by Keith K.

Created on: January 13, 2007   Last Updated: December 14, 2011

Eating Mediaeval

Many people's ideas about how folk ate in the Middle Ages are completely erroneous ones. Maybe they came about by attending a Mediaeval Banquet' where gluttony ruled supreme, and table manners were forgotten. However, in the case of the late Middle Age English gentry, the opposite was the rule.

What must be remembered is that, although the existence of America was known about at this time, it was seen mainly as an obstruction to the westabout route to the Orient. Foods peculiar to the New World, such as potatoes and tomatoes would not be discovered for nearly two hundred years.

Nevertheless, ladies would vie with each other to lay out the most exotic fare. The further away the foodstuff came from, the more expensive it was, and the table the lady set was a reflection of the richness, or otherwise, of her husband.

Soups and stews called pottages in those days would be served in a handled pottery bowl, and wine in a glass, the more exotic, the better. Venetian glass was much prized for this purpose and, if the choice was given of a set of wine-glasses or glazing a window, the wine-glasses would win every time.

Red wine was preferred, and the redder, the better. For a long time, darkness of the wine was seen as a sign of quality, and some unscrupulous dealers had been known to darken their product with beetroot juice, or even blood. This led to strict rules being introduced, with dire penalties for those caught.

A salt-cellar of the finest material, for salt in those days cost more than saffron, completed the tableware provided by the hostess. Food was served in messes to cater for four people (the origin of the British Army mess') and each individual took a small portion on to his trencher. A trencher was a slice of bread, and the higher your status, the fresher your trencher.

The trencher was not usually eaten, but left, along with any uneaten food, for either the servants, alms for the poor or fed to the animals. But, any cold meat might be reserved for breakfast the following day.

The diner brought his own cutlery, which consisted of knife and spoon only; the fork was not introduced until the 17th Century. The spoon, according to the owner's status might be bone, horn or pewter he might even have been born with a silver spoon in his mouth. The knife could be the sheath knife that most men carried, or it could be one especially made for the purpose.

There were books on etiquette at table, some of the rules still hold good today in the Middle

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