Medieval cuisine encompasses the diverse foods, eating habits, and cooking practices of various European cultures spanning from the 5th to the 15th century. This era, nestled between the fall of the Roman Empire and the dawn of the Renaissance, witnessed a fascinating interplay of factors that shaped the diets of people from all walks of life.
The Foundation of Medieval Fare: Cereals and the Rise of Bread
Cereals formed the bedrock of the medieval diet. From the 8th to the 11th centuries, cereals rose from a third to three-quarters of the diet. Wheat, barley, oats, and rye were the primary grains, consumed in various forms such as bread, porridge, gruel, and pasta. The type of grain consumed often reflected social standing. Wheat was generally more expensive and thus favored by the wealthy, while the poor subsisted on barley, oats, and rye.
Bread held a particularly esteemed position, especially due to its centrality in religious rituals like the Eucharist. Only olive oil and wine rivaled its value, though these remained largely exclusive to warmer, grape- and olive-growing regions.
Religious Influence: Feasts, Fasts, and Fishy Exceptions
The Roman Catholic Church exerted a significant influence on medieval eating habits. For a large portion of the year, Christians were prohibited from eating meat, with restrictions extending to eggs and dairy products during Lent and other fast days. These periods of abstinence were intended to encourage self-restraint and spiritual reflection.
However, the human spirit's knack for navigating rules manifested in creative ways. The definition of "fish" was often stretched to include marine and semi-aquatic animals like whales, barnacle geese, puffins, and even beavers. These pragmatic compromises allowed for the continuation of lavish banquets even on fish days, with cooks preparing illusion foods that mimicked meat, cheese, and eggs.
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Cuisine as a Social Marker: A Reflection of Hierarchy
Medieval society was highly stratified, and food served as a crucial marker of social status. The nobility flaunted their wealth through elaborate meals featuring fresh game seasoned with exotic spices, while laborers made do with coarse barley bread, salt pork, and beans.
The increasing wealth of the middle class in the late Middle Ages led to some emulation of the aristocracy, blurring the symbolic barriers between social classes. Sumptuary laws were sometimes enacted to curb conspicuous consumption among the nouveau riche.
Table Manners and Dining Customs: From Communal Feasts to Private Chambers
Medieval meals were often communal affairs. Toward the end of the Middle Ages, rich hosts retired to private chambers to enjoy their meals in greater exclusivity and privacy. Being invited to a lord’s chambers was a privilege and a reward for friends and allies. However, at major occasions and banquets the host and hostess generally dined in the great hall with the other diners.
Wealthier guests were offered linen towels to wash their hands between courses. Fine dining was predominantly a male affair, with wives joining the dinner after the main meal. Food was served on plates or in stew pots, and diners used spoons or their bare hands to take their share.
The Medieval Diet: A Balancing Act of Humors and Calories
Medieval medical science influenced perceptions of healthy and nutritious food. Foods were classified as hot, cold, moist, or dry and linked to Galen's theory of the four bodily humors. The ideal food was moderately warm and moist, aligning with the human humor.
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The calorie content and structure of the medieval diet varied, but it was generally high-carbohydrate, based on cereals and alcohol. Meat was valued but not always accessible to the lower classes. In England, meat consumption increased after the Black Death, reaching about 20% of daily calorie intake by the 15th century.
England in the Middle Ages
England was formed in the 10th century when many small kingdoms joined into one larger Kingdom. The Battle of Hastings in 1066 was the last time England was invaded by a foreign power. From the Middle Ages records were kept by Monastic Corrodities [which was accommodation housing for elderly gentry], and expenditures recorded on food for the workforce in demesnes on manors and these form the basis of most written accounts of food in the Middle Ages era.
In this era of the high Middle Ages, England had a largely manorial system and agricultural economy with an estimated 90% of the population living in rural areas. There were marked social inequalities ranging from wealthy aristocrats and the clergy, through to peasants living in poverty. Society operated under a manorial system, with land held by the ruling elite and communities structured around manors.
