Life in the Middle Ages could be tough. But, like today, if you were rich life was a little easier,
especially when it came to food. Imagine sitting at a table and servers bringing
out sculptures made of sugar. Then a feast of exotic food, spices,
and wine are brought out. This may seem like something from a high end restaurant of today,
but in fact, this was how the wealthy ate during the Middle Ages.
It may surprise you just how diverse their diets were, and what they actually ate.
You may even find the food so delicious, that you switch over to the Middle Ages Diet.
Let’s be clear, not everyone ate as good as the nobles and aristocrats of the Middle Ages.
This was a handful of elites who had the wealth and resources to enjoy fine dining
whenever they wanted. The peasants on the other hand had a much more mediocre diet
consisting of low meat content and high amounts of breads and vegetables.
But if you were lucky enough to be wealthy, you could eat like a king.
If you were rich you owned land; most likely a lot of it. An aristocrat with an estate would
have access to domesticated animals that could be freshly killed, crops that could be harvested,
and natural resources from the land, such as wild game and fish. If you were a peasant you
most likely worked on one of these estates, but the resources were not available to you.
It is a misconception that the food in the Middle Ages was bland and non-diverse. In fact,
the wealthy people of the Middle Ages would rarely eat the same dish twice in one week.
The dishes were made with rich spices such as caraway, nutmeg, cardamom, ginger, and pepper.
These spices could be mixed and matched with different meats and vegetables to make a
veritable number of dishes. Other commonly used accoutrements to meals would include cane sugar,
almonds, and dried fruits. Many of these items came from other
lands such as North Africa and East Asia and were extremely expensive.
Some rich people in the Middle Ages even had large stores of spices filling entire rooms.
There was even a department of the royal court that was called the “spicery,”
whose sole purpose was to buy, maintain, and store spices for the food that was prepared for royalty.
In fact, the rich and royal loved spicy sauces so much that entire professional careers could
be made out of sauce making. If a saucemaker could create flavorful sauces, they were sure
to find employment in the kitchens of some of the most wealthy and powerful men in all of Europe.
If you were rich in the Middle Ages every dish you ate would be adorned with spices,
but the actual food would vary. A favorite dish of both rich and poor was called pottage. It was
a thick stew that contained meat, vegetables, and bran. If you were rich this dish often contained
cereal and frumentry, which was wheat boiled in milk and then seasoned with cinnamon and sugar.
When prepared this way the dish was called mortrew. Along with the stew,
and almost every meal, the rich would eat bread. The elite would eat breads
made from only the best grains, while everything else was left for the peasants.
Bread also played another important role in the dining of the rich;
it could be used as a plate or bowl. This was sometimes referred to as a trench.
Thick slices of bread were hollowed out and soup or a meal was served in the bread bowl.
This would allow the aristocrat to have his meal and eat his bowl too.
When it came to meat, the more exotic the better. Peasants rarely had access to meat,
and what they did have was normally the worst cuts of pork. But for the rich in the Middle
Ages their choice of meat was only limited by their imagination. They would eat roast peacock
dressed in a cloak made of its own feathers, beef that required vast amounts of resources to raise,
and salted fish from the coastal regions. Nobles also had access to chickens and pork,
which would be prepared in different ways to ensure that the meals did not become boring.
Pies were also consumed often by the aristocrats in the Middle Ages. However,
like all their food, the rich wanted the presentation to be sublime. The pies would
be baked or constructed in different shapes such as castles, surrounded by a moat of wine.
Contrary to popular belief, the rich during the Middle Ages did not eat with their hands,
or throw food over their shoulders when they were done. There was actually specific eating etiquette
that diners, including the rich, were required to follow. Children were taught
to wash their hands before meals, and to use a spoon and knife while eating. Also,
it was important to wipe one's mouth throughout the meal to make sure that food was not left on
the face. The noble class had a plethora of books just on table manners. The floors were
regularly swept after meals to remove any fallen food, and leftovers were fed to dogs and pigs.
No meal would be complete during the Middle Ages without alcohol. People during this time
period drank lots and lots of alcohol. The rich would have their pick of wines,
ales, and liquors. However, these drinks were very weak by our standards today,
so someone would have to consume large amounts of alcoholic beverages before
succumbing to drunkenness. One plus side of the fermentation process was that
it killed many water-borne diseases and bacteria. This reduced illness,
so drinking alcoholic beverages was oftentimes preferable to drinking water, even for children.
Being rich in the Middle Ages meant you had resources and the ability to throw parties.
No wealthy family would go too long without having a banquet.
This is where the most extravagant dishes were made, and the most spectacular culinary
sculptures were built. It was during banquets the noblemen would show off their wealth,
and try to impress everyone who was present. The more extravagant the banquet,
the more people would talk, and the social status of the party thrower would be elevated.
