Considering medieval engravings or reading the literature of this era, we involuntarily raise the question of how the uneasy life of a medieval man was organized. How people ate at that time, any dishes were the most common and whether the food for the peasants and the nobility varied. Records of medieval chroniclers, illustrations and historical studies help shed light on many aspects related to the medieval group.
Green mostly used in raw form (onions of different varieties, sorrel, parsley). Carrots most often boiled with pieces of meat, and legumes were eaten in huge quantities, especially in the peasant environment, just boiling them. Special love was enjoyed by raspberries and wild strawberries. In the gardens, cherries and plums were grown.
Beef and pork were used both separately and as a filling for pies. They often added cheese. Rich people ate flat white loaves of wheat flour, and village residents were satisfied with bread from rye flour. In hungry times, bread was replaced with pea cakes, where oats and acorns were added. Of lentils cooked porridge, pre-soaking it.
Milk and its derivatives were often food for the villagers, and not for the wealthy townspeople and nobility. Urban artisans could have breakfast with fish, bread cakes, ale or cheese, they ate hot meat, often cooked soup. The usual people were eating supper, usually according to what was left of breakfast and lunch.
To know that to eat more diversely, not only beef and pork meat. The diet of rich people included all game without exception. It is known that the nobles themselves loved to hunt and organized whole games or festive events from someone's hunt. On Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, the gathering noblemen always fasted, so they had to be content with fish (most often pike and carp).
Poor people can not afford to chew the meat with spices, but they were available to the nobility and the moderately prosperous population. Sugar from the reeds was already imported to the European continent, and honey also did not lose its popularity. The cost of almonds, cinnamon, cloves and peppers was very high.
One of the interesting components of the feast at the nobility were bread plates - the trainers. They were not eaten, they served as supports for the rest of the meal, and the servant's trainers cut it. After the meal, they were given to the poor or animals, together with the remnants of the whole world and sauces. They were baked from very rough flour - especially to put food on them was more convenient.
If you know, that is, meat almost every day, the peasants "got hold of" the meat of the mountain less often. Basically, they ate rye bread and sheep cheese, nuts, berries and fruits. Hot in peasant families was served only once a day: usually it was a soup of grains, where vegetables were added, and on holidays - meat.
An interesting fact: medieval doctors believed that two cuts per day would be enough for all segments of the population. This, in their opinion, prevents overeating and health problems. In addition, the constant support in the hearth was a very troublesome occupation. Also doctors of the Middle Ages advised to sit down to take food repeatedly only if a person experiences a feeling of hunger. This meant that earlier food had already left the body. If a person started eating, when the food that had been eaten before was not digested, it was considered harmful. Maybe we should also listen to such advice, so as not to overeat.
Thank you for attention!
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