Limited Food and Medicine During Medieval Times

Food and Medicine was essential for survival throughout the Medieval Times. All people have to eat, and this fact was no different in the Medieval Times. The types of food eaten have been changed thoroughly from the Medieval Times, to modern day. During the Medieval Times, you couldn’t just go and grab a cheeseburger or open up and eat a pack of chips. During the Medieval Times, it was a struggle to grow the food and hunt to feed numerous hungry people. Nowadays, we take food for granted; however, food was very much valued in the Medieval Times as it was arduous to maintain and grow it. Food was important as it provided energy for the people, and was necessary for survival as well. It was said that, “If one eats well, he shall not fall sick,” based on a Middle Ages scripture. This quote ties in with medicine during the Medieval Times. When there was a lack of food, or people did not eat healthy, that was one way of falling sick. Numerous people were getting ill, and medicine was needed to be used. Without medicine, ill people would not have gotten treatment, and that can lead to death. Food and medicine are closely related when talking about the Medieval Times. The diet and health regarding the Medieval Times was different from today because during this period, a person’s diet depended on the class of the individual, food and medicine were grown and produced differently, and different foods and medicine were consumed compared to modern day.

First, a person’s diet in the Medieval Times depended on the class of an individual. If one were part of a richer class, there was a wide range of foods available. According to Gerald Harvey, “Geese, turkey, fish, and chickens were usually available to the rich and his family.” Fish would eithe...

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...nsumed included species such as swans, spoonbills, cranes and eagles, those which we would not eat today. Raw vegetables were considered unhealthy and rarely eaten, but the exception of known poisonous plants were allowed to be eaten (Streissguth 58). Medieval diets lacked vitamins A, C and D and were not high in calories. The only positive part of these diets, were that they were somewhat "heart-smart;" low in fat and high in fiber. But the medieval world was usually a very hungry one (Hackett 12). Furthermore, medicine and methods of healing were massively different during the Medieval Times than medicines we see and use today. Head pains were treated with sweet-smelling herbs, such as rose, lavender, sage, and bay. Coriander was used to reduce a fever (Van Winter 42). Vinegar was also widely used as a cleaning agent as it was believed that it would kill disease.