Life in the Middle Ages

Life in the Middle Ages

Food:
Food in the Middle Ages was very different from what we ate today because the life of the people back then was governed by the laws of the feudal system and hence what a typical peasant ate was very different from what royalty ate. The day to day diet of a typical middle ages peasant consisted mainly of rye or barley bread and pottage, a kind of stew made of vegetables, grains and on some occasions, fish or meat. Dairy products such as milk and cheese and meats such as beef, lamb and pork were also part of a peasant’s diet. Aside from all of these other foods, a peasant usually ate whatever he grew. A peasant would normally have two meals a day, although it was changed to three meals a day in the later stages of the Middle Ages. Peasants usually (mostly in the summer) had breakfast at 3 am which consisted mainly of pottage, had lunch at midday and had dinner in the evening, where they ate soup, bread, vegetables and then meat and fish.
Banquet for the Lord of the Manor:
There were no forks back in the day, spoons were reserved for soups and everything else is eaten with a knife or with your hands.
First Course:
Roasted Hare with mustard
Leg of Veal covered with German sauce and pomegranate seeds
Roasted Chicken covered with German sauce and gilt sugar plum seeds
Veal Pie
Gosling Pie
Chicken Pies x 6
Pigeons Pies x 10
Minced Loin of Veal
Hard Boiled Eggs x 20 covered with saffron and cloves

Second Course:

Roe-Deer

Roasted Pig

Fish cooked with parsley and vinegar and covered with ginger

Goat cooked with Cloves and Pepper

Third Course:

Gosling

Chickens x 6

Pigeons x 6

Rabbits x 3

Heron

A Stuffed Fat Capron

Heron

Chickens covered with egg yolk and spices

Roasted Wild Boar

Wafers

Fourth Course:
A red and white jelly
Cream preserved in sugar and covered with fennel seeds