Editing Workhouse (section)

===Diet===
[[File:Women mealtime st pancras workhouse.jpg|thumb|left|Dinnertime at St Pancras Workhouse, London, 1911]]
In 1836 the Poor Law Commission distributed six diets for workhouse inmates, one of which was to be chosen by each Poor Law Union depending on its local circumstances.{{sfnp|Higginbotham|2006|p=19|ps=none}}  Although dreary, the food was generally nutritionally adequate,<ref name=BMJ/> and according to contemporary records was prepared with great care.  Issues such as training staff to serve and weigh portions were well understood.<ref name=BMJ>{{citation |last1=Smith |first1=L. |last2=Thornton |first2=S. J. |last3=Reinarz |first3=J |last4=Williams |first4=A. N. |title=Please, sir, I want some more |journal=British Medical Journal |date=17 December 2008 |volume=337 |pages=1450–1451 |url=http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/337/dec17_2/a2722?ijkey=e0a439d249acf09b97084e2c6ea8228770a3a873&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha |doi=10.1136/bmj.a2722 |pmid=19091756 |s2cid=31457463 |access-date=2 December 2010|url-access=subscription }}</ref>  The diets included general guidance, as well as schedules for each class of inmate.  They were laid out on a weekly rotation, the various meals selected on a daily basis, from a list of foodstuffs.  For instance, a breakfast of bread and [[gruel]] was followed by dinner, which might consist of cooked meats, pickled pork or bacon with vegetables, potatoes, yeast [[dumpling]], soup and [[suet]], or [[rice pudding]].  Supper was normally bread, cheese and [[broth]], and sometimes butter or potatoes.{{sfnp|Anon|1836|pp=56–59|ps=none}}

The larger workhouses had separate dining rooms for males and females; workhouses without separate dining rooms would stagger the meal times to avoid any contact between the sexes.{{sfnp|Fowler|2007|p=62|ps=none}}