La alimentación en la época de la Guerra de la Independencia

The notorious political changes than happened in Europe during the XVIIIth century, had a big influence in the different aspects of daily life, as it is the alimentation. The change from the Old to the New Regime influenced the modifications in the life of a society in which the different social classes were characterized by their different diet. This age was characterized by the demographic changes and the problems derived from the low yield of the crops in the XVIIIth century. Between 1800 and 1805 there were natural catastrophes that gave rise to agricultural crisis, with the effects of shortage, scarcity, hunger and deaths. During the Independence War, the shortages were even more serious and the «Subsistence Crisis» were successive, being one of the most important manifestations of these crisis, the bread provisions problems, since this was a basic food for the population. Grains were the most basic food, used for the elaboration of derivatives, as bread, porridge, soups or purees; pulses, mainly chickpeas, were part of «pucheros», «ollas» or «cocidos», which were very variable; in general other ingredients were added, as pork fat, and sometimes potatoes coming from America and already incorporated to the Spanish cooking. From animal origin foods we should refer to fishes, with high consumption in Lent, and often dried or salted for conservation purposes. Meat was only eaten in very special days. Together with this age of hunger, shortage and death, the way of feeding evoluted, and the advances happened during the XVIIIth and XIXth centuries were the first step for the important dietary changes that took place in the XXth century and nowadays.