turtle soup

[jiang]

Dear teachers,

In the film Pride and Prejudice there is something that I don't understand.
When the girls knew their sisters got engaged they asked their mother to cook turtle ( if I got the word correctly) soup for them. What does this mean? Does it mean in British culture when a girl is engaged the family should cook turtle? If this is so could you please tell me the origin of the culture?

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you in advance.

Jiang

 

[Tdol]

Turtle soup was a very popular food among the rich. It is presumably a celebratory dish. Today we'd be more likely to open champagne than cook turtles. ;-)