Middle-ranking household food acquisition: the impact of marketplaces on purchasing patterns and networks of supply in eighteenth-century Bristol and Boston

Abstract

ABSTRACT Studies of consumption have historically focused on the ways early modern consumers acquired fashionable and novel goods. More recently, the focus has shifted towards the consumption of everyday commodities by rural households. This study addresses the most central component of household consumption, food, and assesses the impact of urban marketplaces on its acquisition. Using a comparative analysis of food provision for middle-ranking households in Bristol and Boston, 1734-1742, it highlights the complexity and range of considerations required to ensure regular, fresh supplies of food. This study demonstrates that, despite the greater prevalence of advertising and conventional retailing in the food marketplace in Boston, factors peculiar to food provision, such as perishability and authenticity, meant both households continued to acquire this essential commodity through trusted, local, often familial, suppliers.