Food+by+LaurenW-CMS

Ways of getting food, eating food, and preparing food was very different in medieval times. When comparing our current lives with the lives of the people living in the Middle Ages, our lives seem so relaxed, and theirs very difficult. That was the only life they knew though, so of course they just went along with their daily lives. In medieval times, food in general was very different, but considering what those people had to work with, they were pretty advanced. The daily life of someone living in the Middle Ages is utterly different from life now, in the 21st century. They lived every day with no electricity, and everything had to be cooked, washed, carved, or sketched out by hand. What the people had to do daily depended on what their social classification was. The social rankings of the middle ages were very strict, and the inhabitants of that time frame were judged according to it. =__Preparing Food__ =

Obviously someone had to specialize in preparing all of the food, since it had to be done by hand and it was a time-consuming process. There were numerous people working in and around the lord’s manor, all carrying out different jobs. Peasants and surfs worked at the manor, a castle-like palace, completing many jobs that the average person takes for granted. The peasants and surfs held the lowest position in society, so their jobs were the undesirable, sweat-inducing ones that no one else wanted to do. Cooks and scullion boys worked in what was called the “great kitchen.” (Aliki, 14) The cooks put the food in order, while the scullion boys ran around completing jobs such as gathering firewood or carrying food into the eating hall. The food was made in countless places inside and outside the manor. There was a bakery where scrumptious bread, pies, pastries, and other delicacies were created as mouth-watering smells filled the rooms. All the fillings for desserts baked there in the bakery were whipped up by cooks in the kitchen and then brought over to the bakery. Butcheries (which were typically outside the manor) cleaned up the meat that the lord and his parties hunted, and dairies made all the milk, cheeses and butter. Wine cellars were exceptionally important; they kept the wine and ale fresh for upcoming meals and feasts. A giant pantry was a necessity for every manor because this was the places where all other food was contained. (“Keskiaika” para. 5) Food had to be organized and prepared around the clock, 24/7. Citizens or the middle ages ate all the time, and their meals were sometimes unreasonably large. Although people existing during medieval times didn’t have the technology and easy ways of cooking that we do, they did come up with various methods of cooking. Some of the most popular methods used were spit roasting, baking, boiling, smoking, salting, and frying. (“Food and Drink” para. 3) = = =__Preserving Food__ =

There were three successful, prominent ways to preserve food during that time period. (“Canonfire” para. 7) The first of those methods is pickling. To pickle something the cook must boil the food in vinegar, or a few, select types of oil. Pickling can take place over a short or long period of time, depending on your taste. Long-time pickling is called long-fermentation, while short time is called un-fermentation. Vegetables are the most common nutrient to be pickled, although the procedure doesn’t exclude meat or fruits. The second method is drying. Drying took a fairly long time to accomplish because of how it was done. The process was this: the food was put out, and the people let the sun and win dry it out. As simple as that. Drying didn’t take much manual labor, but leaving the preservation to the natural elements was time-consuming. Fruits were the most commonly dried foods, but on occasion nuts and meats would be dried also. The last commonly used method was called curing. There were a few ways to cure food, but smoking was the most frequent. By smoking the food, more of the precious flavor was picked up. The only downside to smoking food was that it took a tremendously long amount of time, longer even than drying. Meat was almost always the only food cured.

=__Daily Food__ =

Every day three meals were eaten, the exception being feasting days. Breakfast, dinner (now called lunch), and supper were their three meals. Breakfast was eaten very early, earlier than many people in current times would want to get up. They rose bright and early to eat at six or seven. Dinner was had from twelve to two, and supper, which was by far the largest meal, began at six or seven in the evening, but lasted for several hours. (“Food and Drink” para. 2) All meals were prepared, set out, and eaten in the manor, because there were no restaurants at the time. (“Canonfire” para. 1) Even in the Middle Ages, varieties of foods still existed and were consumed daily. The more ordinary meats consisted of hare, quail, beef, salmon, and venison. These animals were hunted down by the lord and his hunting parties; only the richer, upper-class people could hunt. (Encyclopedia Britanica, 47) Bread was forever present at their meals, although the nobles only ate bread made of the finest flour. Eating vegetables was a little less typical, and was even looked down upon in some cases, and it was the same way with fruits. The poorer people such as the peasants and surfs had to eat more of the fruits and vegetables, since the upper-classmen turned up their noses at such types of food. (At the time, these people did not have information about healthy food choices or any of that). Because of this, the peasants were typically healthier, and lived out full lives while their masters and other high-ranking people were condemned to a life full of health problems. (“Food and Drink” para. 10) Spices were used in some manors. The lords that were able to afford spices enjoyed showing them off to display wealth. (“Spice” para. 3) Cooking fats also played a crucial part in flavor. Lard was a classic choice of cooking fat, although chicken and duck fat were used from time to time, along with butter. (“Canonfire” para. 9) Silverware and plates weren’t the same as they are now, and sometimes weren’t present at all, but of course the forever-hungry people come up with ways to get the food to their mouths. Silverware was uncharacteristic of a usual daily meal. Eating from any type of silverware was a rare and fantastic luxury to these people. (“Canonfire” para. 4) The solution to this problem of no silverware was simply finger food. Napkins weren’t present at the time either, so after they finished their meal or their course, they licked their fingers clean. Bowls containing water for the attending people to dip their fingers in were provided occasionally for special events such as feasts. Instead of using their hands to spoon up soups and chowders, they turned up their bowls and drank straight from them. (“Canonfire” para. 6)

