Medieval Food Essay

Medieval Food

Food is something that all people have always and will always need to consume in order to survive and thrive. Not only this, but it is also has an important societal function. Food is an important part of celebrations and sometimes dictates roles in societies. In Medieval society food was important for banquets, what was eaten by a person could denote what class a person was from, and was often mentioned in the literature. For my project I presented desserts, bread, and a couple of drinks. As far as the bread is concerned I made one loaf using beer and one loaf using water. The desserts were a strawberry tart, and Daryols, which is basically a custard or pudding pie. I also made two alcohol drinks, Mead, though very

In “Beowulf”, much of the action revolves around the mead hall where great banquets are held. In “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, the poem begins in the banquet hall and the Green knight first appears before King Arthur and his guests at a feast. Since most of the recipes which I used are from the 14th century I focused most of the literary aspect of my presentation on Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales.” First of all the whole reason that the pilgrims tell their tales is because the inn keeper agrees to give the teller of the best story a free dinner at the end of the pilgrimage. Three characters, in particular, are described in the general prologue in relation to food, the nun or prioress, the franklin, and not surprisingly the

The interesting thing about this is that the poor were generally healthier than the rich because they could not indulge as much and the cheaper stuff was better for people.

Rich Poor -White or wheat breads -Rye, oat, barley, bean, or pea bread -Beef, pork, mutton, game, and poultry -not much beef or pork -Not much dairy, eggs, vegetables, or -a lot of dairy, eggs, fruit vegetables, fruits, and fish -wine or ale -little or no wine, ale and water

-Daily: -Daily: -2-3 lbs. of bread -2-3 lbs. of bread -2-3 lbs. of meat -8 oz. of