FEEDING THE FOUNDLINGS
Forget Oliver Twist and his gruel. Children who grew up at London’s Foundling Hospital drank coffee and beer, and ate well at tables laid with china and linen – but they did so in silence and sat in height order.
The Feeding the 400 exhibition at the Foundling Museum in Bloomsbury explores the impact of food on these abandoned children between 1740 and 1950. In the 18th century, as a show of respect to their benefactors, the children would be observed eating Sunday lunch by members of well-to-do society, and paraded holding oranges at the governor’s banquet. Christmas provided cause for something of a spectacle, too, as the staged 1950s image (above) of the children preparing a Christmas pudding shows. £10.25 adults; £7.50 concessions; children free; until 8 January 2017;foundlingmuseum.org.uk