=__Feasting__ =

Feasting was a very happy occasion, and much preparation was put into them. Everyone looked forward to getting invitations to feasts, so although yearly feasts for particular events such as Christmas and Easter existed, times were always looked for when feasting could occur. Every so often, when people were starting to get antsy for another joyous gathering, feasts were held just for the reason of another lord passing through town. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Feasts for the nobles and for the poor were very different when held separately. The feasts didn’t all separate the rich from the poor though. On many important occasions, all people of all social ranking were invited to eat and socialize together. The lower class people unquestionably enjoyed these feasts more because of the more exotic food selections. When separate feasts were held, the poorer people had to eat what the nobles did not find suitable for themselves, so their meals may have consisted mostly of fruits, vegetables, and bread the richer people didn’t consider fine enough to eat. The peasants always got last choice and the “worst” food because of their sometimes predetermined social status. (“Food and Drink” para. 1) During the middle ages, a person’s social class affected every aspect of their daily life, from what clothes he or she wore, to what food they ate, to what job they held. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">The food eaten at feasts was exquisite; only the best was served. Fresh meats such as stag, hare, partridge, and venison were served. Fish like salmon and carp were also enjoyed during feasts. A rare and delectable source of meat was the cockentrice, which was a capen and a suckling pig cut apart and then sewn together. (Aliki, 16) Fruits and vegetables were not had as often as the meat, but there was always at least a small amount of veggies present. Some of the fruits and vegetables shown at feasts were onions, leek, turnips, radishes, peas, strawberries, gooseberry, grapes, pears, and melon. All of the food was eaten on trenchers, a flat bread, because plates were not available. If the feasting people chose it to be so, their “plate” could become part of their meal. At some point during a few lucky feasts, giant pies were brought out, “and four and twenty blackbirds were baked in a pie.” (Aliki, 17) That stunt was pulled purely to amuse the guests. To conclude every feast, elaborate desserts were brought out; often the dessert would be a giant pastry shaped into a castle or animal. (Aliki, 24) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Eating wasn’t the only thing that happened during feasts. Entertainment was always provided for the guests. Sometimes during a feast raconteurs would come, or acrobats would perform tricks, or people would sing and have dances. All of the entertainment and food made feasts a favorite past-time for many people. (Lise Hull, para 1.) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">The people living in the middle ages learned how to cook good food, even though they didn’t have all the technology people have now. That was the only life anyone knew, and they thought they were pretty well off. People’s lifetimes now and theirs are very different, but there will eternally be one thing in common. People always have and always will enjoy food.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 24pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">__Works Cited__

Brandenburg, Aliki. __A Medieval Feast.__ New York: HarperCollins, 1983. <span style="color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: -0.5in;">"Canonfire! - Medieval Cooking and Eating Habits." Canonfire! World of Greyhawk on the Web. Web. 08 Mar. 2011. <http://www.canonfire.com/cfhtml/modules.php?name=News&file=article&thold=-1&mode=flat&order=0&sid=140>. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: -0.5in;">“Food.” __World Book.__ 2005. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: -0.5in;">"Good Meat, Good Spice." Letter from Hardscrabble Creek [Blogs on Demand] 26 July 2008. General OneFile. Web. 3 Mar. 2011. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: -0.5in;">“Hunting, Sport” __Encyclopedia Britanica__. 1982. <span style="color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: -0.5in;">"Medieval Cooking." Keskiaika. Web. 08 Mar. 2011. <http://www.keskiaika.org/kirjasto/food/preparation.htm>. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: -0.5in;">"Medieval Food." Castles of Britain. Web. 04 Mar. 2011. <http://www.castles-of-britain.com/castlesf.htm>.

<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;">"Medieval Food and Drink." Castles. Web. 04 Mar. 2011. <http://www.castles.me.uk/medieval-food-drink.htm>.