Medieval food ************* Food changed considerably during the Middle Ages. Up to the start of the Middle Ages when William the Conqueror and the Normans invaded England the only real influence on the types of food consumed had been from the Romans. The violent times of the Dark Ages led to a primitive society lacking in elegance or refinement. Early Middle Ages Food was basic and all the ingredients were home grown and cooked simply as stews or roasts over open fires. This all changed in 1066 with the Norman Conquest and between 1095 - 1270 when Europeans looked to the Eastern World and joined in the crusades. The Normans were influenced by French food and also Scandinavian food. The Normans were known to document recipes although generally they passed from the master cook to the apprentice. The tastes of the Norman nobility were far more sophisticated than the English. The Normans also enjoyed feasts and special occasions when lavish meals and food could be served. The French produced the first Recipe books. In 1306 ‘The Little Treatise’ was written. The first English cookery book was written in 1390 called 'The Forme of Cury' which consisted of nearly 200 recipes contributed by the Royal cooks. It is one of our best sources of information about the different types of foods eaten during the Middle Ages, including the meat, fruit, fish and bread. The influence of the Crusades had a startling effect on Middle Ages Food. Kings, Knights, Lords and other crusaders had travelled 3000 miles to reach the Holy Lands. During their travels they were introduced to the spices which were added to different foods by different cultures. These new ideas were brought back by the Crusaders and new foods and spices were introduced to the European menu. The elegance of the Far East, with its silks, tapestries, precious stones, perfumes, spices, pearls, and ivory, was so enchanting that an enthusiastic crusader called it "the vestibule of Paradise". A change in culture started to emerge. Travel certainly broadened the mind of the Crusaders who developed a new and unprecedented interest in beautiful objects and elegant manners. It must be remembered that the preparation of Middle Ages Food was of special interest to the women of the era, many of whom accompanied men on the Crusades. The preparation and content of Middle Ages food underwent a complete change - into something rich and strange. It became a status symbol to serve food with herbs and spices. As they were imported, these spices were expensive. The differences of The Middle Ages Food consumed by the Upper and Lower Classes changed significantly. The poor could not afford the new range of spices. Middle Ages Food varied according to status and according to the Middle Ages period. And in the early Middle Ages era even meat was a sign of wealth. The diet of the peasants remained the same, but that of the nobility was changed beyond recognition. The amount of food available to the poor in the Middle Ages world changed in 1328. The Black Death spread across Europe with devastating effect. The population of the Middle Ages dropped - the Black Death claimed a third of the World's population and 200 million people died. The Black Death reached England by 1346 and ravaged the land for nearly 60 years. The Black Death resulted in a far smaller population, more food was available and even the poor were able to eat meat regularly. Class distinctions ****************** Both the Upper and Lower classes generally had three meals a day but the peasants obviously far less elaborate than the Upper Classes. Menus for the wealthy were extensive, but only small portions were taken. A change in culture emerged during the Middle Ages and led to a new and unprecedented interest in beautiful objects and elegant manners. This change extended to food preparation and presentation resulting in fabulous food arrangements and exotic colours and flavourings. Royalty and the nobility would eat their food from silverware, and even gold dishes. Lower classes would eat their food from wooden or horn dishes. Every person had their own knife. Spoons were rarely used as any liquid food, such as soups, were drunk from a cup. Forks were introduced in the late 14th century. The kitchens in large houses or castles were usually situated some distance from the Great Hall and therefore food was often served cold. The people of the Middle Ages enjoyed alcohol, and as the water was often unclean, it was a necessity. The poor drank ale, mead or cider and the rich were able to drink many different types of wines. Although brewed, the ales and ciders were very low in alcohol and were drunk by the young and old alike. The Food of the Wealthy: ************************ The lord of the manor and his guests could expect three very large good meals a day. Breakfast.. white bread, three meat dishes and three fish dishes generally served between 6 and 7am. Dinner .... three courses but each course would have many dishes generally served at mid-morning between 12 and 2pm. Supper .... Was a substantial meal and food and drink was generally served between 6 and 7pm and was accompanied by various entertainments. In the middle ages the wealthy ate a lot of wheat bread (manchet) and meat, but ate only a few fresh vegetables and very little fresh fruit, unprepared food of this variety was viewed with suspicion and considered to cause disease; Only Lords and Nobles were allowed to hunt deer, boar, hares and rabbits and these foods were therefore used in the daily meals of the nobility. Vegetables that were eaten would have been cooked in some form of stew, soup or pottage and if fruit was served it was usually in pies or preserved in honey. The Boke of Kervynge (Book of carving), written in 1500, warns the medieval cooks to: "Beware of green sallettes and rawe fruytes for they wyll make your soverayne seke" One of the most vital features of wealthy medieval feasts were trenchers, which were used as medieval plates, they were cut from stale loaves of bread and used to hold food, salt, and even candles during the feast; these pieces of hard bread would soak up the blood and