A set table. In general, the eating habits of French peasants in the Napoleonic era became healthier, but some bad customs of the past continued to exist
In principle, the living conditions in the French countryside during the Napoleonic Empire improved in various respects, including food, and the peasants began to be able to afford “luxuries” which had been unthinkable until recently.
While remaining frugal in fact, the daily diet was enriched with new flavors and the dishes became more substantial; in particular, in the traditional and ubiquitous vegetable soup, cheese appeared the lard, sometimes the chicken and, in the areas closest to the coast, fish.
The bread instead, which was never missing and constituted the very basis of the meal, it continued to be made by mixing a mixture of wheat, rye and barley (it was called mouture ), while wine, beer and cider frequently became present on the tables.
Only healthy habits then?
Not really, or rather not only, because some bad practice first of all, that of sweetening continued to exist food with dangerous substances , a vice as unhealthy as it is ancient unfortunately hard to eradicate: salt it was often mixed with chalk, earth, saltpetre and even with arsenic , with vinegar vitriol was sometimes added and beer the arsenical salts .