Ribbons Among the Rajahs by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Women
ISBN: 9781473893290
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books
Published: 2017-05-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

Dine and Wine

As all Georgians knew, one of the most enjoyable forms of self-indulgence was eating. They made the best of every opportunity to fill their stomachs pleasurably, especially at someone else’s expense. While the men usually won this race, the women were not far behind. A generous table demanded adequate financial resources, which was not beyond the reach of middle class civil administrators, merchants or the military, but was more of a struggle for young writers or junior army officers; they often had meals provided for them in their messes or residences, albeit plain. Much of a woman’s responsibility in running a house was to put food on the table, and plenty of it, and India was no different from England, apart from the type of food, and its availability.

The general pattern of meals was universal, and was a compromise between English and Indian habits. Breakfast was inevitably the first meal, although did not necessarily mark the start of the day, because military manoeuvres were often carried out before daybreak, and also many private individuals would go out riding for leisure at this cool time of day. All those taking part would return home to break their fast in princely fashion. There are many descriptions of what constituted breakfast, but Emma Roberts, in her handbook about Indian British life in the early years of the nineteenth century, describes an example during the events constituting a grand military review, or field day. The ladies mostly arrived in carriages, but some would go by horse or even turn up on an elephant. After witnessing the proceedings from a discreet distance, no doubt tittering like schoolgirls behind their fans at the antics of the military, they would retire to one of many large tents, really nothing less than marquees, which were specifically reserved as ‘Dressing tents for the ladies, who shake off the mornings dust and repair their charms, by re-arranging the hair and re-smoothing the drapery.’1 They would then find their way along intricate passages connecting these tents, aiming for breakfast, where they were met by:

Fish of every kind, fresh, dried, pickled, or preserved, or hermetically sealed in tin; delicate fricassees, rissoles, croquettes, omelettes, and curries of all descriptions; cold meats and games of all sorts; pâtés, jellies and jams from London and Lucknow; fruits and sweetmeats; with cakes in endless variety, splendidly set out in china, cut glass and silver.

And a final, very English, touch: ‘The guests providing their own tea cups, plates etc.’. While food was readily available in a military cantonment, hardware obviously wasn’t.

Feasts such as this were not at all out of the ordinary; for the majority, breakfast was not so lavish, but still generous in proportion to the numbers present. In 1827, Elizabeth Fenton, when still married to her first husband, Neil Campbell, describes a morning in Dinapore when they both rose at the sound of gunfire, the official mark of the start and the end of the day. They strolled along the banks of

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