liquids from the chicken, turkey and other meats. Every diner at a medieval feast ate off one and there were servants whose specific task during meal time was the carving and presentation of trenchers, the finest and most delicate were given to the king or ranking nobility; used trenchers, full of blood, sauces and covered in bits of food, were given to the festal dogs or presented to the poor as alms, who waited hungrily outside. Banquet tables at grand feasts were decked with spectacular dishes, providing the perfect opportunity for the nobleman to show off his wealth. Everyday jellies, pies, fritters and stews were accompanied by magnificent animals such as peacocks, seals, porpoises, and even whales. Jellies and custards were dyed with vivid natural colourings - sandalwood for red, saffron for a fiery yellow, and boiled blood for black. But the most visually alluring pieces at the table were special sugar sculptures known as sotiltees (or subtleties). These sculptures came in all sorts of curious forms - castles, ships, famous philosophers, or scenes from fables. Sotiltees were also known as 'warners,' as they were served at the beginning of a banquet to 'warn' (or notify) the guests of the approaching dinner. Unlike today, meals were not separated into savoury main courses and sweet desserts. Instead, many dishes were laid out together in luxurious chaos. Special courtesy books, which were popular at the time, instructed diners not to fart, scratch flea bites, or pick their noses.... In general, vegetables which came from the ground were only considered fit to feed the poor, therefore, only vegetables such as rape, onions, garlic and leeks graced the tables of the wealthy; most dairy products, apart from cheese, were also deemed as inferior foods and were therefore usually only eaten by the poor. Little was known about nutrition at that time; therefore, the Medieval diet of the wealthy lacked Vitamin C and fibre, which led to an assortment of health problems such as bad teeth, gout, skin diseases, scurvy and rickets. The food was generally highly spiced, with Anise, Caraway, Cardamon, Cinnamon, Cloves, Coriander, Cumin, Garlic, Ginger, Mace, Mustard, Nutmeg, Pepper, Saffron, Salt & Turmeric; in some cases the food was disguised with spices to hide the taste of rotten meat; salt was too expensive for the poor and only rich people had access to it; in fact, when eating in a medieval castle, the salt, which would often be in a huge fancy salt cellar, would be placed near the wealthiest people so that they could easily use it, whilst the poorer people sat further down the long table and were not allowed to use the salt; the phrase 'Above the salt' still means a rich person. The diet of the wealthy would have included Manchet bread; a variety of meats such as Beef, Goat, Hare, Heron, Lamb, Mutton, Pork, Poultry, Rabbit, Swans & Venison; a variety of fish such as Cod, Eel, Herring, Pike, Plaice, Salmon, Trout & Whiting and a variety of shell fish such as Cockles, Crab, Mussels & Oysters. Rabbits were re-introduced by the Normans but were rare and expensive items kept in specially built warrens. A richly cooked rabbit was particularly popular with those who could afford it. They also introduced foods such as pears and fallow deer to England and re-introduced pheasants. The Food of the Poor: ********************* A prosperous English peasant in the 14th century would probably eat 2 or 3 pounds of bread, 8 ounces of meat or fish or other protein and 2 -3 pints of ale per day. Meat was expensive and usually only available on very special occasions. Often eggs, butter, or cheese were substituted for meat. Vegetables such as onions, leeks, cabbage, garlic, turnips, parsnips, peas and beans were staples. Fruits were available in season only, a variety of nuts and berries from local trees or bushes, and Honey and Mushrooms; most poor people drank Barley ale as well. Peasants or serfs would eat at sunrise, midday and sunset: Breakfast.. dark bread and ale with perhaps some bacon at sunrise. Dinner .... dark bread and cheese with ale at mid-morning. Supper .... vegetable pottage, eaten with bread at the end of work. If the family was lucky, there might be some meat or fish and a pudding. The poor, which was almost everybody, ate just whatever they could find or grow. They were unable to afford luxury items such as spices, even salt was often too expensive for many, although they had a variety of home grown herbs such as Thyme and Rosemary to flavour with. Only the wealthy were allowed to hunt deer, boar, hares and rabbits; doing so was classed as poaching and the punishment for poaching was severe, and could result in death or having hands cut off, so the Lower Classes would only poach if they were desperate. Despite this, the poor would often have the prizes of unlawful hunting on their table. They were allowed to hunt smaller animals such as hedgehogs and squirrels. The poor often kept pigs, which, unlike cows and sheep, were able to live contentedly in a forest, fending for themselves. the better off peasants tended to keep cows, so a large part of their diets would have included dairy produce such as buttermilk, cheese, or curds and whey. They had fresh fish when available, basically anything that they could catch in nearby streams and rivers, mostly dace, grayling and gudgeon, but never trout or salmon. They were for the lord only. Their diet of the poor would have included Barley or Rye Bread, Oatmeal, Pancakes and Pottage - rich and poor alike ate pottage, a thick soup or stew containing meat, vegetables, or bran. The more luxurious pottage was called 'mortrew,' while a poor pottage containing cereal was a 'frumenty'. Bread was the staple for all classes, although the quality and price varied depending on the type of grain used. Because bread was such an important food, there were laws introduced, known as the Bread Laws. Bakers who were found guilty of selling loaves that were underweight, could be locked in the pillory (a wooden framework on a post with holes for the head and hands). Biscuits were invented by the Crusaders in the 13th century and these were