A fascinating source for studying the lives of people living in Galicia during the 19th century is the publication Proba Badan nad zywieniem sie ludu wiejskiego w Galicyi (An Attempt at Research on the Diet of the Rural Population in Galicia), published in Cracow in 1894. The author of this work was Napoleon Cybulski, a professor of medical sciences. This publication, which aligns with broader studies of everyday life and living conditions among Galician inhabitants, was a response to the urgent need to better understand the issues of malnutrition and its impact on the social and economic development of the region.

Professor Cybulski drew inspiration from an earlier publication by Stanislaw Szczepanowski in 1888, titled Nedza Galicji w cyfrach i program energicznego rozwoju gospodarstwa krajowego (The Poverty of Galicia in Numbers and a Program for Vigorous National Economic Development). Szczepanowski’s work highlighted significantly lower consumption levels of food products in Galicia compared to other European countries. Professor Cybulski considered these findings overly pessimistic. This skepticism likely motivated him to conduct more detailed research into the daily diets (particularly of Galician peasants) to confirm or refute the prevailing statistical estimates.

Gathering Insights from Questionnaires

A notable feature of Cybulski’s publication is the preserved questionnaires his research team distributed to 10 villages in each district with the help of the National School Council. These surveys were completed by local primary school teachers. In total, the team collected over 500 completed questionnaires from across Galicia. Unfortunately, no responses were received from five districts: Horodenka, Kolomyia, Lviv, Sokal, and Sanok.

Cybulski lamented that some of the surveys had been completed perfunctorily, which may have compromised the quality of the data collected. To address this, a decision was made to send out additional, simplified questionnaires, this time targeting municipal leaders and local doctors. The second questionnaire focused solely on listing all the foods consumed daily over the course of a week, along with approximate quantities and preparation methods. Unfortunately, the response rate was exceedingly low – out of several hundred distributed questionnaires, only 20 were returned.