow, ‘on the rare arrival of fresh meat in winter, the bellman went along the streets announcing the exciting fact’. Afterwards, beef became a popular food, and immense quantities were consumed, as is evidenced by entries in the Lodges Stewards’ Book. For example, for the supper following a St. John the Baptist Day Festival in the Masonic Lodge in 1811, when 45-50 persons can be surmised as present, 44lbs, of Beef and 54 Pyes were bought.