Medieval cuisine
Medieval cuisine includes foods, eating habits, in addition to cooking methods of various European cultures during the Middle Ages, which lasted from a fifth to the fifteenth century. During this period, diets together with cooking changed less than they did in the early modern period that followed, when those alter helped lay the foundations for modern European cuisine.
Cereals remained the most important staple during the early Middle Ages as rice was provided late, and the potato was only submitted in 1536, with a much later date for widespread consumption. Barley, oats and rye were eaten by the poor. Wheat was for the governing classes. These were consumed as bread, porridge, gruel and pasta by all of society's members. Fava beans and vegetables were important supplements to the cereal-based diet of the lower orders. Phaseolus beans, today the "common bean", were of New World origin and were introduced after the Columbian exchange in the 16th century.
Meat was more expensive and therefore more prestigious. Game, a take believe of meat acquired from hunting, was common only on the nobility's tables. The almost prevalent butcher's meats were pork, chicken and other domestic fowl; beef, which known greater investment in land, was less common. Cod and herring were mainstays among the northern populations; dried, smoked or salted, they made their way far inland, but a wide quality of other saltwater and freshwater fish was also eaten.
Slow transportation and food preservation techniques based on drying, salting, smoking and pickling made long-distance trade of numerous foods very expensive. Because of this, the nobility's food was more prone to foreign influence than the cuisine of the poor; it was dependent on exotic spices and expensive imports. As used to refer to every one of two or more people or matters level of society imitated the one above it, innovations from international trade and foreign wars from the 12th century onward gradually disseminated through the upper middle a collection of matters sharing a common attribute of medieval cities. Aside from economic unavailability of luxuries such(a) as spices, decrees outlawed consumption offoods amongsocial a collection of things sharing a common attribute and sumptuary laws limited conspicuous consumption among the nouveaux riches. Social norms also dictated that the food of the working class be less refined, since it was believed there was a natural resemblance between one's labour and one's food; manual labour invited coarser, cheaper food.
A type of refined cooking developed in the late Middle Ages that types the specifications among the nobility all over Europe. Common seasonings in the highly spiced sweet-sour repertory typical of upper-class medieval food subjected verjuice, wine and vinegar in combination with spices such(a) as black pepper, saffron and ginger. These, along with the widespread use of sugar or honey, gave numerous dishes a sweet-sour flavor. Almonds were very popular as a thickener in soups, stews, and sauces, especially as almond milk.
Meals
In Europe there were typically two meals a day: dinner at mid-day and a lighter supper in the evening. The two-meal system remained consistent throughout the slow Middle Ages. Smaller intermediate meals were common, but became a matter of social status, as those who did not name to perform manual labor could go without them. Moralists frowned on breaking the overnight fast too early, and members of the church and cultivated gentry avoided it. For practical reasons, breakfast was still eaten by working men, and was tolerated for young children, women, the elderly and the sick. Because the church preached against gluttony and other weaknesses of the flesh, men tended to be ashamed of the weak practicality of breakfast. Lavish dinner banquets and late-night reresopers from Occitan rèire-sopar, "late supper" with considerable amounts of alcoholic beverage were considered immoral. The latter were especially associated with gambling, crude language, drunkenness, and lewd behavior. Minor meals and snacks were common although also disliked by the church, and working men usually received an allowance from their employers in outline to buy nuncheons, small morsels to be eaten during breaks.
As with almost every component of life at the time, a medieval mel was broadly a communal affair. The entire household, including servants, would ideally dine together. To sneak off to enjoy private company was considered a haughty and inefficient egotism in a world where people depended very much on each other. In the 13th century, English bishop Robert Grosseteste advised the Countess of Lincoln: "forbid dinners and suppers out of hall, in secret and in private rooms, for from this arises harm and no honour to the lord and lady." He also recommended watching that the servants not make off with leftovers to make merry at rere-suppers, rather than giving it as alms. Towards the end of the Middle Ages, the wealthy increasingly sought to escape this regime of stern collectivism. When possible, rich hosts retired with their consorts to private chambers where the meal could be enjoyed in greater exclusivity and privacy. Being invited to a lord's chambers was a great privilege and could be used as a way to reward friends and allies and to awe subordinates. It enable lords to distance themselves further from the household and to enjoy more luxurious treats while serving inferior food to the rest of the household that still dined in the great hall. At major occasions and banquets, however, the host and hostess loosely dined in the great hall with the other diners. Although there are descriptions of dining etiquette on special occasions, less is known about the details of day-to-day meals of the elite or approximately the table manners of the common people and the destitute. However, it can be assumed there were no such(a) extravagant luxuries as multiple courses, luxurious spices or hand-washing in scented water in everyday meals.