Medieval Cuisine

When we think of people living in castles, we often imagine them eating beef roast and huge drum sticks with massive sides of potatoes, with beautiful herby aromas and a few vegetable dishes dishes but it was actually quite different.

The notion of potatoes as the main starch is a relatively modern one. Potatoes were not native to Europe and grew only in the New World until travelers brought them back in the 1500s. The main starch in Europe was wheat in the form of bread, cakes, and pastries. It is also important to note that pasta is a far eastern dish. Remember in elementary school when they told you Marco Polo brought back spaghetti on his voyages east, well he did. Pasta is not an Italian thing, and neither is pizza as we think of it.

Pizza wouldn't be the same without Tomatoes, neither would Spaghetti for that matter. Tomatoes too come from the new world and were bred and perfected by the native peoples. But, tomatoes are members of the Nightshade family, so Europeans, knowing nightshade is deadly poisonous, stayed away from it at first, and still tend to avoid eating them raw. This developed the many great tomato sauces, pastes, and other dishes that we know and love today.

So, neither spaghetti or spaghetti sauce is actually Italian.

Medieval peoples diets were based mainly on hunting. Hunting scenes are very popular in tapestries and ivories, as well as manuscripts.

Many medieval people developed a love of fauna such as Frederick II who wrote a book all about birds.

Meat was probably the most diverse field of cuisine. There was of course the domesticated animals, like cattle, pigs, and fowl, but there were all kinds of animals to hunt, like deer, duck, geese, other fowl, foxes, squirels, and probably a few that have gone extinct since then. If they can find it in the forest, they ate it.

But, hunting was largely reserved for the nobility. The more common folk raised animals, like fowl and chickens that originated in India, but were all over Europe after 500 BC. They were bred for cock fighting initially, not eating or for their eggs, that was just an added bonus.

Common people lived on a more vegetable and starch diet. They grew veggies in their gardens and small plot fields, and grew grains in larger fields, as well as peas, beans, and other legumes. They would sell and trade these at market.

The feudal system is pretty easy to understand. The common folk would grow the food, and give a small percentage in exchange for the protection of their liege. Sometimes the ruler would put on feasts after a big hunt and invite some of the common people to eat, and of course they and the servants could eat the left overs. This way, the nobility had a relatively well rounded diet. 

But, it was rather flavorless. Most of the herbs we use today in cooking have new world roots, and the only spice Europeans had in good supply was pepper. Pepper came from the far east on the silk routs, and was in high demand, because the Europeans did like some flavor. But, only the richest could afford this spice and it was very expensive.

It is easy to see why Europeans were so excited when they found the new world. The new world was full of new starches, like corn and potatoes, and yummy veggies like squash and tomatoes. And also the flavors. Medieval Europeans did not have access to Sugar, coffee, or chocolate, all things we take for granted today. And you can take one look at decorative design in the 1700s and know how much they loved Pineapples.

Food can tell you a lot about a place, we just have to remember its not always been this way. Spaghetti in Italy and Potatoes in Ireland, are new things, and have no relation to their medieval identity.

Sadly, Eleanor of Aquitaine never ate duck with mandarin oranges, and Abbot Suger never had a candy cane.