![]() The book draws on a variety of period sources, including as literature, account books, cookbooks, religious texts, archaeology, and art. Many period recipes and quotations flesh out the narrative. Fascinating information is provided, such as on imitation food, kitchen humor, and medical ideas. Students and other readers will learn about the common foodstuffs available, how and what they cooked, ate, and drank, what the regional cuisines were like, how the different classes entertained and celebrated, and what restrictions they followed for health and faith reasons. Please make sure when adding books that you are recommending that you add both the book's cover and the photo or link to the author. ![]() * Historiography and sources (Medieval Foodways)Ī matron shows how to treat wine and conserve it properly. * Sweets and Desserts during Medieval Times * Herbs, Spices and Condiments Used during Medieval Times * Drink during Medieval Times (Wine, Beer, Distillates) * Dairy Products common during Medieval times * Fruits and Vegetables common during Medieval times * Food Preparation (Medieval Kitchen, Use of Preservation, Professional Cooking) * Cuisine Etiquette during Medieval Times * Regional Specialties and Types of Meals * Dietetics and the Influence of Medieval Science ![]() * The Church and its Influence on Dietary Habits Almonds were very popular as a thickener in soups, stews, and sauces, particularly as almond milk. These, along with the widespread use of sugar or honey, gave many dishes a sweet-sour flavor. Common seasonings in the highly spiced sweet-sour repertory typical of upper-class medieval food included verjuice, wine and vinegar in combination with spices such as black pepper, saffron and ginger. Social norms also dictated that the food of the working class be less refined, since it was believed there was a natural resemblance between one's labor and one's food manual labor required coarser, cheaper food.Ī type of refined cooking developed in the late Middle Ages that set the standard among the nobility all over Europe. Aside from economic unavailability of luxuries such as spices, decrees outlawed consumption of certain foods among certain social classes and sumptuary laws limited conspicuous consumption among the nouveau riche. As each level of society imitated the one above it, innovations from international trade and foreign wars from the 12th century onwards gradually disseminated through the upper middle class of medieval cities. Because of this, the food of the nobility was more prone to foreign influence than the cuisine of the poor it was dependent on exotic spices and expensive imports. Slow transportation and food preservation techniques (based exclusively on drying, salting, smoking and pickling) made long-distance trade of many foods very expensive. Cod and herring were mainstays among the northern populations dried, smoked or salted they made their way far inland, but a wide variety of other saltwater and freshwater fish was also eaten. The most prevalent butcher's meats were pork, chicken and other domestic fowl beef, which required greater investment in land, was less common. Meat was more expensive and therefore more prestigious and in the form of game was common only on the tables of the nobility. (Phaseolus beans, today the "common bean," were of New World origin and were introduced after the Columbian Exchange in the 16th century.) Fava beans and vegetables were important supplements to the cereal-based diet of the lower orders. Barley, oat and rye among the poor, and wheat for the governing classes, were eaten as bread, porridge, gruel and pasta by all members of society. Cereals remained the most important staples during the early Middle Ages as rice was a late introduction to Europe and the potato was only introduced in 1536, with a much later date for widespread usage. During this period, diets and cooking changed less across Europe than they did in the briefer early modern period that followed, when those changes helped lay the foundations for modern European cuisine. "Medieval cuisine includes the foods, eating habits, and cooking methods of various European cultures during the Middle Ages, a period roughly dating from the 5th to the 15th century. This is a thread to discuss and add books, etc.
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