![]() It was made into green (unaged) cheese and custards. Milk from cows, rather than meat, was a significant source of protein. They were slaughtered when they no longer laid eggs and went into the stew pot, not the roasting oven. For example, chickens, ducks, and geese were more valuable for the eggs they produced daily. This is because animals had other, more sustainable uses. Meat such as stews, steaks, or roasts would have been rare. If you follow the Paleo diet, you would have been out of luck at a peasant’s table. Contrary to popular belief, people did drink water, especially if they had a good source such as a well. People also drank cider, mead made from honey, and perry, a fermented beverage made from pears. This was considered a good drink for the elderly and infirm.Īle, however, was not the only beverage. Or they might make a beverage known as caudle by adding eggs and maybe honey to warmed ale and thickening it with bread crumbs. When that happened, they flavored it with herbs and honey to make it palatable. They brewed it from malted barley or oats with no hops added. Since they consumed ale almost exclusively, it was weak so they would not become inebriated. It was served at every meal, and even children as young as five drank it. Ale on Every TableĮvery housewife had her own microbrewery and kept her family supplied with ale. Breadcrumbs from stale bread or from making bread bowls were used to thicken sauces and pottages. They might also make a bread bowl, slicing off the top of a small loaf and scooping out the bread. They would ladle pottage or stew onto the bread, which would then soak up the broth. When the bread was several days old, it was cut into slices and used as trenchers, which served as plates. ![]() For leavening, they used barm, which is the yeast that forms when brewing fermented beverages. However, if people had no flour, they made a bread, known as horse bread as it was fed to horses, from dried beans and peas. Spelt, which we consider an heirloom wheat, may also have been available. It was made from rye or perhaps a mixture of whole-grain rye, oat, and barley flours. Whole-grain bread figured into almost every meal and was also an ingredient in some dishes. Bread, the Staff of LifeĪrtisanal, sourdough bread, anyone? You would have found it in the Middle Ages. This is because they were native to the Americas and had not yet been introduced into Britain. Although they mostly ate their vegetables cooked, they may have eaten them raw in salads.īy the way, you might be surprised that potatoes, along with tomatoes and peppers, are not among the vegetables they ate. Herbs included sage, marjoram, sorrel, basil, garlic, parsley, rosemary, and mint. Vegetables commonly grown were peas, beans, onions, leeks, cabbage, and parsnips. Every peasant would have had a potager garden, in which they grew a variety of vegetables and herbs, all organic. Occasionally, meat such as bacon, chicken, or even rabbit made its way into the pot.Īs you can see from the ingredients for pottage, it is a myth that Medieval people did not eat vegetables. They added herbs for flavor and oats or bread to thicken the broth. The ingredients were whatever fresh vegetables and legumes were available from their gardens. Well, centuries ago, Medieval peasants cooked one-pot meals, fittingly called pottages. We think we’re innovative, having invented the crockpot. So, let’s consider what an average peasant in Britain might have eaten in the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries. However, within the peasant class, a greater variety of foods was available depending on circumstances. At its most basic, it consisted of bread, bacon, and ale. Medieval Peasant DietĪs Anastasia discovered, the diet of Medieval lower class people did not change much from day to day. ![]() It is much like the pottage they had eaten yesterday, except yesterday’s had included the mushrooms they had picked. ![]() A pottage of leeks, onions, cabbage, beans, garlic, and herbs simmers in a kettle over coals. The menu includes freshly baked bread made from rye, wheat, and barley, along with butter she had churned that morning. Yes, Ana is still at the peasant’s cottage, and she is helping prepare dinner. A food processor and microwave oven, or even a toaster oven. What more could Anastasia ask for? Variety, for one thing. Artisanal bread, eggs from free-range chickens, butter from pastured cows, organic vegetables. ![]()
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