Food in Middle Ages England
Food in middle ages England varied over different time periods and from the wealthy to the poor. Food in Middle Ages England were based on grains and vegetables. Barley, rye, oats and millet were eaten by the poor. Wheat, which required expensive manure, was grown initially only for wealthy farmers, gradually spreading to lower classes and becoming a staple food for all classes. Bread was cooked in public ovens by specialist bakers or over embers. Peas and beans were included if grain was in short supply. Early breads were made from rye, barley, and oats which were course and heavy. Later breads used wheat. Bakers were specialists in the middle ages. For all classes and ages, breads formed the basis of the diet, varying in grain type, quality, and amounts eaten. ‘Trenchers’ made out of bread were used as plates for the serving of food. All classes consumed ‘pottage’ a thick soup or porridge made with pease [peas], oats, bran, grains, vegetables, and meat if available, cooked in a large pot over an open fire with bread soaking up juices and then consumed. Pease pudding was a dish made from dried peas. Vegetables were dependent on those grown or bartered. Note that the term ‘vegetable’ was not used in England until the early 15th century. Prior to that, edible plants were referred to as ‘herbs’. Underground vegetable types were considered unfit for noble classes and only eaten by the poor. Vegetables were cooked as raw forms were considered the cause of disease. Fruit was cooked, served in pies, or candied. Vegetables in the Middle Ages included onion, garlic, parsnips, fennel, parsley, shallot, watercress, endive, lettuce, beetroot, leeks, carrots, artichokes, long beans, broad beans, peas, lentils, asparagus, and cabbages. Noticeably absent were tomatoes and potatoes, introduced into English diets later. Those plants that we term ‘herbs’ today were used for medicinal purposes and in cooked food.
The term ‘meat’ previously meant solid food in general. In the 14th century it meant flesh of animals and later meat from cattle, pigs and sheep distinct from poultry and fish. For meat food in Middle Ages England: Upper classes ate more venison, beef, pork, goat, lamb, rabbit, hare, mutton; game including deer, boar, hares, rabbits; and birds including swans, herons, geese, ducks, pheasant, pea-fowl, turkey, crane, crow, stork, thrush, black-birds, quail, cuckoo, and partridge. The main meat food in middle ages England for peasants was pigs. They were cheap, ran free in forests and were available year-round. Other animals required slaughtering in autumn to save on winter-feeding. Fish was available for those who lived near the sea, rivers or lakes. Mutton and poultry were also eaten. Meat, fish, herrings and eggs were provided in corrodities in varying amounts depending on status. On certain religious periods and on some days during the week, the eating of meat was banned.
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While dairy foods, especially cheese, was consumed all over Europe as part of the diet in the Middle Ages, milk drinking was confined to cooler regions due to spoilage in warm temperatures. In England, milk was drunk in farming areas although often reserved for the young.
Easter was a feast when much meat was consumed [venison, beef, pork, goat, lamb, rabbit, hare, mutton, game meats, fish and fowl]. Feasts and banquets were held by the aristocracy and clergy. Gluttony was common in those classes. The wealthy ate a larger amount of meat and game, as well as white bread, spices and rich sauces. Great feasts were adorned with speculator dishes of jellies, pies fritters and stews; magnificent animal foods, jellies and custards, and sugar sculptures.
Food processing and preservation techniques had developed by the middle ages. Meat and fish were preserved by pickling in brine or vinegar, gelatinised, dry-salting or smoking. Cereal grains, meat and fruit were preserved by drying and butter was preserved by salting. Fruit and nuts were candied in honey or fruit puree. Ham, sausages, and black puddings were processed meats from the middle ages. Biscuits [made by baking bread twice which kept well] was developed at the time of the crusades.
With water often unclean, and milk difficult to keep fresh, the commonest beverage was ale made from barley, mead or cider. It was weaker in alcohol than today’s standards and regarded as a nutritional part of the diet. Large amounts were allocated in corrodities. The wealthy in cities also drank wine.
