Today saw people flooding in to Burlington House’s courtyard from Piccadilly to try the RSC’s authentic Dickensian gruel. Held to order by the terrifying Mr Bumble, the public tucked into their traditional 1850s London workhouse cuisine.

The gruel was cooked up by our own chef Fabien Aid, and received mixed opinions: most thought the gruel itself was a tasty porridge, but the addition of onions certainly ruined a few officer-workers’ afternoons – or at least their colleagues’.

Giving out gruel – and thereby feeding the masses – serves to highlight the RSC’s upcoming report on food, “The Vital Ingredient“, which is launched later this month, and the RSC’s theme of food for 2009.

The pictures below were taken for the Press Association. Click each thumbnail to see the larger image, and the wide variety of faces people pulled while eating the gruel!

And if photos aren’t enough for you, here’s the news footage that appeared on Virgin news, MSN news and Daily Mirror videos… follow this link (goes to MSN News Videos).