Medieval Cooking
Cooking in the medieval times was performed on very big scale, and food was cheap and plentiful. Foreign goods had to be bought at the nearest large town. Food trade was a primary business. It was also a way of determining class. The nobles would eat meat, white bread, pastries, and drink wine. This sort of diet caused many health problems, such as skin troubles, digestive disorders, infections from decomposed proteins, scurvy, and tooth decay. A peasant would eat porridge, turnips, dark bread, and in the north they would drink beer or ale. Women were the expert cooks, and they seasoned their food heavily with pepper, cloves, garlic, cinnamon, vinegar, and wine. They paid close attention to the appearance of their meal. For instance, they might spread the feathers of a peacock that they are serving. Also, if a the eggs of a batter didn't make it yellow enough, they would add saffron (saffron is orange of yellow powder obtained from the stigmas of the saffron flower). Meat was expensive, so it was considered a luxury. This made butchers prosperous. The most common and least expensive was sheep. They would also eat birds: gulls, herons, storks, swans, cranes, cormorants, and vultures, just to name a few. Animals were cut up immedi
"Food." The Middle Ages. Edition. Vol. 2 "mead (1)." Microsoftc Encartac World English Dictionary. 2000 Edition ately after killing and salted to be preserved. Most meat was boiled because it the animals were wild, and the meat was sure to be tough. Also, almonds were often cooked with the meat for flavor. Fish was also popular. Part of this was because the church required that you eat fish on Fridays. Fish was often cooked in ale. Bishop, Morris. The Horizon Book of the Middle Ages. Ed. Norman Kotker. New York: American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc, 1968. Rowling, Marjorie. Everyday Life in Medieval Times. New York: Dorset Press, 1968. Hodges, Kennith . "Medieval Prices." February 2000. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/medievalprices.html#FOOD%20AND%20LIVESTOCK. As you can see, food was very important to the people back then. It also took a lot of time, effort, and spices to cook. We could say that the maniple had a great big job on his hands on the trip to Canterbury because he had to get enough food to supply thirty people. The cook also had it tough too, having to cook for all of those people. The Franklin probably held many events like this, but they may have not lasted as long as 120 days. And maybe the monk drank just a little too much mead. People spent more on bread and grain then anything else, even though England had a national bread tax, which fixed the price of bread. Pastries were expensive because sugar was an import. Because medical opinion advised that fruit shouldn't be eaten raw, it was preserved in honey and cooked into pastries. Almonds wer
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Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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