Who Filled the Food Basket? Inventories, Food Production and the Household Economy in 18th-Century Helsinki, a Nordic Town

In pre-industrial rural Nordic society, the care for animals and the working of animal products were part of the female domain. The purpose of this article is to analyse the inventories of eighteenth-century Helsinki to determine the presence of evidence for economic activity usually identified with rural pursuits, within the urban household. By demonstrating the existence of such activity, the aim is to challenge the idea of a pre-industrial male breadwinner family and provide further support for the demands to re-evaluate the existing paradigm within studies of the household economy.