“Almoços, lunchs, jantares e ceias”: Lisbon food services in annual commercial directories (1871-99). Typologies, services and products

Abstract

The social changes that have occurred in Europe throughout the 19th century reflected a change of the food universe where, parallel to the rising of population’s urbanization, occurs an increasing in the production and commercialization of food ready to eat, provided by a heterogeneous commercial network, which answered to the needs of almost all social strata. Lisbon, as the country’s capital, was no stranger to these changes that can be perceived through the analyses of published annual commercial directories. Analyzed on a broad spectrum, this kind of publications allows us to observe the commercial and advertising dynamics of catering establishments, types of shops, services and products offered and, in specific cases, established prices of some services. This analysis was based on a set of seven volumes, published between 1871 and 1899, and related to two specific publications: the Almanach da Agência Primitiva de Annuncios e o Annuario Commercial ou Annuario Official de Portugal.