Food

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The regional cuisines of medieval Europe were the results of differences in climate, seasonal food variations, political administration and religious customs that varied across the continent. Though sweeping generalizations should be avoided, more or less distinct areas where certain foodstuffs dominated can be discerned.

In the British Isles, northern France, the Low Countries, the northern German-speaking areas, Scandinavia and the Baltic the climate was generally too harsh for the cultivation of grapes and olives. In the south, wine was the common drink for both rich and poor alike (though the commoner usually had to settle for cheap second pressing wine) while beer was the commoner's drink in the north and wine an expensive import. Citrus fruits (though not the kinds most common today) and pomegranates were common around in the Mediterranean. Dried figs and dates occurred quite frequently in the north, but were used rather sparingly in cooking.

Olive oil was among the ubiquitous ingredients around the Mediterranean, but remained an expensive import in the north where oil of poppy, walnut, hazel and filbert was the most affordable alternative.

Butter and lard, especially after the terrible blood-letting of the population during the Black Death, was used in considerable quantities in the northern and northwestern regions, especially in the Low Countries.

Almost universal in middle and upper class cooking all over Europe was the almond, which was in the ubiquitous and highly versatile almond milk, which was used as a substitute in dishes that otherwise required eggs or milk, though the bitter variety came along much later.

Food by Location[edit | edit source]

Germany[edit | edit source]

Fat Germans[edit | edit source]

Though various forms of dishes consisting of batter or dough cooked in fat, like crêpes, fritters and doughnuts were common in most of Europe, they were especially popular among Germans and known as krapfen (Old High German: "claw, hook") and were quite similar to the deep fried dough pastries of today. The extensive use of lard and butter for cooking and a diet that was perceived as especially fatty gained Germans a reputation as being the "fat Germans".

Oils and Fats[edit | edit source]

The fasting regulations of the Catholic Church posed particular problems to the German population. Olives could not be cultivated and olive oil was an expensive import. Oils made from various nut were available, but in relatively short supply.

By far, the most common sources of fat were butter and, above all, lard.

Fish[edit | edit source]

The price of fish was generally higher, and while it was unaffordable to most people for most of the time, the need to use fish for fasting days could mean considerable increases in expenses for the wealthier households.

Mustard[edit | edit source]

Mustard was used in other parts of Europe long before the Middle Ages, but seemed to be especially common in Germany. A 14th-century travel account by Eustache Deschamps, a French poet, shows his considerable discontent with the German custom of smearing generous amounts of mustard on just about every type of meat.

Poland[edit | edit source]

The most common grains in Poland were millet (often made into kasza, a type of porridge) and wheat. Barley and oats were cultivated, but used mostly as animal feed or for brewing beer. Cabbage (especially as sauerkraut), kale, peas, broad beans, and onions were the most common vegetables. Dill and mustard were almost ubiquitous potherbs and parsley was used as a leafy green in stews, as a flavor additive, and applied as a coloring agent in dishes for the upper classes. Beef, pork and poultry (primarily chicken) were the most common meats, with the occasional appearance of mutton and lamb. Game, as elsewhere, was highly prized, but in short supply and usually limited to the high nobility, as hunting licenses were controlled by land owners. Fish was a staple, but unlike Germans, Poles tended only to eat it on fast days when meat was forbidden by the church.

Alcohol[edit | edit source]

Beer was drunk by all social classes, and came in many different varieties and made from millet, wheat, barley, rye or oats sometimes in combination. Wheat beer was the most common.

Labrador tea, a mildly toxic herb, was often used as an ingredient to increase intoxication. It was mixed with hops and then added to a barley and wheat beer to produce what was called "thick beer".

Though often believed to be a common Slavic drink, mead was fairly expensive and primarily enjoyed at weddings and baptismal parties, though always overshadowed by the ever-present beer. It had a high standing as a ceremonial drink and used when arranging alliances and closing contracts.

Wine was generally quite expensive and was enjoyed mostly by the nobility. Although there is evidence of a few vineyards in Poland, almost all wine had to be imported.

Baked Goods[edit | edit source]

A large variety of breads, like obwarzanki were sold by vendors in Krakow as early as the 14th century and placki, flat cakes, came in a surprising number of varieties, including one variety with an apple topping, reminiscent of pizza. German bakers operating in Polish towns had much influence. Krepels (from German Krapfen, "claw; hook") were fried pastries with a cheese filling served with strawberries or other fruit, and resembled a modern empanada.

Britain[edit | edit source]

Ale was the drink of choice of both commoners and nobles, and the known dishes included various stews, simple broths, and soups.

Scandinavia[edit | edit source]

The climate in the far north of Europe made cultivation of cereals even more difficult, and the wheat so popular in the south was a luxury. Wheat could cost at least twice as much as the most common grains, barley and rye. Barley was the most widely grown, but a great percentage of the harvest went into the extensive beer production, while rye was the principal bread grain.

Like in the rest of Europe, oats was considered only fit as animal fodder and was only eaten when no other choice was available, and then usually as porridge or gruel.

Though grains were in the highest regard among medieval Scandinavians and were among the most frequently mentioned foods, other vegetable foods were an indispensable part of the diet: peas, turnips, beans, carrots, onions, leeks and various greens and herbs all provided essential nutrients and vitamins. Kale, a form of cabbage, was especially important in Denmark and Sweden and was a valuable source of fresh food in the winter months, since it kept well and could be harvested (and even tasted better) after the first frost had set in.

