“An unsuitable and degraded diet? Part two: realities of the mid-Victorian diet”，Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine，J R Soc Med. 2008 Jul 1; 101(7): 350–357.
该研究把维多利亚中期的英国劳工阶级，按收入分成了高、中、低三档。
最低的一档：每周家庭收入低于1英镑，夫妻或单亲带2~3个孩子。
即便如此低的收入，肉类仍然是食物中一个重要角色，但不可能是大块烤肉的形式。周日晚餐一般有肉块，内脏炖洋葱，配菜有胡萝卜，土豆，白菜或菜蓟，还有羊脂糕点。周一吃周日剩下的炖肉，加面包和色拉。周二、周三是带骨的肉汤，加蔬菜和饺子（dumplings）。周四经常是动物油脂煮的大米或扁豆和洋葱。周五是鲱鱼（很便宜，1便士2条）或鱼头汤。周六常吃油炸的内脏，如牛肾。天天主食是面包。也有简单的甜食，比如面包屑和姜末做的苹果饼。夏天有新鲜水果，樱桃又多又便宜。
茶是日常的饮料。最穷的人也喝咖啡，只不过是菊苣和咖啡的混合物。早餐是面包，偶尔会有黄油。午餐是面包夹芝士或西洋菜。上半周，手头宽裕一点，还可以加一碗街边小摊卖的汤。
最高的一档（熟练技工）：每周家庭收入3~4英磅，夫妻带3~4个孩子。
除了住房，交通，取暖，他们可以每周花1.2~2英镑买食物，吃的就相当好了。细节我就不翻译了：
“At this level of income it would be usual to have a roast dinner on Sunday, eaten cold on Monday with bought pickles, and cooked up in a form such as a curry on Tuesday. Typically a dish such as a steamed meat suet pudding would be served midweek, eaten cold the next day. Fish was commonly consumed on Friday and a quick meal such as pork chops or fried beefsteak would be served on Saturday. At all these meals, vegetables (in season) would be an important bulking feature: not just potatoes but onions (because of their cheapness), carrots, Jerusalem artichokes and green vegetables from cabbage to green beans. Desserts were also regularly served, often fruit or dairy-based – apple pies, rice or tapioca puddings, stewed or fresh fruit like gooseberries or cherries, in season. Tea with milk and often sugar was a common drink, with (black) coffee being served more rarely and generally at breakfast. Table (watered-down) beer was often served, especially to men.
Breakfast generally involved eggs (boiled or fried) on a Sunday, and possibly midweek, or porridge, made with milk; though by the end of the week that milk might well be half and half with water. Bread was served, usually toasted, possibly with butter and bought preserves like jam. Lunch generally took the form of sandwiches with paste, left-over meat, or watercress and cheese, commonly bought as cheap street food. Soup made from meat and vegetables, along with meat or vegetable pies and ham and watercress sandwiches, were street staples readily bought at this income level.“
作者在结论中说，维多利亚中期，即便对那些经济状况处于底层的家庭，他们的营养状况也达到乃至超越了今天的标准（考虑到当时都是有机食品，而且由于没有冰箱，人们都吃新鲜的）。
“…for those at the bottom of the economic scale there will have been additional difficulties due to financial instability. Nevertheless, the picture that emerges of mid-Victorian nutrition is remarkably positive, and one that matches or surpasses modern nutritional recommendations. If health benefits accrue from improved nutrition, as so many recent studies suggest, the mid-Victorians should have enjoyed a generally high standard of physical well-being.”
