Eating Meat in Times of Crisis

Vienna’s Meat Supply During the Gründerkrise

Abstract

This paper raises the question as to whether the great depression after 1873 had a direct impact on meat supply and consumption in Vienna. Based on newspaper articles, official statistics, municipal records, and consumption figures, this article will analyse the mechanisms of the market and supply system, and the influence of political regulation pre- and post-1873. In so doing, this paper will present a food-centred approach to topics regarding economic history, and it will further shed light on the immediate effects of crises on urban ways of living and supply mechanisms at the end of the nineteenth century.