Fish was of great importance to most of Scandinavia, and particularly so was the herring fishing in the Limfjord and Oresund. The great shoals of herring migrating from the Atlantic into the Baltic to feed were funnelled through certain narrow points and were caught in huge numbers. The amount of fish caught was more than enough to feed the local population and allowed for huge exports of smoked, and especially salted, fish. Great herring markets were organized in southern Scandinavia, most notably at Skanör in Scania, which was in the Middle Ages part of Denmark.

From this market alone, merchant vessels of the Hanseatic League, the powerful medieval confederation of northern German cities, exported upwards of over 100,000 barrels of salted herring during many decades of the Late Middle Ages.

Of equal, or even greater importance was cod, often fished on the North Sea and Atlantic, dried to make stockfish, and imported as an important staple, particularly during fast and Lent. Many freshwater fish were also of great dietary or economic importance, such as salmon, eel, pike and bream.

Cattle rearing was very widespread in Scandinavia, especially Denmark, where the Black Death had left huge field areas untended and well-suited for grazing. The majority of meat produced was consumed by the local population, but an export market for high-grade beef slowly built up after the 1360s, and had by the 17th century reached well over 100,000 animals per year. All this cattle meant not just meat, but also great quantities of dairy products, which consisted mostly of soured milk drinks, various cheeses and, also a major export product, butter.

Northern France[edit | edit source]

Typical of the Northern French kitchen were the potages and broths, and French chefs excelled in the preparation of meat, fish, roasts, and the sauces that were considered appropriate to each dish. The use of dough and pastry, which was fairly popular in Britain at the time, was almost completely absent from recipe collections with the exception of a few pies. Nor were there any forms of dumplings or the fritters that were so popular in Central Europe.

A common Northern French habit was to name dishes after famous and often exotic places and people.

A specialty among finer French chefs was the preparation of so-called parti-colored dishes. These mimicked the late medieval fashion of wearing clothing with two colors contrasting one another on either side of the garment, a fashion that survived in the costumes of court jesters. The common Western European "white dish" (blanc manger) had a northern French variant where one side was colored bright red or blue.

Another recipe in Du fait de cuisine from 1420 described an entremet consisting of a roasted boar's head with one half colored green and the other golden yellow.

Southern France[edit | edit source]

The basic food in most of the region is still wheat bread, olives, olive oil, wine, cheese, and the occasional piece of meat or fish. The Muslim conquest of Sicily and southern Spain was highly influential on the cuisine by introducing new plants like lemons, pomegranates, eggplants and spices such as saffron. The coloring of food and many other cooking techniques were passed on by the Arab invaders to their European possessions and were gradually spread to regions further north.

The cuisine of southern France, corresponding roughly to the extent of Occitania, had far more in common with Italian and Catalan cooking than with northern French cuisine. Ingredients that distinguished southern cooking included sugar, walnut oil, chickpeas, pomegranates and lemons, all of which were grown locally.

While pomegranate seeds were occasionally used to decorate dishes in France and England, flavoring dishes with pomegranate juice was a practice unique to the Occitan areas.

The use of butter and lard was rare, salted meat for frying was common, and the preferred methods of cooking tended to be dry roasting, frying, or baking. For the latter, a trapa, a portable oven that was filled with food and buried in hot ashes, was often used.

Dishes still common today, like escabeche, a vinegar-based dish, and aillade (aioli), a garlic sauce (still made in Toulouse with walnut oil), were well-established in the Late Middle Ages. Evidence of influence from Muslim Spain can be found in recipes for matafeam, a Christian version of the originally Hispano-Jewish Shabbat stew adafina, but with pork rather than lamb. And, Raymonia (Occitan; Ital: Romania) is based on the Arabic Rummaniya, a chicken bruet with pomegranate juice, ground almonds, and sugar.

Only one recipe collection is positively identified as being from southern France. The Modus viaticorum preparandorum et salsarum is a collection of 51 recipes. It was written ca. 1380-90 in Latin with occasional words in Occitan. The Modus contains a Salsa de cerpol (Wild thyme sauce) and a Cofiment anguille (Confit of eel), which appear nowhere else but in Occitania.[15]

Some dietary details have been extrapolated from Vatican archives from 1305–78 when Avignon was the seat of the Avignon Papacy. Though the lifestyles of the papal courts could often be very luxurious, the Vatican account books of the daily alms given to the poor describe some of what lower class food in the region was like. The food that was handed out to the needing consisted mainly of bread, legumes, and some wine. These were occasionally supplemented with cheese, fish, olive oil and meat of low quality.

Montpellier, located on in Languedoc only a few miles from the coast, was a major center for trade, education in medicine, and was famous for its espices de chamber or "parlor confections", a term for sweets such as candied aniseed and ginger. The confectionery from the town was so renowned that its market value was twice as high as that of similar products from other towns. Montpellier was also well known for its spices and the wines with which they were flavored, like the ubiquitous hypocras.

Iberia[edit | edit source]

The basic food in most of the region is still wheat bread, olives, olive oil, wine, cheese, and the occasional piece of meat or fish. The Muslim conquest of Sicily and southern Spain was highly influential on the cuisine by introducing new plants like lemons, pomegranates, eggplants and spices such as saffron. The coloring of food and many other cooking techniques were passed on by the Arab invaders to their European possessions and were gradually spread to regions further north.

The Iberian Peninsula has a highly varied geography with a central Meseta, a vast, flat plateau, surrounded on all sides by mountain ranges and cut off from the rest of Europe by the Pyrenees. This meant that several distinct cultures co-existed on the peninsula with several unique cuisines.

Since Ancient times it had been a colony of several Mediterranean cultures.

The Phoenicians introduced the cultivation of olives.

