The author's purpose in this passage is to inform. The author is informing the reader on how Elizabethans would typically store their food. It goes into details of differences between food types and some options for storing food and getting nourishment in summer and winter.
<span>an animal employed to carry heavy loads </span>
The falling action is everything that comes after the part of him crying at the milk bar and feeling guilty. Basically everything after the line, "When the crying spell passed, he wiped his eyes and face with his hankerchief, feeling relieved."