ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 focuses on the effects the abolition of the slave trade had in the British colonies (1807) and the increasing attention that was consequently paid to pronatalist approaches, underlining the measures taken regarding the living conditions and diets of the enslaved. It examines the approaches that enslaved owners took to food and diet, showing that they were changing their attitudes regarding the care of the enslaved. The analysis of plantation ledgers, medical essays, treaties on agronomy and plantation management, and other documents shows that owners had to take more care in feeding the weak, sick, or childbearing enslaved. It was the context of the abolition that forced the plantation owners to adopt new habits, such as giving the most nutritious food to women who had just given birth.
