Posted on 05/17/2019 8:03:53 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Scientists from the University of Bristol have uncovered, for the first time, definitive evidence that determines what types of food medieval peasants ate and how they managed their animals.
Using chemical analysis of pottery fragments and animal bones found at one of England's earliest medieval villages, combined with detailed examination of a range of historical documents and accounts, the research has revealed the daily diet of peasants in the Middle Ages. The researchers were also able to look at butchery techniques, methods of food preparation and rubbish disposal at the settlement...
The OGU team used the technique of organic residue analysis to chemically extract food residues from the remains of cooking pots used by peasants in the small medieval village of West Cotton in Northamptonshire.
Organic residue analysis is a scientific technique commonly used in archaeology. It is mainly used on ancient pottery, which is the most common artefact found on archaeological sites worldwide.
Researchers used chemical and isotopic techniques to identify lipids, the fats, oils and natural waxes of the natural world, from the ceramics.
These can survive over thousands of years and the compounds found are one of the best ways scientists and archaeologists can determine what our ancestors ate.
The findings demonstrated that stews (or pottages) of meat (beef and mutton) and vegetables such as cabbage and leek, were the mainstay of the medieval peasant diet.
The research also showed that dairy products, likely the 'green cheeses' known to be eaten by the peasantry, also played an important role in their diet.
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
Dirty gruel with small stones included.
Because with these so called experts every set of skeletons is a king and every structure is a religious site.
This diet would be fine by me. It stands to reason they'd eat what is available and easily grown for the climate. It's not like they'd be chowing down on sushi.
Spices would be expensive but herbs are a different animal, so to speak. Herbs were found in abundance in the wild and used in food and medicine.
The king wouldn’t have enough men to patrol all the rivers and forests, especially the outer reaches of his land. Much the same as the day of US slavery, you don’t want your workers dying of starvation or ill treatment.
Nice research that adds to the knowledge already there but this is not new information.
I’m currently reading a book called The Time Travelers Guide to Medieval England which lays out life back then in great detail including the diet of average peasants to royalty.
Interesting stuff and not that different general diet from today.
Of course it's new information, no one had done this kind of research before.
Many vegetables do just fine below freezing and require the cold to bring on a better taste. Cole crops like cabbage, kohlrabi, broccoli, cauliflower are such. Root vegetables such as carrots and beets can survive below 20 degrees. Leafy vegetables will tolerate some cold.
They've studied the artifacts scientifically, so they aren't "so-called" they are experts.
[cueing Zappa] give me, your dirty gruel...
Schi da kasha, pischa nasha.
Cabbage and buckwheat - our kind of food.
From Modern History TV:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeVcey0Ng-w “What Did Peasants Eat in Medieval Times?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9RDaf8j2Yg “How Healthy Was Medieval Food?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ertx8fZiuxA “What Did Rich Nobles Eat in Medieval Times?”
It’s not the king patrolling the land - it is the barons/noblemen who owned most of the land. The King was interested in reforming some of the draconian laws that affected peasants who poached salmon.
Great, now I'm hungry. And I just one of those Twix ice cream bars. For the third time this morning.
Reasonable guesses are one thing -- this research found hard data. The problem with reconstructing peasant diets has been, they were by and large illiterate, and their diets were of little importance to anyone besides the "fish only on Friday" popes. A unique example of centuries of records of minutiae is discussed in Wood's "Story of England", the village of Kibworth, Leicestershire became of interest to Oxford (probably due to a financial link):
BBC. Michael Woods. Story of England. 3 of 6. The Great Famine and the Black Death
....they had better teeth than people today.........
If you watch British television or films, you won’t think so. The Brits with their wonderful free health care have the most dreadful teeth and dental miss alignment.
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