In Victorian England, bread was a principle source of the daily caloric intake of both the poor and well-to-do. People of the middle and upper class typically consumed a half pound of bread daily and a laborer’s diet may have included two pounds. In 1857, the former poet Eliza Acton published The English Bread-Book for Domestic Use where she wrote: “Bread is a first necessity of life to the great mass of the English people; being in part the food of all-the chief food of many-and almost the sole food of many more.”

The English Bread-Book 1857 Eliza Acton

As the standard of living improved in Victorian England, the use of rye, barley, oats, rice and corn for baking bread declined and bread was more commonly produced from wheat flour. Bread was often delivered to middle class homes by commercial bakers, but was commonly adulterated with alum, sawdust, plaster and other contaminants. The fillers were particularly hazardous to children and robbed the most needy of nutrition. Eliza Acton was a vocal critic of the practice and advocated for the use of pure wheat flour and home baking in her book. Following the 1860 Food Adulteration Act, the contamination of bread with hazardous fillers gradually came to an end. Isabella Beeton drew heavily on Acton’s writings, quoted her bread recipes, and reiterated in her book of household management, “Everybody knows it is wheat flour that yields the best bread.”