“This time the three men were in agreement. One after the other they spoke in despairing tones, and theirs was a long tale of woe. The working man wouldn’t be able to survive; the Revolution had only made things worse for him; the bourgeoisie had been living off the fat of the land since 1789, greedily taking everything for themselves and leaving not so much as the scraps off their plates. How could anyone say that the workers had their fair share of the extraordinary increase in wealth and living standards that had taken place over the previous hundred years. People had simply told them they were free and then washed their hands of them. Free? Yes, free to die of starvation.”
Émile Zola, “Germinal”, 1885.
A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity 