You’ve seen the TV shows and films depicting Medieval culture. They were somewhat accurate to be sure, but those banquet scenes have to be pretty close to what was the reality back sin Medieval time. Food culture often shows what a certain point in time was like and Medieval Europe was no different. Read on for more on the average diet that the nobles and peasants had.
1. There Was ‘Fast Food’ in Medieval Times
It wasn’t exactly drive-thru like what we have today but there was “fast food” in the Middle Ages. The people did enjoy meat pies, hotcakes, pancakes and wafers. These were prepared “for immediate consumption.” Medieval fast food spots were no different from today’s joints as discerning tongues would often find the food to have odd flavors.
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Wikimedia
2. Peasants, Bread, and Grains
Medieval Europeans chowed on 2-3 pounds of bread and grains per day. Meat was difficult to come by for them so peas, lentils, and fish were their protein sources. 2.5 pounds of rye bread is a belly-filling 3,000 calories though. They also drank lots of ale which could go up to 1,500 calories. Peasants needed all the calories as a day’s work lasted up to 12 hours.
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Wikimedia
3. Medieval People Used Almond Milk
Ignore today’s trends on how healthy alternative forms of milk can be. Almond milk was the practical choice for Medieval Europeans. The church was a force back then so when a fast was declared, almond or walnut “milk” was the alternative. It could also be stored for longer periods of time as it didn’t spoil like animal milk.
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Wikimedia
4. Raw Fruit and Vegetables Were Not Consumed
Medieval men and women would find today’s consumption of raw food odd. The Boke of Kervynge (“The Book of Carving”) from 1500, stated: “Beware of green sallettes and rawe fruytes for they wyll make your soverayne seke.” (“Beware of green salads and raw fruits, for they will make your master sick.”) Fresh herbs were mostly allowed but all the rest had to be cooked.
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Wikimedia
5.
Breakfast, Gluttons, and Laborers
Breakfast may be the most important meal of the day for us but Medieval folks went for a light midday dinner, then have an evening feast. Sneaking in snacks was common though. Laborers would only have a a small breakfast. Just enough to not collapse during work. Today, we call it “Intermittent fasting”.
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Wikimedia
6. Suckling Pig Was Medieval Lobster
Whole roasted pig or boar was a real treat during parties. The suckling pig, basically a very young pig, was a real delicacy. Historians point out that, “the meat of the suckling young in general” was “in high esteem” during the period. So when you see a roasted pig in a movie, that means someone did their research. They were equivalent to how we see lobster today.
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Wikimedia
7. People Ate Whatever Meat Was Available
Meat was hard to come by. Both rich people and peasants would take what they could. Records from the time indicate that people ate “starlings, vultures, gulls, herons, cormorants, swans, cranes, peacocks, capons, chickens, dogfish, porpoises, seals, whale, haddock, hedgehogs, cod, salmon, sardines, lamprey eels, crayfish, and oysters.” At least they had lots and lots of ale to wash them down.
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Wikimedia
8. Beans Changed Everything
Umberto Eco said: “Working people were able to eat more protein; as a result, they became more robust, lived longer, created more children and repopulated a continent.” The European population doubled in a few hundred years when beans became widespread. Eco thinks it’s because people could tend the fields better. Beans were a great source of protein and since meat was harder to come by, they were a great alternative.
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Wikimedia
9. Birds and ‘Umble Pie’ For Christmas Dinner
Christmas dinner would feature a variety of birds on the table, depending on what they could afford. The rich could afford them and would have the birds seasoned with a saffron and butter rub. The lower classes would spend a whole day’s wages to get geese. Both rich and poor had “umble pie” (the source of “eat humble pie”). It was the edible entrails of a deer or some other animal.
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Wikimedia
10. Baking Guilds
Bakers formed powerful “guilds” knowing how important bread was for their time. It was basically a mafia of bakers. They paid dues to be members of an exclusive club for a given region. The dues were basically insurance that could help them down the road. Family recipes of “master bakers” were heavily guarded. Guilds made sure that no new bakeries were using stolen secrets.
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Wikimedia
11. Medieval Diets Were ‘Heart-Healthier’
They didn’t have the science or the fitness know-how back then but Medieval folks had better diets. Dr. Roger Henderson says that the “medieval man was at much less risk of coronary heart disease and diabetes than we are today.” Refined sugar and additives in food products didn’t exist back then. Add to that hours and hours of work plus all that walking meant they really had healthy hearts,
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Wikimedia
12. Desserts Were Interspersed
Medieval feasts served many dishes simultaneously. Desserts interspersed throughout to cleanse the palate. Though these multi-course meals were often reserved for the nobility. One such dessert was “Sotelty” (subtlety). It was an elaborate “ornamental offering” made from dough or marzipan.
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Wikimedia
13. Richard III Ate Like a Rich Dude
King Richard III ate like a king until his death in the last battle of the War of the Roses in 1485. An analysis on Richard’s bones in 2014 showed him to have a high status diet. Scientists and researchers say he ate plenty of “fresh-water fish and wildfowl”. Richard, like a true king, drank a lot of wine. No surprises there.
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Wikimedia
14. The Rich Had All The Spices
Aristocratic estates featured cooked dishes heavily flavored with valuable spices such as caraway, nutmeg, cardamom, ginger and pepper. Other ingredients included cane sugar, almonds, and dried fruits such as dates, figs or raisins. The rich treasured these goods as they were expensive and often imported from across the seas.
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Wikimedia
15. Check out this video to learn even more!
Social classes were distinct even back then. Peasants would burn through all the calories in a days work, leaving them skinny and of course, tired. But the nobles and monks were often heavyset which showed their standing in society. Check out the video for more on Medieval Food culture. It’s not so different from today to be honest.
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