Eating habits were more rigid than is the norm in  modern times with fixed mealtimes. The main meal of the day was dinner which was normally taken at one o'clock. As most men worked in rural areas worked close to their homes they would go home for this meal. Meal Timetable A meal timetable for a working main is shown below. 7 am Take breakfast Favourite Breakfast Dishes porridge - muffins - bacon - eggs - mushrooms - brawn - omelet - sausages - toast - marmalade If an hour's work has to be done before breakfast a snack of a slice of bread and butter or a few biscuits was eaten before leaving the house. 1 pm  take Dinner Favourite Dinner Dishes see recipes page for main course dishes 5 pm take Tea Favourite Tea Dishes Low Tea usually taken at home with no company - pot of tea - thin bread and butter sandwiches - small cakes- fruit High Tea usually taken with company  - sardines- potted meat - toast - cold meats - salad - cakes- tarts with custard - fresh fruit 10 pm take Supper or 1 hour before going to bed Favourite Supper Dishes Cold meat - savory potatoes - pickles - meat cakes - sheep's heart - beef croquettes - macaroni cheese - faggots - kedgeree
	Eating Advice Meals should be taken at regular intervals and at fixed times. The organs of digestion then work better and are better able to prepare and hold in readiness the various fluids ie the gastric juices, the bile etc by which the food is digested. Masticate the food very carefully. If  we bolt our food quickly in large lumps the gastric juices can act only on the outside of these lumps and will be unable to completely dissolve them. Do not talk or laugh while you are eating There are two tubes leading form the back of your mouth downwards- one into the stomach and one into the lungs. The windpipe, as the tube leading to the lings is called has a beautiful little lid ( called the epiglottis) which closes it and prevents food getting ion, as long as we are not talking or laughing. But as we cannot talk or laugh without opening this lid. If we talk while eating there is a great danger of a morsel of food getting into the wrong pipe. When this happened we can generally force it out again by coughing but sometimes this is impossible. In this way many people have died from suffocation. Do not read or try to learn anything while eating Reading and thinking causes a flow of blood to the head to supply the brain; but when we are eating the blood ought to go especially to the blood vessels of the stomach for it is from the blood that the gastric juice is formed by which much of the food is digested. proper exercise The organs of digestion are strengthened by a proper amount of exercise and by fresh air. Farm labourers and Navvies etc are able to digest large quantities of cheese while if a man whose work is done indoors all day eg a clerk and whose work is done more with his head than his hands, attempts to live on the same diet, he suffers severely from indigestion.