The Greeks brought the Malvasia grape, founding a wine industry that would become renowned in the Middle Ages.

The Roman Empire, of which the peninsula was the westernmost outpost, that had the biggest impact on Iberian cuisine. After the collapse of Roman rule, Visigothic invaders conquered most of the modern day Spain and Portugal in the 5th century. The Visigoths took on many Roman customs, like the focus on vegetables, and used Latin for official purposes.

The invasions of North African Muslims and the establishment of Al-Andalus that gave Iberian cuisine its unique nature. The Muslims brought with them the highly refined cuisine influenced by Arab courts in the Middle East. The center of this Arab civilization was Baghdad, at the time one of the largest cities in the world. The new rulers introduced many new customs and foodstuffs; goblets made of glass rather than metal, savory meat dishes cooked with fruit, spices and herbs like cinnamon, mastic, caraway, sesame and mint and the use of ground almonds or rice as thickeners and a fondness for adding tangy liquids like verjuice, tamarind and the juice of bitter oranges to produce a distinctly sweet-sour taste. The impact can clearly be seen in the multitude of Arab loanwords in Spanish; naranja "orange", azúcar ("sugar"), alcachofa ("artichoke"), azafrán ("saffron") and espinaca ("spinach"), many of which eventually spread to other languages in Europe. The Spanish Muslims established the sequences of dishes which was to permeate the entire continent and which is still forms the basis for many modern European meals; soup followed by meat dishes and finished off with sweets. It also believed that escabeche, a vinegar-based dish, could very well be of Arab-Persian origin, though this has been contested.

One of the earliest medieval cookbooks in a language other than Latin was Libre de Sent Soví ("The Book of Saint Sophia"). A majority of its recipes call for bitter oranges, rose water and cider to achieve the popular tangy flavor of late medieval cuisine. It contains many fish recipes, but surprisingly enough, no mention of shellfish, which must have been one of the major food sources in the Catalan coastal regions.

The typical medieval white dish (manjar blanco) seems to have appeared first in Catalonia in the 8th century and eventually evolved into a type of sweet pudding. While poorly represented in cookbooks, the most common food for the general population, other than the regular staples of bread, wine, garlic, onion and olive oil, included eggs, lamb, beef, kid and bacon.

The Jewish population of Al-Andalus, the Sephardic Jews, developed their cuisine in close contact with Christians and Muslims. Influences went in both directions and lasted even after the expulsions and forced conversions of the Jewish population that followed the Reconquista. Among the specialties was adafina (from Arabic al dafina "the buried treasure"), a meat dish that was prepared by burying it in hot coals on the day before the Shabbat. Jewish fish pie dishes have survived in Spanish cuisine as empanadas de pescado.

Italy[edit | edit source]

The basic food in most of the region is still wheat bread, olives, olive oil, wine, cheese, and the occasional piece of meat or fish. The Muslim conquest of Sicily and southern Spain was highly influential on the cuisine by introducing new plants like lemons, pomegranates, eggplants and spices such as saffron. The coloring of food and many other cooking techniques were passed on by the Arab invaders to their European possessions and were gradually spread to regions further north.

The lucrative Mediterrenean trade in spices, silk and other luxuries from Africa and Asia were shipped on the galleys of the powerful city-states of Genoa, Venice and Florence, making them phenomenally rich. Medieval Italy, meaning primarily the northern Italian Peninsula, was one of the few regions in medieval Europe where the distinction between nobility and prosperous commoners were more or less irrelevant, the result of a significant, rich and self-conscious middle class. This meant that the level of culinary refinement and diversity was especially great when compared to the rest of the continent.

Italian cuisine was, and still is, better described as a multitude of highly varied regional cuisines, each with long traditions and their own specialties. Italian dishes can therefore be considered either traditional or imported. Being the hub of a vast trade network meant that there was greater access to foreign luxuries to influence the local cooking. Still, there was a great deal of conservatism and in general far more of local Italian foodstuffs were exported to the New World than the other way around, though the impact of important products such as vanilla, corn, kidney beans, and of course, the tomato, which had a considerable impact on the cooking south of Naples, even if this transition took some time.

Many Italian staples and internationally recognized favorites were invented and refined during the Late Middle Ages and the early Renaissance; pasta was on everyone's dinner plate by the 13th century, though it was commonly made out of rice flour rather than durum wheat; pizza, the medieval Italian term for "pie", and tortes came in many varieties with a wide range of toppings, ranging from marzipan, and custards to chicken, eel, or even hemp; polenta made from French green lentils or barley; risotto; and a myriad of local or regional variants of sausage and cheese which was eaten by more or less everyone. As early as the Middle Ages, the cheeses, in particular, appear to have been highly specialized, from a fresh Tuscan to an aged Milanese from Tadesca, wrapped and shipped in tree bark. Medieval Italians also used eggs to a higher degree than many other regions, and the recipe collections describe herb omelettes (herboletos) and frittatas. Grapes as tasty morsels and lemons as a cooking ingredient was ubiquitous and, of course, olive oil of every conceivable kind was the cooking fat of choice in all regions, including the north, for dressing salads, frying, seasoning, marinading and preserving meats.

Byzantine Empire[edit | edit source]

The culinary traditions of Roman times lived on in the Byzantine empire. Inherited from Greek traditions was the use of olives and olive oil, wheat bread, and plenty of fish. These would very often be served or prepared with garós, the Greek term for garum, a sauce made out of fermented fish that was so popular that it more or less replaced salt as the common food flavoring.

Arab Influence[edit | edit source]

The Byzantine kitchen was also influenced by Arab cuisine from which it imported the use of eggplants and oranges.