Markets and Recipes
Markets were held in towns and villages for exchange of foods and goods. There is evidence they were not a true ‘free’ market - as weekly markets were the property of the local Lord who had control over rules on quality, prices and terms of payment. Nevertheless the markets were local in a sense they were on the scale of an individual household, manor or village and operated mostly as a barter system where people exchanged foods for other foods or goods. Recipes exist from the Middle Ages, most from Noblemen’s households.
Bowls and spoons were the main implements used. Royalty ate from silverware or gold dishes, lower classes from wooden or horn. Liquids, including soup, were drunk from cups. Knives had been long used whereas forks were introduced only from the 14th century.
Historical Events in the Middle Ages
In the 12th-13th century England had sporadic involvement in the Crusades, a doubling of its population and a growth in towns. Biscuits, of bread baked twice, were developed by the crusaders, and were found useful on long voyagers as they kept well. The crusaders brought back spices, raisins, dates, figs and sugar from the Middle East. Spices included Pepper, Cinnamon, Cloves, Nutmeg, Ginger, Saffron, Cardamom, Coriander, Cumin, Garlic, Turmeric, Mace, Anise, Caraway and Mustard. The first large shipment of sugar to England was recorded in 1319. Spices and sugar were expensive and, at the time, were only consumed by the wealthy.
In 1314-1317 the Great Famine struck after two cold wet summers with crop shortages, harvest failures, starved livestock and climbing food prices. In the winter of 1315-16, to stave off starvation, peasants were forced to eat seeds intended for planting with disastrous consequences the following year. There was a large death rate and the population declined.
The Black Death swept through beginning in 1348 reducing the population by 23-45%. With less food required there was a shrinking agricultural sector throwing the economy into chaos, although ironically with temporarily more food available for lower classes. The reduced population led to a labour shortage. Now in high demand, workers began pushing for higher wages. Resistance by ruling classes culminated in the Peasant’s Revolt [also called the Great Rising] of 1381. The system of peasants in tenure-by-service to Lords was gradually replaced by paid services and tenure by paid rent.
In the 15th century, the growth of the cloth industry, ship-building and metalworking, and the emergence of a new ‘middle’ class of merchants based primarily in London and the south, brought the rural economy dominance to an end. The economic implication of the growth in towns and cities occurred in the later centuries of the middle ages and by 1500 which has been estimated to be approximately 20% of the population compared to 10% at the start of high-middle ages.
The death of Henry VII in 1509 marked the start of the early modern period.
The Ever-Present Threat of Famine and Scarcity
Food scarcity and starvation were grim realities for medieval people, particularly those in the lower classes. Famine was a constant threat, resulting from crop failures due to weather events, poor agricultural practices, pests, plant diseases, or intentional destruction during warfare.
Spices and Trade: A Touch of the Exotic
Spices, imported from India and other parts of Asia, were highly prized and expensive. While they were more accessible to the wealthy, even monasteries sometimes enjoyed immunities from taxes on imported spices. Medieval people also cultivated various kinds of herbs and spices in gardens, especially in Monasteries.
Rethinking Royal Feasts: New Perspectives on Anglo-Saxon Diets
Recent research challenges the traditional image of Anglo-Saxon elites indulging in copious amounts of meat. Bioarchaeological analysis of bones from 5th-11th century England suggests that diets were more similar across social groups than previously believed, with even royals consuming a cereal-based diet.
Studies of food lists from the reign of King Ine of Wessex indicate that grand feasts were occasional events, not daily occurrences. These feasts may have involved kings traveling to massive barbecues hosted by free peasants, a concept that could reshape our understanding of medieval English political history.
The Introduction of New Foods
Rice and potatoes were introduced later and only became widespread after the 1530s. Tomatoes and potatoes were noticeably absent, introduced into English diets later.