Change and Continuity in Early Nineteenth-Century Foodways in Québec City’s Lower Town

Abstract

Plant and insect remains found in a privy structure were analyzed to gain insight into foodways of Québec City’s Lower Town inhabitants in the early nineteenth century. We use dietary practices as a window to examine how the population of the St. Roch neighbourhood responded to changes taking place in the decades that followed the instauration of the British regime and how these changes may have influenced different aspects of their food consumption practices. Through comparisons with assemblages from two French-regime sites as well as from three later nineteenth-century sites, we find that a certain continuity characterizes the plant consumption of Québec City’s French-Canadian population. We address some of the challenges of this research, as it is difficult to distinguish between consumption as a choice related to identity versus more practical considerations such as availability and access.