Articles about medieval cuisine aroused genuine interest in VO and … a wide variety of proposals. One is more interesting than the other. Tell about the cuisine of ALL ancient civilizations … Tell about the cuisine of ancient Russia … Vikings … Tell about table etiquette and customs, talk about … In a word, in order to fulfill all this, I will have to abandon the themes of tanks, rifles, armor, bronze, samurai and “poisoned feather »And only do what to read and write about who, what and how ate and cooked. Theme for years and a solid monograph with pictures. And, by the way, there are few "pictures". There are dishes in museums, but very few depictions of how they were used. So it will be very difficult to fulfill all these wishes. I can say in advance that it is possible. Since among my colleagues there is O. V. Milayeva, a specialist in Ancient Egypt, the "food of the Egyptians" will be provided to us. The same is the case with Japan - no problem. China is in doubt. Vikings … here I, at least, know where to get information. Some peoples of Russia … There is information! But regarding everything else, alas and ah. However, sorting through the archive, I found a printout that had arrived at one time from David Nicolas from England. I read, translated, and this is what I ended up with based on the writings of English researchers of this interesting topic.
Collecting pepper. Fragment of a medieval miniature.
To begin with, the Middle Ages, as they believe, lasted from the 5th to the 15th centuries. And it was during this period that the foundations of modern European cuisine were laid. As for the characteristic nutritional characteristics of that time, it was cereals that remained the most important source of energy in the early Middle Ages, since rice appeared late, and potatoes did not get into the food system in Europe until 1536, with a much later date of its widespread use. Therefore, they ate a lot of bread, about one kilogram a day! Barley, oats and rye were the "grain of the poor." Wheat was "the grain of those who fight and those who pray." Cereals were consumed as bread, porridge and pasta (the latter in the form of noodles!) By all members of society. Beans and vegetables were important additions to the lower-order cereal-based diet.
The meat was more expensive and therefore more prestigious. At the same time, meat obtained from hunting was ubiquitous only on the tables of the nobility. Violation of the rules of hunting in the same England was punished very severely. For example, if a villan hunted in the land of the lord with a falcon, then as much meat was cut from his chest as this falcon weighed, and then fed to this falcon in front of the villan! No wonder it was in England that the ballads about Robin Hood were held in such high esteem. Shooting royal game was at that time a terrible crime and the height of freedom of thought!
The most common meats were pork, chicken and other poultry; beef, which required a large investment in land, was much less common. Cod and herring were the food staples of the northern peoples; in dried, smoked or salted form, they were delivered far inland, but other marine and freshwater fish were also consumed. However, it was only in 1385 that the Dutchman Willem Jacob Beikelzon invented a method of salting herring with spices, which improved its taste and increased its shelf life. Before that, the fish was simply sprinkled with salt and that's it. Now herring has hit the tables of the nobility, and its consumption has increased dramatically.
It is interesting that during the Hundred Years War on February 12, 1429, even the so-called "Battle of the Herring" (Battle of Rouvray) took place, somewhat north of the city of Orleans. Then the French tried to seize the British convoy of about 300 carts, loaded mainly with barrels of herring. The British built a fortification of carts and barrels, and such a "herring" defense brought them success.
In addition to fish, they ate shellfish - oysters and grape snails, as well as crayfish. In 1485, for example, a cookbook was published in Germany, which gave five ways to prepare delicious dishes from them.
Slow transportation and primitive methods of food preservation (based on drying, salting, curing and smoking) have made many food products very expensive to trade. Because of this, the cuisine of the nobility was more prone to foreign influences than the poor; because it depended on exotic spices and expensive imports. As each successive level of the social pyramid mimicked all of the above in varying amounts, innovations from international trade and wars from the 12th century continued to gradually spread in society through the upper middle class of medieval cities. In addition to the economic inaccessibility of luxuries such as spices, there were also decrees prohibiting the consumption of certain foods among certain social classes and luxury laws that restricted consumption among the nouveau riche. Social norms also dictated that working-class food should be less sophisticated because it was believed that there was a natural similarity between work and food; manual labor requires coarser and cheaper food than, say, praying to the Lord or practicing with a sword! Nevertheless, hedgehogs, squirrels and dormouse did not hesitate to serve on tables in knightly castles.
What differentiated the food of the nobility and the poor in the first place was the use of spices! Cloves, cinnamon, pepper, saffron, cumin, thyme - all this was added to any dish and the more, the better. Spices were added to wine and vinegar, most notably black pepper, saffron and ginger. They, along with the widespread use of sugar or honey, produced many dishes that tasted sweet and sour. Almonds were very popular as a thickener in soups, stews and sauces, especially in the form of almond milk. A very popular dish in the Middle Ages was … milk with bacon! The milk was boiled along with slices of lard, saffron, and beaten eggs until the mixture was curdled. The liquids were allowed to drain overnight, after which the "milk" was cut into thick chunks and pan-fried with cloves or pine seeds!
Jelly was made from red wine. They took a strong meat broth from the head and legs, defended it until transparent, then mixed it with red wine or liqueur, poured it all into molds and put it out in the cold. The molds were multi-detachable, so in other parts they made "white filling" with milk and "yellow" with saffron. Then separate parts of this kind of "jellied meat" were put together and a dish made of segments or even in the form of a chessboard was served on the table!