Seafood[edit | edit source]

Seafood was very popular and included tuna, lobster, mussels, oysters, murena, and carp.

Black Sea Influence[edit | edit source]

Around the 11th century the habit of eating roe and caviar was also imported from the Black Sea region.

Dairy, Nuts & Fruits[edit | edit source]

Dairy products were consumed in the form of cheese (particularly feta), and nuts and fruits such as dates, figs, grapes, pomegranates, and apples.

Meats[edit | edit source]

The choice of meats were lamb, and several wild animals like gazelles, wild asses, and suckling young in general. Meat was often salted, smoked or dried.

Drinks[edit | edit source]

Wine was popular, like elsewhere around the Mediterranean, and it was the drink of choice among the higher social classes, where sweet wines like Muscat or Madeira/Malmsey were popular. Among the lower classes, the common drink tended to be vinegar mixed with water.

Fasts and Lent[edit | edit source]

Like all Christian societies the Byzantines had to abide by the dietary restrictions of the church, which meant avoiding meats (and preferably general excesses) on Wednesdays and Fridays and during fast and Lent.

Desserts[edit | edit source]

The Byzantine empire also became quite famous for its desserts, which included biscuits, rice pudding, quince marmalade, rose sugar and many types of non-alcoholic beverages. The most common sweetener was honey, with sugar extracted from sugar cane being reserved for those who could afford it.

Lower Class Diet[edit | edit source]

The food of the lower classes was mostly vegetarian and limited to olives, fruit, onions, and the occasional piece of cheese, or stews made from cabbage and salted pork. The standard meal of a shoemaker was described in a Byzantine poem, one of the Prodromic Poems, as consisting of some cooked foods and an omelette followed by hot salted pork with an unspecified garlic dish.

Types of Food[edit | edit source]

Fruit was readily combined with meat, fish and eggs. The recipe for Tart de brymlent, a fish pie from the recipe collection Forme of Cury, includes a mix of figs, raisins, apples and pears with fish (salmon, codling or haddock) and pitted damson plums under the top crust.

It was considered important to make sure that the dish agreed with contemporary standards of medicine and dietetics. This meant that food had to be "tempered" according to its nature by an appropriate combination of preparation and mixing certain ingredients, condiments and spices; fish was seen as being cold and moist, and best cooked in a way that heated and dried it, such as frying or oven baking, and seasoned with hot and dry spices; beef was dry and hot and should therefore be boiled; pork was hot and moist and should therefore always be roasted.

In some recipe collections, alternative ingredients were assigned with more consideration to the humoral nature than what a modern cook would consider to be similarity in taste. In a recipe for quince pie, cabbage is said to work equally well, and in another turnips could be replaced by pears.[37]

Cerals[edit | edit source]

The period between c. 500 and 1300 saw a major change in diet that affected most of Europe. More intense agriculture on an ever-increasing acreage resulted in a shift from animal products, like meat and dairy, to various grains and vegetables as the staple of the majority population.

Breads[edit | edit source]

Before the 14th century bread was not as common among the lower classes, especially in the north where wheat was more difficult to grow. A bread-based diet became gradually more common during the 15th century and replaced warm intermediate meals that were porridge- or gruel-based. Leavened bread was more common in wheat-growing regions in the south, while unleavened flatbread of barley, rye or oats remained more common in northern and highland regions, and unleavened flatbread was also common as provisions for troops.

Grains[edit | edit source]

The most common grains were rye, barley, buckwheat, millet, and oats.

Rice[edit | edit source]

Rice remained a fairly expensive import for most of the Middle Ages and was grown in northern Italy only towards the end of the period.

Wheat, Flour & Bread[edit | edit source]

Wheat was common all over Europe and was considered to be the most nutritious of all grains, but was more prestigious and thus more expensive. The finely sifted white flour that modern Europeans are most familiar with was reserved for the bread of the upper classes.

As one descended the social ladder, bread became coarser, darker, and its bran content increased. In times of grain shortages or outright famine, grains could be supplemented with cheaper and less desirable substitutes like chestnuts, dried legumes, acorns, ferns, and a wide variety of more or less nutritious vegetable matter.

One of the most common constituents of a medieval meal, either as part of a banquet or as a small snack, were sops, pieces of bread with which a liquid like wine, soup, broth, or sauce could be soaked up and eaten.

Grain, either as bread crumbs or flour, was also the most common thickener of soups and stews, alone or in combination with almond milk.

Porridge[edit | edit source]

Another common sight at the medieval dinner table was the frumenty, a thick wheat porridge often boiled in a meat broth and seasoned with spices. Porridges were also made of every type of grain and could be served as desserts or dishes for the sick, if boiled in milk (or almond milk) and sweetened with sugar.

Baked Goods[edit | edit source]

Pies filled with meats, eggs, vegetables, or fruit were common throughout Europe, as were turnovers, fritters, doughnuts, and many similar pastries.

By the Late Middle Ages biscuits (cookies in the U.S.) and especially wafers, eaten for dessert, had become high-prestige foods and came in many varieties.

Bakers[edit | edit source]

The importance of bread as a daily staple meant that bakers played a crucial role in any medieval community. Bread consumption was high in most of Western Europe by the 14th century. Estimates of bread consumption from different regions are fairly similar: around 1 to 1.5 kilograms (2.2 to 3.3 lb) of bread per person per day.