eaten as a convenience food by the workers of the Middle Ages. The 'Ploughman's Lunch' of bread and cheese was also a staple diet of Lower Class workers. Communal ovens were available in the peasants villages for baking. People of the Middle Ages were highly religious and at certain times the eating of meat was banned. This was not an occasional ban. Certain religious observances banned the eating of meat on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Meat was also banned during the religious seasons of Lent and Advent. Meat was also declined on the eves of many religious holidays. Fasting and abstaining from eating meat was practised for over half the days of the Medieval year. This, of course, helped the peasants to not have to strive to provide meat for the daily family table very often. In Langland's 'Piers the Plowman', Piers described all the food that 'hunger' had in his cottage: "two green cheeses, some curds and cream, an oat cake, and two loaves of bran, beans, parsley, no eggs and no salt meat" In bad times foods such as acorns became a valuable part of the diet, as well as more wild flowers. By such means, families usually managed to survive the hard times, but the ill and elderly became very vulnerable, and many died. In good times, the peasant diet could be quite healthy with dairy, vegetables, grains, fish and, occasionally, meat. After the Black Death, there was much more food available. Food Preservation: ****************** Food was preserved in a number of ways, it was Dried, Jellied, Pickled, Salted or smoked: Dried Preservation: ******************* Most meats , fruit and cereal grains such as wheat, oats, barley and rye were preserved through drying; today we understand that moisture allows for the rapid microbiological growth of bacteria, which is present in all fresh foods and which causes them to decay; but it isn't necessary to understand the chemical process involved in order to observe that food that is wet and left in the open will quickly start to smell and attract insects; so it should come as no surprise that one of the oldest methods of preserving foods known to man is that of drying it. Grains like rye and wheat were dried in the sun or air before being stored in a dry place; fruits were sun dried in warmer climes and oven dried in cooler regions; meat was also preserved through drying, usually after cutting it into thin strips and lightly salting it; in warmer regions, it was a simple matter to dry meat under the hot summer sun, but in cooler climates air drying could be done at most times of the year, either outdoors or in shelters that kept away the elements and flies. Jellied Preservation: *********************** Cooking in Gelatin, or Jelly, which solidified to form a gel, was a way of preserving cooked meat or fresh fish; some foods naturally form a protein gel of their own when cooked, such as eels. Pickled Preservation: ********************* Pickling in a salt brine was a standard method of preserving meats and fish; typical pickling agents included brine and vinegar; fruit and vegetables were also pickled; although, some fruits were candied, turned into jam or stored with honey. Salted Preservation - salting was done by using one of two methods: ******************************************************************* Salting was the most common way to preserve virtually any type of meat or fish, as it drew out the moisture and killed the bacteria; vegetables could be preserved with dry salt, as well, though pickling was more common. Dry-Salting involved using salt that was pounded to a powder with mortar and pestle; the food was either buried in a bed of salt, or it involved pressing the dry salt into pieces of meat or fish and then layering the pieces in a container, like a keg, with dry salt completely surrounding each piece; if the salting was done in cold weather it slowed down the decomposition whilst the salting took effect, the food could then last for years; vegetables were also preserved by layering them in salt and placing them in a sealable container. Another way to preserve food with salt was to soak it in a salt brine, known as Brine-Curing; this consisted of immersing the food in a strong salt solution; whilst not as effective as Dry-Salting, it served very well to keep food edible through a season or two. Whatever method of salt preservation was used, the first thing a cook did when he got ready to prepare the salted food for consumption was soak it in fresh water to remove as much of the salt as possible; some cooks were more conscientious than others when it came to this step, which could take several trips to the well for fresh water; it was next to impossible to remove all the salt, no matter how much soaking was done; many recipes took this saltiness into account and some were designed specifically to counteract or complement the salt flavor; still, most of us would find preserved medieval food much saltier than anything we're used to today. Smoking Preservation: ********************* Smoking was another fairly common way to preserve meat, especially fish and pork; in one way the food would be cut into relatively thin, lean strips, immersed briefly in a salt solution and then hung over a fire to absorb the smoke flavouring as it dried; another way was to use a smokehouse, which was basically a small enclosed shelter, a place in which a fire could be kept smouldering for a few weeks, which would only slowly release its smoke, and in which the smoked meat could hang safely away from vermin and thieves; the norm was to firstly pack fresh cuts of meat or fish in tubs of coarse salt for about six weeks, allowing the salt to draw most of the water from the flesh, and then to hang the cuts in a smokehouse. The result was dried, long-lasting, smoke-flavoured meat that would age in the same smokehouse for two years before it was eaten; occasionally meat might be smoked without a salt solution, especially if the type of wood burned had distinctive flavouring of its own; however, salt was very helpful because it discouraged flies, inhibited the growth of bacteria and hastened the removal of moisture.