If you’ve ever considered eating a meal of Medieval-era food with your friends, then we have the perfect dinner for you.
The life of a medieval peasant was hard. It’s not always been made clear to people that the vast majority of people in medieval times were peasants, not lords and ladies. These peasants existed by eating what they could grow- mostly gruels, barley, and oat. The wealthy preferred meat. However, meat was expensive for the peasant -usually reserved for special occasions. This is the stuff serfs ate……..
You may think that food in the medieval times was bland and basically bread and water, but it wasn’t. For peasants, it was wheat, rye, barley, oats, beans, peas, lentils, onions, garlic and herbs. What’s the problem then? The problem is that historians don’t really know what people ate.
Medieval Food For Peasants
Researchers from the University of Bristol have uncovered, for the first time, definitive evidence that determines what types of food medieval peasants ate and how they managed their animals.
Using chemical analysis of pottery fragments and animal bones found at one of England’s earliest medieval villages, combined with detailed examination of a range of historical documents and accounts, the research has revealed the daily diet of peasants in the Middle Ages. The researchers were also able to look at butchery techniques, methods of food preparation and rubbish disposal at the settlement. Dr Julie Dunne and Professor Richard Evershed from the University of Bristol’s Organic Geochemistry Unit, based within the School of Chemistry, led the research, published this month in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
Julie said: “All too often in history the detail, for example food and clothing, of the everyday life of ordinary people is unknown,” Dr Dunne said. “Traditionally, we focus on the important historical figures as these are the people discussed in ancient documents. Much is known of the medieval dietary practices of the nobility and ecclesiastical institutions, but less about what foods the medieval peasantry consumed.”
The scarce historical documents that exist that tell us that medieval peasant ate meat, fish, dairy products, fruit and vegetables but there is little direct evidence for this.
https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.523.0_en.html#goog_558447100
The research team used the technique of organic residue analysis to chemically extract food residues from the remains of cooking pots used by peasants in the small medieval village of West Cotton in Northamptonshire. Organic residue analysis is a scientific technique commonly used in archaeology. It is mainly used on ancient pottery, which is the most common artefact found on archaeological sites worldwide.
Researchers used chemical and isotopic techniques to identify lipids, the fats, oils and natural waxes of the natural world, from the ceramics. These can survive over thousands of years and the compounds found are one of the best ways scientists and archaeologists can determine what our ancestors ate.
The findings demonstrated that stews (or pottages) of meat (beef and mutton) and vegetables such as cabbage and leek, were the mainstay of the medieval peasant diet. The research also showed that dairy products, likely the ‘green cheeses’ known to be eaten by the peasantry, also played an important role in their diet.
“Food and diet are central to understanding daily life in the medieval period, particularly for the medieval peasant,” Dr Dunne added. “This study has provided valuable information on diet and animal husbandry by medieval peasants and helped illustrate agricultural production, consumption and economic life in one of England’s early medieval villages.”
Professor Evershed commented, “West Cotton was one of the first archaeological sites we worked on when we began developing the organic residue approach – it is extraordinary how, by applying the suite of the latest methods, we can provide information missing from historical documents.”
Medieval peasants mainly ate stews of meat and vegetables, along with dairy products such as cheese, according to a study of old cooking pots.
Researchers analysed food residues from the remains of cooking pots found at the small medieval village of West Cotton in Northamptonshire. The pottery covers a period of around 500 years during the Middle Ages.
Read more: Medieval people mutilated the deceased to ward off zombies
By identifying the lipids, fats, oils and natural waxes on the ceramics, the team found that stews of mutton and beef with vegetables such as cabbage and leek were a mainstay of the medieval peasant diet. However, dairy products such as cheese also played an important role.
“All too often in history, the detail of the everyday life of ordinary people is unknown,” says Julie Dunne, at the University of Bristol, UK. “Much is known of the medieval dietary practices of the nobility and ecclesiastical institutions, but less about what foods the medieval peasantry consumed.”
Read more: Medieval London was the most violent place in England
Dunne and her colleagues also examined a range of historical documents for their study, finding that medieval peasants ate meat, fish, dairy products, fruit and vegetables. The team say that, prior to this study, there was little direct evidence that this was the case.