Among the first town guilds to be organized were the bakers', and laws and regulations were passed to keep bread prices stable. The English Assize of Bread and Ale of 1266 listed extensive tables where the size, weight, and price of a loaf of bread were regulated in relation to grain prices. The baker's profit margin stipulated in the tables was later increased through successful lobbying from the London Baker's Company by adding the cost of everything from firewood and salt to the baker's wife, house, and dog.

Since bread was such a central part of the medieval diet, swindling by those who were trusted with supplying the precious commodity to the community was considered a serious offense. Bakers who were caught tampering with weights or adulterating dough with less expensive ingredients could receive severe penalties. This gave rise to the "baker's dozen": a baker would give 13 for the price of 12, to be certain of not being known as a cheat.

Fruits and Vegetables[edit | edit source]

While grains were the primary constituent of most meals; vegetables such as cabbage, beets, onions, garlic and carrots were common foodstuffs. Many of these were eaten daily by peasants and workers, but were less prestigious than meat.

The cookbooks, intended mostly for those who could afford such luxuries, which appeared in the late Middle Ages, contained only a small number of recipes using vegetables as the main ingredient. The lack of recipes for many basic vegetable dishes, such as potages, has been interpreted not to mean that they were absent from the meals of the nobility, but rather that they were considered so basic that they did not require recording.

Carrots[edit | edit source]

Carrots were available in many variants during the Middle Ages: among them a tastier reddish-purple variety and a less prestigious green-yellow type.

Legumes[edit | edit source]

Various legumes, like chickpeas, fava beans and peas were also common and important sources of protein, especially among the lower classes. With the exception of peas, legumes were often viewed with some suspicion by the dietitians advising the upper class, partly because of their tendency to cause flatulence but also because they were associated with the coarse food of peasants.

Fruits[edit | edit source]

Fruit was popular and could be served fresh, dried, or preserved, and was a common ingredient in many cooked dishes. Since sugar and honey were both expensive, it was common to include many types of fruit in dishes that called for sweeteners of some sort.

The fruits of choice in the south were lemons, citrons, bitter oranges (the sweet type was not introduced until several hundred years later), pomegranates, quinces, and, of course, grapes. Farther north, apples, pears, plums, and strawberries were more common. Figs and dates were eaten all over Europe, but remained rather expensive imports in the north.

Common and often basic ingredients in many modern European cuisines like potatoes, kidney beans, cacao, vanilla, tomatoes, chili peppers and maize were not available to Europeans until the late 15th century after European contact with the Americas, and even then it often took considerable time for the new foodstuffs to be accepted by society at large.

Dairy[edit | edit source]

Milk[edit | edit source]

Milk was an important source of animal protein for those who could not afford meat. It would mostly come from cows, but milk from goats and sheep was also common.

Plain fresh milk was not consumed by adults except the poor or sick, and was usually reserved for the very young or elderly. Poor adults would sometimes drink buttermilk or whey or milk that was soured or watered down.

Fresh milk was overall less common than other dairy products because of the lack of technology to keep it from spoiling. On occasion it was used in upper-class kitchens in stews, but it was difficult to keep fresh in bulk and almond milk was generally used in its stead.

Cheese[edit | edit source]

Cheese was far more important as a foodstuff, especially for common people, and it has been suggested that it was, during many periods, the chief supplier of animal protein among the lower classes.

Many varieties of cheese eaten today, like Dutch Edam, Northern French Brie and Italian Parmesan, were available and well known in late medieval times. There were also whey cheeses, like ricotta, made from by-products of the production of harder cheeses.

Cheese was used in cooking for pies and soups, the latter being common fare in German-speaking areas.

Butter[edit | edit source]

Butter, another important dairy product, was in popular use in the regions of Northern Europe that specialized in cattle production in the latter half of the Middle Ages, the Low Countries and Southern Scandinavia. While most other regions used oil or lard as cooking fats, butter was the dominant cooking medium in these areas. Its production also allowed for a lucrative butter export from the 12th century onward.

Meats[edit | edit source]

While all forms of wild game were popular among those who could obtain it, most meat came from domestic animals. Domestic working animals that were no longer able to work were slaughtered but not particularly appetizing and therefore were less valued as meat.

Beef[edit | edit source]

Beef was not as common as today because raising cattle was labor-intensive, requiring pastures and feed, and oxen and cows were much more valuable as draught animals and for producing milk.

Mutton & Lamb[edit | edit source]

Mutton and lamb were fairly common, especially in areas with a sizeable wool industry, as was veal.

Pork[edit | edit source]

Far more common was pork, as domestic pigs required less attention and cheaper feed. Domestic pigs often ran freely even in towns and could be fed on just about any organic waste, and suckling pig was a sought-after delicacy.

Just about every part of the pig was eaten, including ears, snout, tail, tongue, and womb. Intestines, bladder and stomach could be used as casings for sausage or even illusion food such as giant eggs.

Other animals[edit | edit source]

Among the meats that today are rare or even considered inappropriate for human consumption are the hedgehog and porcupine, occasionally mentioned in late medieval recipe collections.

Rabbits remained a rare and highly prized commodity. In England, they were deliberately introduced by the 13th century and their colonies were carefully protected. Further south, domesticated rabbits were commonly raised and bred both for their meat and fur. They were of particular value for monasteries, because newborn rabbits were allegedly declared fish (or, at least, not-meat) by the church and therefore they could be eaten during Lent.

Fowl[edit | edit source]

A wide range of birds were eaten, including swans, peafowl, quail, partridge, storks, cranes, larks, linnets and other songbirds that could be trapped in nets, and just about any other wild bird that could be hunted.

