Charlotte Brontë at the table

In Haworth, the day follows three English meals rather than the French pattern. The morning breakfast, frugal and hot, opens the day with oat porridge. Dinner is taken in the middle of the day: the main meal, boiled or roasted meat with garden vegetables. Finally, tea in the late afternoon brings together bread, cheese, cake, and the inevitable teapot. Tea is not a break but a sacred institution that punctuates and comforts the entire household.

In the Pennines, wheat grows poorly but oats thrive. It is oats, not wheat, that nourish the Brontës from morning to night: as porridge in the morning, as dry oatcakes that keep for weeks. Oats are the humble and tenacious thread running through this pastor's table, much like Charlotte herself.