Madens sociale markører i romantikkens København

Abstract

Mad og drikke er fyldt med sociale markører. For det københavnske samfund omkring 1800 aflæser artiklen en række af disse sociale signaler ved en næranalyse af de bevarede spisereglementer for ansatte og barselskoner på Den kgl. Fødsels- og Plejestiftelse i København i 1806. Der blev spillet på mange strenge, ikke blot tiden for måltidet, antallet af varme måltider, antallet af retter til de enkelte måltider, typen af retter, variationen, drikkevarerne, men også i høj grad på det mest simple, nemlig brødet. Bortset fra den lavest rangerende gruppe, de fritliggende barselskvinder, der fik samme tarvelige hospitalskost som de fattige på byens hospitaler, synes de øvrige voksne at have repræsenteret et mikrokosmos af byens sociale grupper. Ammer og jordemoderelever nød en bedre byalmuekost, de, der betalte 3-8 rd. om ugen, fik en kost, der havde sit modstykke hos byens middelstand, mens de der betalte 12-15 rd., nød mad og drikke, der rakte ind i borgerskabet.

Summary

The food and drink service is replete with social markers. Several of these social signals for Copenhagen society will be interpreted through a close analysis of extant food regulations from 1806, particularly for employees and midwivesat the Royal Maternity Hospital in Copenhagen (Den kgl. Fødsels- og Plejestiftelse). There are many variants here, not just the times of meals, the number of warm meals, the number of dishes at each meal, the types of dishes, the variation in food and drink, but also to a great extent, the differences in the most simple of dishes, namely bread. Except for the group lowest on the social scale who were the indigent women giving birth, and who received the same cheap hospital food as charity recipients in the city’s hospitals, the other adults at the hospital would seem to have represented a microcosm of the city’s social groups. Wet nurses and midwifery students received a better sort of urban common food; those who paid 3-8 Rigsdaler a week were given food similar to that eaten by the city’s middle class, while those who paid 12-15 Rigsdaler weekly enjoyed food and drink which reached into the upper classes.