Swans and peafowl were domesticated to some extent, but were only eaten by the social elite, and more praised for their fine appearance as stunning entertainment dishes, entremets, than for their meat. As today, geese and ducks had been domesticated but were not as popular as the chicken, the fowl equivalent of the pig.

Curiously enough the barnacle goose was believed to reproduce not by laying eggs like other birds, but by growing in barnacles, and was hence considered acceptable food for fast and Lent.

Economy[edit | edit source]

Meats were more expensive than plant foods. Though rich in protein, the calorie-to-weight ratio of meat was less than that of plant food. Meat could be up to four times as expensive as bread. Fish was up to 16 times as costly, and was expensive even for coastal populations.

This meant that fasts could mean an especially meager diet for those who could not afford alternatives to meat and animal products like milk and eggs.

It was only after the Black Death had eradicated up to half of the European population that meat became more common even for poorer people. The drastic reduction in many populated areas resulted in a labor shortage, meaning that wages shot up. It also left vast areas of farmland untended, making them available for pasture and putting more meat on the market.

Fish and seafood[edit | edit source]

Although less prestigious than other animal meats, and often seen as merely an alternative to meat on fast days, seafood was the mainstay of many coastal populations. "Fish" to the medieval person was also a general name for anything not considered a proper land-living animal, including marine mammals such as whales and porpoises. Also included were the beaver, due to its scaly tail and considerable time spent in water, and barnacle geese, due to the belief that they developed underwater in the form of barnacles. Such foods were also considered appropriate for fast days.

Especially important was the fishing and trade in herring and cod in the Atlantic and the Baltic Sea. The herring was of unprecedented significance to the economy of much of Northern Europe, and it was one of the most common commodities traded by the Hanseatic League, a powerful north German alliance of trading guilds. Kippers made from herring caught in the North Sea could be found in markets as far away as Constantinople.

While large quantities of fish were eaten fresh, a large proportion was salted, dried, and, to a lesser extent, smoked. Stockfish, cod that was split down the middle, fixed to a pole and dried, was very common, though preparation could be time-consuming, and meant beating the dried fish with a mallet before soaking it in water.

A wide range of mollusks including oysters, mussels and scallops were eaten by coastal and river-dwelling populations, and freshwater crayfish were seen as a desirable alternative to meat during fish days.

Compared to meat, fish was much more expensive for inland populations, especially in Central Europe, and therefore not an option for most. Freshwater fish such as pike, carp, bream, perch, lamprey, and trout were common.

Drinks[edit | edit source]

Water[edit | edit source]

In the Middle Ages, no one drank water due to concerns over purity, medical recommendations and its low prestige value made it less favored, and alcoholic beverages were always preferred. They were seen as more nutritious and beneficial to digestion than water, with the invaluable bonus of being less prone to putrefaction due to the alcohol content.

Wine[edit | edit source]

Wine was consumed on a daily basis in most of France and all over the Western Mediterranean wherever grapes were cultivated. Further north it remained the preferred drink of the bourgeoisie and the nobility who could afford it, and far less common among peasants and workers. The drink of commoners in the northern parts of the continent was primarily beer or ale.

Wine was commonly drunk and was also regarded as the most prestigious and healthy choice. According to Galen's dietetics it was considered hot and dry but these qualities were moderated when wine was watered down. Unlike water or beer, which were considered cold and moist, consumption of wine in moderation (especially red wine) was, among other things, believed to aid digestion, generate good blood and brighten the mood.

The quality of wine differed considerably according to vintage, the type of grape and more importantly, the number of grape pressings. The first pressing was made into the finest and most expensive wines which were reserved for the upper classes. The second and third pressings were subsequently of lower quality and alcohol content. Common folk usually had to settle for a cheap white or rosé from a second or even third pressing, meaning that it could be consumed in quite generous amounts without leading to heavy intoxication. For the poorest (or the most pious), watered-down vinegar (similar to Ancient Roman posca) would often be the only available choice.

The aging of high quality red wine required specialized knowledge as well as expensive storage and equipment, and resulted in an even more expensive end product. Judging from the advice given in many medieval documents on how to salvage wine that bore signs of going bad, preservation must have been a widespread problem. Even if vinegar was a common ingredient, there was only so much of it that could be used.

In the 14th century cookbook Le Viandier there are several methods for salvaging spoiling wine; making sure that the wine barrels are always topped up or adding a mixture of dried and boiled white grape seeds with the ash of dried and burnt lees of white wine were both effective bactericides, even if the chemical processes were not understood at the time.

Spiced or mulled wine was not only popular among the affluent, but was also considered especially healthy by physicians. Wine was believed to act as a kind of vaporizer and conduit of other foodstuffs to every part of the body, and the addition of fragrant and exotic spices would make it even more wholesome. Spiced wines were usually made by mixing an ordinary (red) wine with an assortment of spices such as ginger, cardamom, pepper, grains of paradise, nutmeg, cloves and sugar. These would be contained in small bags which were either steeped in wine or had liquid poured over them to produce hypocras and claré. By the 14th century, bagged spice mixes could be bought ready-made from spice merchants.

Juices[edit | edit source]

Juices, as well as wines, of a multitude of fruits and berries had been known at least since Roman antiquity and were still consumed in the Middle Ages: pomegranate, mulberry and blackberry wines, perry, and cider which was especially popular in the north where both apples and pears were plentiful. Medieval drinks that have survived to this day include prunellé from wild plums (modern-day slivovitz), mulberry gin and blackberry wine.

Mead[edit | edit source]

Many variants of mead have been found in medieval recipes, with or without alcoholic content. However, the honey-based drink became less common as a table beverage towards the end of the period and was eventually relegated to medicinal use.

