Lesson 1: What people ate and when
Let us start this course by forgetting stereotypes. Forget the view of the starving masses and the overfed nobility. Certainly there were famines in the Middle Ages, and crop failures, just as there are today. But they were reported as abnormal – most people would have had enough food to live on for most of the time.
This lesson will introduce you to some of the basics that will help you get past those stereotypes. We will look at staples and very briefly about tableware. Seasonality of foodstuffs is crucial to understanding Medieval food and so are things that bring changes to the diet, such as travel and regional variations.
Staples
Bread
Bread was the staple. Bread was so important to diet that it was even regulated in England – the price and even the weight of bread was controlled by an assize (regulation) to ensure people would get what they paid for and that the prices remained reasonable. Basic prices for a loaf of bread were a penny, halfpenny or farthing. Large loaves were almost certainly cooked in ovens – but small loaves could be baked on hearths in the home.
What sort of bread people ate depended on their region and their wealth. Fine white bread was more expensive than coarse stuff, for instance. And in the north of England, bread made with oats or rye was more common than bread made with pure wheaten flour.
Most bread was leavened, with the main exception being the unleavened bread eaten by Jews during the eight days of Passover.
Basic Tableware
Another popular view concerning Medieval food is that bread was crockery as well as serving as food. While trenchers (slabs of bread) were used as plates, we also have evidence of wooden and metal plates being used – so not all people in the Middle Ages ate off trenchers all the time. Bowls would have been used for liquid food (e.g. wet stews and soups). Basic cutlery was a knife and a spoon – the knife more usually being brought by the diner than supplied by the host.