The same miniature from the book "The Adventures of Marco Polo". (National Library of France)
Since antiquity, the cuisines of the Mediterranean Basin cultures have also been based on cereals, especially various types of wheat. Porridge, and then bread, became the main food products for most of the population. From the 8th to the 11th century, the proportion of various cereals in the diet of the Mediterranean increased from 1/3 to 3/4. Dependence on wheat remained significant throughout the medieval era and spread northward with the rise of Christianity. However, in colder climates, it was usually inaccessible to the majority of the population except for the upper classes. Bread played an important role in religious rituals such as the Eucharist, and it is not surprising that it enjoyed high prestige among other foods. Only (olive) oil and wine had comparable value, but both of these products remained completely exclusive outside the warmer grape and olive regions. The symbolic role of bread as a source of nutrition and as a divine substance is well illustrated in the sermon of St. Augustine: "In the oven of the Holy Spirit you were baked in the true bread of God."
Sheep slaughter and meat trade. "Story about health". Upper Italy around 1390 (Vienna National Library)
Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox Churches and their calendars have had a great influence on eating habits; the consumption of meat was prohibited for a whole third of the year for most Christians. All animal products, including eggs and dairy products (but not fish), were generally prohibited during Lent. In addition, it was customary to fast before accepting the Eucharist. These fasts sometimes lasted a whole day and required complete abstinence.
Both the Eastern and Western churches prescribed that meat and animal products such as milk, cheese, butter and eggs should not be allowed on the Lenten table, but only fish. The goal was not to portray certain foods as unclean, but rather to teach people a lesson in self-restraint through abstinence. On especially harsh days, the number of daily meals was also reduced to one. Even though most people abided by these restrictions and usually repented when they violated them, there were also numerous ways to get around them, that is, there was a constant conflict of ideals and practices.
Such is human nature: to build the most complex cage of rules in which you can catch yourself, and then, with the same ingenuity, direct your brain to bypass all these rules. Fasting was such a trap; the mind's play was to find loopholes out of it.
Interestingly, in the Middle Ages, it was believed that beaver tails are of the same nature as fish, so they could be eaten on fast days. That is, the definition of "fish" often extended to both marine and semi-aquatic animals. The choice of ingredients might have been limited, but that didn't mean there was less food on the tables. There were also no restrictions on the (moderate) consumption of sweets. The fast days feasts were excellent occasions for making illusionary foods that mimic meat, cheese, and eggs in a variety of and sometimes ingenious ways; fish could be molded to look like venison, and fake eggs could be made by stuffing empty eggshells with fish and almond milk and cooking them over charcoal. However, the Byzantine Church did not encourage any culinary refinement of food for the clergy and advocated "nature." But their Western counterparts were much more forgiving of human weaknesses. A touching unanimity was also observed in the opinion regarding the severity of fasting for the laity - "for this leads to humility." In any case, during Lent, kings, schoolchildren, commoners and nobles all complained that they were deprived of meat during the long and difficult weeks of solemn contemplation of their sins. At this time, even the dogs were hungry, disappointed with "tough crusts of bread and only one fish."
Now let's take a look at these miniatures specially prepared for our cat lovers. Although the Middle Ages were not the most comfortable time for the cat tribe, as noted in the very first material, cats were valued for the fact that they catch mice and thereby protect barns. Therefore, they were often depicted even in cookbooks, indicating that no kitchen can do without a cat. Book of Hours of Charlotte of Savayskaya, approx. 1420-1425. (Library and Museum P. Morgana, New York)
Since the 13th century, a freer, so to speak, interpretation of the concept of "post" began to be observed in Europe. The main thing is not to eat meat on fast days. But he was immediately replaced by a fish. Almond milk has replaced animal milk; artificial eggs made from almond milk, flavored and colored with spices, have replaced natural ones. Fasting exceptions were often made for very large groups of the population. Thomas Aquinas (circa 1225-1274) believed that permission from the burden of fasting should be granted for children, old people, pilgrims, workers and beggars, but not for the poor if they have some kind of shelter and they have the opportunity not to work. There are many stories of monastic orders that violated fasting restrictions through clever interpretations of the Bible. Since the sick were exempted from fasting, many monks often declared themselves sick and received nutritious chicken broth. Moreover, for sick and pregnant women, wheat or potato flour was added to it. Fatty chicken root soup was considered an excellent dish for patients with colds. So sometimes a monk only had to cough loudly to get it!
Medieval society was highly stratified. Moreover, political power was manifested not only in the force of the law, but also through the demonstration of wealth. Noble people had to dine on fresh tablecloths, by all means give "plates" of bread to the poor, and be sure to eat food flavored with exotic spices. Accordingly, the manners at such a table had to be appropriate. Workers could get by with coarse barley bread, salted pork and beans and did not have to adhere to any etiquette. Even the dietary recommendations were different: the diet of the upper classes was based on their refined physical constitution, while for the rude men it was completely different. The lord's digestive system was considered more refined than that of his village subordinates and demanded, accordingly, more refined food.
But this is a particularly touching picture, apparently drawn from life by an artist or a good connoisseur of cats. Book of Hours of Charlotte of Savayskaya, approx. 1420-1425. (P. Morgan Library and Museum, New York)
One of the problems of medieval cuisine was the lack of many types of food raw materials well known there. For example, in Europe for a long time there was no rice or "Saracen millet". Rice began to be planted in Sicily and Valencia only after the plague epidemic, when the cost of labor increased. At the same time, the rice grown in Italy and Spain was round, medium-grained and did not require much water, although it gave good yields. It is clear that at first it was a rare and valuable product used for making desserts and sweets.
Having many vineyards, the Europeans nevertheless did not know how to make raisins from grapes, which they received from the East and called "grapes from Damascus." Plums were known, but they also did not know how to make prunes from them and they called this expensive and export product "plums from Damascus", that is, its name contained a direct indication of the place from which it came.