Mead has often been presented as the common drink of the Slavs. This is partially true since mead bore great symbolic value at important occasions. When agreeing on treaties and other important affairs of state, mead was often presented as a ceremonial gift. It was also common at weddings and baptismal parties, though in limited quantity due to its high price.

In medieval Poland, mead had a status equivalent to that of imported luxuries, such as spices and wines.

Kumis[edit | edit source]

Kumis, the fermented milk of mares or camels, was known in Europe, but as with mead was mostly something prescribed by physicians.

Milk[edit | edit source]

Plain milk was not consumed by adults except the poor or sick, being reserved for the very young or elderly, and then usually as buttermilk or whey. Fresh milk was overall less common than other dairy products because of the lack of technology to keep it from spoiling.

Tea and Coffee[edit | edit source]

Tea and coffee, both made from plants found in the Old World, were popular in East Asia and the Muslim world during the Middle Ages. However, neither of these non-alcoholic social drinks were consumed in Europe before the late 16th and early 17th century.

Beer[edit | edit source]

While wine was the most common table beverage in much of Europe, this was not the case in the northern regions where grapes were not cultivated. Those who could afford it drank imported wine, but even for nobility in these areas it was common to drink beer or ale, particularly towards the end of the Middle Ages.

In England, the Low Countries, northern Germany, Poland and Scandinavia, beer was consumed on a daily basis by people of all social classes and age groups. By the mid-15th century, barley, a cereal known to be somewhat poorly suited for breadmaking but excellent for brewing, accounted for 27% of all cereal acreage in England.

However, the heavy influence from Arab and Mediterranean culture on medical science (particularly due to the Reconquista and the influx of Arabic texts) meant that beer was often heavily disfavored. For most medieval Europeans, it was a humble brew compared with common southern drinks and cooking ingredients, such as wine, lemons and olive oil. Even comparatively exotic products like camel's milk and gazelle meat generally received more positive attention in medical texts. Beer was just an acceptable alternative and was assigned various negative qualities.

The intoxicating effect of beer was believed to last longer than that of wine, but it was also admitted that it did not create the "false thirst" associated with wine. Though less prominent than in the north, beer was consumed in northern France and the Italian mainland. Perhaps as a consequence of the Norman conquest and the travelling of nobles between France and England, one French variant described in the 14th century cookbook Le Menagier de Paris was called godale (most likely a direct borrowing from the English "good ale") and was made from barley and spelt, but without hops. In England there were also the variants poset ale, made from hot milk and cold ale, and brakot or braggot, a spiced ale prepared much like hypocras.

Before the widespread use of hops, gruit, a mix of various herbs, had been used. Gruit had the same preserving properties as hops, though less reliable depending on what herbs were in it, and the end result was much more variable. Another flavoring method was to increase the alcohol content, but this was more expensive and lent the beer the undesired characteristic of being a quick and heavy intoxicant. Hops may have been widely used in England in the tenth century; they were grown in Austria by 1208 and in Finland by 1249, and possibly much earlier.

Before hops became popular as an ingredient, it was difficult to preserve this beverage for any time, and so, it was mostly consumed fresh. It was unfiltered, and therefore cloudy, and likely had a lower alcohol content than the typical modern equivalent. Quantities of beer consumed by medieval residents of Europe, as recorded in contemporary literature, far exceed intakes in the modern world. For example, sailors in 16th century England and Denmark received a ration of 1 imperial gallon (4.5 L; 1.2 US gal) of beer per day. Polish peasants consumed up to 3 litres (0.66 imp gal; 0.79 US gal) of beer per day.

In the Early Middle Ages beer was primarily brewed in monasteries, and on a smaller scale in individual households. By the High Middle Ages breweries in the fledgling medieval towns of northern Germany began to take over production. Though most of the breweries were small family businesses that employed at most eight to ten people, regular production allowed for investment in better equipment and increased experimentation with new recipes and brewing techniques. These operations later spread to the Netherlands in the 14th century, then to Flanders and Brabant, and reached England by the 15th century.

Hopped beer became very popular in the last decades of the Late Middle Ages. In England and the Low Countries, the per capita annual consumption was around 275 to 300 litres (60 to 66 imp gal; 73 to 79 US gal), and it was consumed with practically every meal: low alcohol-content beers for breakfast, and stronger ones later in the day. When perfected as an ingredient, hops could make beer keep for six months or more, and facilitated extensive exports.

In Late Medieval England, the word beer came to mean a hopped beverage, whereas ale had to be unhopped. In turn, ale or beer was classified into "strong" and "small", the latter less intoxicating, regarded as a drink of temperate people, and suitable for consumption by children. As late as 1693, John Locke stated that the only drink he considered suitable for children of all ages was small beer, while criticizing the apparently common practice among Englishmen of the time to give their children wine and strong alcohol.

By modern standards, the brewing process was relatively inefficient, but capable of producing quite strong alcohol when that was desired. One recent attempt to recreate medieval English "strong ale" using recipes and techniques of the era (albeit with the use of modern yeast strains) yielded a strongly alcoholic brew with original gravity of 1.091 (corresponding to a potential alcohol content over 9%) and "pleasant, apple-like taste".

Herbs, spices and condiments[edit | edit source]

Spices were among the most luxurious products available in the Middle Ages, the most common being black pepper, cinnamon (and the cheaper alternative cassia), cumin, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. They all had to be imported from plantations in Asia and Africa, which made them extremely expensive, and gave them social cachet such that pepper for example was hoarded, traded and conspicuously donated in the manner of gold bullion. It has been estimated that around 1,000 tons of pepper and 1,000 tons of the other common spices were imported into Western Europe each year during the late Middle Ages. The value of these goods was the equivalent of a yearly supply of grain for 1.5 million people.

