![]() ![]() Honey was a food, a medicine, and the source of alcoholic beverages Monks became beekeepers and herbalists, producing honey for use as food and medicine. Fish was a large part of the diet throughout the world, in all cultures, and at all meals. Near the coasts it was easily obtained, in the hinterlands less so, and it became an item of trade of significant value. Because it was so important in the preservation of food, salt was an expensive and highly cherished commodity. The seasons were marked by the times fish ran in the streams, and early festivals of celebration surrounded the communal taking and salting of fish. It is likely that salted fish was one of the first commodities sold to other consumers, rather than eaten solely by whomever harvested it.įresh waters, not yet polluted by the progress of humanity, yielded a bounty too, and those living near waterways found fish to be a major portion of their diet. Fish were taken from the sea to be eaten fresh, or salted and smoked for preservation. They were eaten raw from the shell, or thrown on an open fire to steam in their own juices. Clams and mussels were added to the diet too. Oysters abounded on all of the world’s seacoasts, and though it is unknown who first decided to eat an oyster, once started humanity consumed them with gusto. Seafood was limited to those living by the seaįor those living along the coastlines, a bounty was present for the taking, far more plentiful than today. Markets did not carry much in the way of seafood, unless they were near the sea. Often they too were the property of the landowner, and the tenant who killed them faced severe punishment including branding or maiming, for the sin of having roasted duck for his families dinner. Chickens were valued for their eggs and seldom killed for the plate in the early medieval period, it was far more likely for poultry to be in the form of geese or duck. They subsided on much smaller meats, rabbits, squirrels, rodents and birds such as pigeons, robins, larks, and doves. But rabbits and squirrels were fair game.īeef became a feature of the meals of the wealthy but the less fortunate could not afford it, nor did they have the means of preparing large cuts of beef on their smaller hearths. ![]() On many estates in England and in Europe deer was considered the property of the landowner, and tenants could be punished for killing them. Swan was a delicacy on the tables of the wealthy. There are recipes for robins, and their eggs, from the medieval period, which were old then. Anything which lived in the woods or flew in the air was considered game. In less populated areas where game was available it was often the center of the menu at dinner. Besides being seasonal, available food depended on the region in which one resided. Eating local was a necessity, rather than a social phenomenonĪ person’s diet was based on the same rule which dominates the real estate industry centuries later location, location, and location. The head of a boar and other dishes at a relatively modest medieval table. Here are some of the quirkiest food habits- including food and drink- during the Medieval period. Nearly one third of the year carried such proscriptions. Everyone ate heavily of meat, except on those days the church calendar forbade the consumption of animal flesh. Their wealthy compatriots made wines and liquors. From their own harvests people learned to preserve grains by brewing them into beer and ale. ![]() There was milk, from cows, sheep, and goats, usually reserved for consumption by children, or made into cheese for preservation. Wikimediaīread was the staff of life, though it was usually grainy, made of coarse flour and sometimes unleavened. Threshing wheat during the Middle Ages was, like most labor, backbreaking work. ![]() Stoves were non-existent, and for many the only utensils available for cooking were a kettle and a spit over an open fire. There was also little knowledge of such things as nutrition and diet. There was no equivalent of a middle class at the beginning of the period. Wealth was concentrated in the hands of a few. It depended upon how much money they had. As throughout history, in medieval times what and how people ate and how their food was prepared was obtained, event what kind of food it was, dependent on their position on the social ladder. ![]()
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