Banquets were slightly different from the normal meals of the aristocrats during
the Middle Ages. For one thing there were a lot more people in attendance;
for another there was a lot more food. Every table would be covered in jellies,
pies, and fritters as soon as guests sat down. During the Middle Ages meals were not separated
into savory courses followed by sweet desserts like they are today. Almost all dishes were
laid out together, so the guests could have whatever looked most appetizing at the time.
Banquets were where the most extravagant food art was presented as well. Tables would be adorned
with fully edible sugar sculptures known as sotiltees. The works of art would be in the forms
of castles, ships, and even famous philosophers. The sotiltees were also known as “warners,”
because they were served at the start of a banquet to inform guests that dinner was approaching. This
would indicate that everyone should take their seats and prepare for the meal of a lifetime.
Main courses at banquets were meant to shock and awe the guests. The more memorable the banquet,
the better for the rich noble who threw it. Main courses would consist of a plethora of meats and
vegetables. Spices would adorn every dish to make them unique; the hope would be that it was
something the guests had never experienced before. There would also be exotic animals
to eat such as seal, porpoise, and even whale if they could be procured. The more difficult
the animal was to obtain, the higher it bolstered the prestige of the nobleman throwing the feast.
One banquet could contain more food than a peasant family would eat in an entire year.
Banquets were classy affairs and the host would have to put in a large amount of his
own resources. Therefore, guests were required to follow certain etiquette as well. There were
a number of special courtesy books written during the Middle Ages on how guests of a banquet should
act. Diners were nor supposed to fart, scratch bug bites, or pick their nose while at the banquet.
If these rules were broken the person could be escorted out of the hall and may not be invited
back to subsequent parties. That was why it was important to never offend the host of a banquet,
and stick to the basic etiquette of fine dining in the Middle Ages.
There were several intricacies and quirks to food in the Middle Ages. The rich in
particular were always on the cutting edge of fine culinary cuisine of the time. But, there
were certain preparations and foods that were consistent across the aristocrats. For example,
all fruit and vegetables were cooked during the Middle Ages. This was because they believed that
raw produce could cause diseases. Warnings in cookbooks such as The Boke of Kervynge, written
around the year 1500, warns that uncooked fruits and veggies could make the chef’s master sick.
Jellies and custards were a favorite for all peoples during the Middle Ages. The rich would
require that they were created in a way that was more extravagant than the stuff the peasants were
consuming. Oftentimes these dishes were dyed with vivid colors. The cooks would use sandalwood for
a deep red, saffron for a radiant yellow, and boiled blood to make a dish completely black.
The coloring of foods did not just stop at jellies and custards though.
Even dishes such as meatballs and deserts were given vibrant colors to make the simple
dishes stand out in a unique way. If the noble was rich enough they would
even procure a flower from the Mediteranian called turnsole to make the food purple.
We know all about food in the Middle Ages because a number of cookbooks have survived from the time
period. Obviously these cookbooks were written for the creation of meals for the wealthy.
The large variety of cookbooks goes to show how important food was at this time in history.
The very first English cookbook ever, The Forme of Cury, was written in 1390 by the Chief Master
Cooks of King Richard II. It is in these cookbooks that the most extravagant dishes were recorded,
and the tricks of the trade were passed down. It would also seem that during the Middle Ages
culinary traditions were important across other parts of the world. Cookbooks such as
the Kitab a-Tabikh was written in Arabia in the 10th century, Le Viander was written in
12th century France, and Liber de Coquina was used by cooks in Italy during the 14th century.
Food for the rich during the Middle Ages was so important that it needed to be written down.
Not everyone during the Middle Ages ate so well however. Most peasants and people from lower
classes could not read, and therefore, recipes were passed down by word of mouth. We do know
that unless you served a large estate, or someone who was incredibly rich, that fresh meat was hard
to come by for poor people. Most peasants ate foods that were preserved through pickling or
by using salt. Once an animal was slaughtered, or a crop was harvested, it had to last the peasants
a very long time since they wouldn’t know when their next chance for fresh food would come. This
meant everything was preserved so that it could be eaten at a later date. Bacon, pickled herring, and
preserved fruits would be some of the best food the poor could hope for during the Middle Ages.
Just like today life was easier for the rich back then. They could afford to spend massive amounts
of money and resources on the most extravagant of meals. The chefs of the rich biggest problem was
not lack of variety, but in finding ways to make each dish unique and different.
Nobles ate food that was both visually pleasing and tasteful. Exotic meats and intricate sugar
sculptures were served to aristocrats while they drank wine and ale to their heart's content.
It would seem that rich people in the Middle Ages ate better than many people do today.
Now check out “Why You Wouldn't Survive In Medieval time.” And after that
watch “Why Teenage Life In The Middle Ages Sucked.”