Saffron and Turmeric[edit | edit source]

While pepper was the most common spice, the most exclusive (though not the most obscure in its origin) was saffron, used as much for its vivid yellow-red color as for its flavor, for according to the humours, yellow signified hot and dry, valued qualities; turmeric provided a yellow substitute, and touches of gilding at banquets supplied both the medieval love of ostentatious show and Galenic dietary.

Modern Obscurity[edit | edit source]

Among the spices that have now fallen into obscurity are grains of paradise, a relative of cardamom which almost entirely replaced pepper in late medieval north French cooking, long pepper, mace, spikenard, galangal and cubeb. Sugar, unlike today, was considered to be a type of spice due to its high cost and humoral qualities.

Few dishes employed just one type of spice or herb, but rather a combination of several different ones. Even when a dish was dominated by a single flavor it was usually combined with another to produce a compound taste, for example parsley and cloves or pepper and ginger.

Common[edit | edit source]

Common herbs such as sage, mustard, and parsley were grown and used in cooking all over Europe, as were caraway, mint, dill and fennel. Many of these plants grew throughout all of Europe or were cultivated in gardens, and were a cheaper alternative to exotic spices. Mustard was particularly popular with meat products and was described by Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179) as poor man's food. While locally grown herbs were less prestigious than spices, they were still used in upper-class food, but were then usually less prominent or included merely as coloring. Anise was used to flavor fish and chicken dishes, and its seeds were served as sugar-coated comfits.

Sour Tastes[edit | edit source]

Surviving medieval recipes frequently call for flavoring with a number of sour, tart liquids. Wine, verjuice (the juice of unripe grapes or fruits) vinegar and the juices of various fruits, especially those with tart flavors, were almost universal and a hallmark of late medieval cooking. In combination with sweeteners and spices, it produced a distinctive "pungeant, fruity" flavor.

Almonds[edit | edit source]

Equally common, and used to complement the tanginess of these ingredients, were (sweet) almonds. They were used in a variety of ways: whole, shelled or unshelled, slivered, ground and, most importantly, processed into almond milk. This last type of non-dairy milk product is probably the single most common ingredient in late medieval cooking and blended the aroma of spices and sour liquids with a mild taste and creamy texture.

Salt[edit | edit source]

Salt was ubiquitous and indispensable in medieval cooking. Salting and drying was the most common form of food preservation and meant that fish and meat in particular were often heavily salted. Many medieval recipes specifically warn against oversalting and there were recommendations for soaking certain products in water to get rid of excess salt. Salt was present during more elaborate or expensive meals.

The richer the host, and the more prestigious the guest, the more elaborate would be the container in which it was served and the higher the quality and price of the salt. Wealthy guests were seated "above the salt", while others sat "below the salt", where salt cellars were made of pewter, precious metals or other fine materials, often intricately decorated. The rank of a diner also decided how finely ground and white the salt was. Salt for cooking, preservation or for use by common people was coarser; sea salt, or "bay salt", in particular, had more impurities, and was described in colors ranging from black to green. Expensive salt, on the other hand, looked like the standard commercial salt common today.

Sweets and desserts[edit | edit source]

The term "dessert" comes from the Old French desservir, "to clear a table", literally "to un-serve", and originated during the Middle Ages. It would typically consist of dragées and mulled wine accompanied by aged cheese, and by the Late Middle Ages could also include fresh fruit covered in sugar, honey or syrup and boiled-down fruit pastes.

Sugar, from its first appearance in Europe, was viewed as much as a drug as a sweetener; its long-lived medieval reputation as an exotic luxury encouraged its appearance in elite contexts accompanying meats and other dishes that to modern taste are more naturally savoury. There was a wide variety of fritters, crêpes with sugar, sweet custards and darioles, almond milk and eggs in a pastry shell that could also include fruit and sometimes even bone marrow or fish.

German-speaking areas had a particular fondness for krapfen: fried pastries and dough with various sweet and savory fillings. Marzipan in many forms was well known in Italy and southern France by the 1340s and is assumed to be of Arab origin.

Anglo-Norman cookbooks are full of recipes for sweet and savory custards, potages, sauces and tarts with strawberries, cherries, apples and plums. The English chefs also had a penchant for using flower petals such as roses, violets, and elder flowers. An early form of quiche can be found in Forme of Cury, a 14th-century recipe collection, as a Torte de Bry with a cheese and egg yolk filling.

In northern France, a wide assortment of waffles and wafers was eaten with cheese and hypocras or a sweet malmsey as issue de table ("departure from the table"). The ever-present candied ginger, coriander, aniseed and other spices were referred to as épices de chambre ("parlor spices") and were taken as digestibles at the end of a meal to "close" the stomach.

Like their Muslim counterparts in Spain, the Arab conquerors of Sicily introduced a wide variety of new sweets and desserts that eventually found their way to the rest of Europe. Just like Montpellier, Sicily was once famous for its comfits, nougat candy (torrone, or turrón in Spanish) and almond clusters (confetti).

From the south, the Arabs also brought the art of ice cream making that produced sorbet and several examples of sweet cakes and pastries; cassata alla Siciliana (from Arabic qas'ah, the term for the terra cotta bowl with which it was shaped), made from marzipan, sponge cake and sweetened ricotta and cannoli alla Siciliana, originally cappelli di turchi ("Turkish hats"), fried, chilled pastry tubes with a sweet cheese filling.