From Vintage into Modern Food Recipes Laborers in Western Europe in the 18th century ate bread and gruel, often in a soup with greens and lentils, a little bacon, and occasionally potato or a bit of cheese. They washed it down with beer (Water was too contaminated), and a sip of milk. Three fourths of the food was derived from plants; fats came from plant oils. Meat was much more attractive, but very expensive. By 1870 the West European diet at about 16 kilos per person per year of meat, rising to 50 kilos by 1914, and 77 kilos in 2010. [17] Milk, and cheese, was seldom in the diet, even in the early 20th century, it was still uncommon in Mediterranean diets. In the immigrant neighborhoods of fast-growing American industrial cities, housewives purchased ready-made food through street peddlers, hucksters, push carts, and small shops operated from private homes. This opened the way for the rapid entry of entirely new items such as pizza, spaghetti with meatballs, bagels, hoagies, pr...