The next time you complain that your steak and cheese from subway doesn’t have enough banana peppers on it, remember that we live in a very privileged time in history. Wait does anyone even get banana peppers on a steak and cheese? Anyway, for centuries, people didn’t have much choice in what they ate. They simply consumed whatever was available at the time. Today on History Hobbit we’re looking at what a typical medieval peasant ate.
Grains
Grains were a staple of the medieval diet, particularly for peasants because they didn’t have meat as readily available as the wealthy elites. Variety depended on location. Rye grew better in Northern Europe, wheat in the south, and barley and oats in between. Bread was widespread, but porridges and gruels were an even more common way of consuming grains because they didn’t require an oven.
With grains so central to diet, Bakers were an integral part of medieval society and when they were caught tampering with ingredients, they would receive severe penalties. That’s when the baker’s dozen caught on. Baker’s would offer 13 for the price of 12 to make certain they weren’t known as a cheat. Grains also had another important use…
Drinks
Beer was a widespread use of grain as well. Drinking water with a meal in the middle ages was typically frowned upon so people would consume alcoholic beverages as those were thought to aid in digestion. The wealthy would drink wine, particularly in areas where grapes were readily available. Juices and ciders were also common among these people. Not having access to fine cultured drinks, peasants would drink beer, usually on a daily basis. Barley, not being well suited for bread, was a favorite brewing grain.
Fruits and Vegetables
Vegetables were only available in season for peasants and would have included many of the varieties we eat today like cabbages, spinach, carrots and lettuce. Commonly eaten fruits included apples, pears, cherries, plums and berries. They also ate some vegetables we don’t anymore like alexanders and skirrets. Alexanders are tall forest plants that look like celery when cut down. They were usually boiled and according to the couple of weirdos who’ve tried them in the present day, they taste awful. Also, Something about eating a vegetable with a human name just rubs me the wrong way. Skirrets as you might imagine are scared carrots. Just kidding, but they are a relative of carrots. they grow in a big bunch of small roots rather than a single root so they fell out of favor because they're difficult to peel and cook.
Dairy
Milk products were an important source of protein for peasants and rich alike in the middle ages. Adults rarely consumed fresh milk though. That was usually reserved for the very young or elderly. It was also hard to preserve. Cows were common but sheep and goats milk was just as plentiful. Cheese was the most commonly consumed dairy product and at times when meat was scarce, a very important diet staple. Many of the varieties we know today were well-liked in the middle ages including dutch edam, french brie and italian parmesan. Butter was a common cooking ingredient and became an important export for northern areas from the 12th century onward.
Meat
So how often did peasants eat meat? Not as rarely as you might think, depending on where they lived. If they had access to areas they could hunt, they would have access to rabbit, fowl and fish as often as they could catch them. For those families that owned an animal or two, pork and mutton would’ve been available in the autumn after slaughtering. Peasants needed cattle for milking and they were also more labor-intensive to raise so beef wasn’t as common. After the autumn slaughter, or a particularly good hunt, meats and fish were preserved by drying, smoking and salting because remember, no refrigeration.
Although not available to peasants often, folk in the middle ages ate some pretty weird meats too. Roast hedgehog was a favorite. And old medieval cookbook instructs to “obtain the hedgehog and cut its throat. Then it needs to be gutted and either wrapped in pastry or roasted.” Better make sure all the quills are out of that bad boy too. Lampreys were another delicacy. Not familiar with lampreys? Picture a creepy little eel with a suction-cup face lined with sharp teeth. And they ate those. Yeah.
Most peasants were self-sufficient when it came to their food because let’s be honest, what else were they gonna do? Start a garage rock band and beg their neighbors for donations? They would also commonly experience the “hungry gap” when late in the winter, supplies had run out and there was no new growth yet. They gotta just walk into their local Kroger and stock up. So the next time you pull up to the Mcdonalds on the way home from work because you can’t make it until dinner time, remember eating as much as we want, whenever we want is a privilege… or a curse.
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