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15th Century Meals help me easy ten points!!!?

describe in detail a 15th century meal. PLEASE!!!

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  • 1 decade ago
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    The popular conception of eating in the Middle Ages takes this form. The peasantry subsisted on barley gruel and munched root vegetables and, occasionally, nibbled on something called sippet. And, oh yes. Everything was either boiled or stuck over a fire on a stick or spit. Actually, the range and variety of foods available and their methods of prepartion were quite extensive. There was a fantastic array of snacks, hors d'ourves, soups, stews, meats, fish, fowl, vegetables, salads, sauces, and sweets, such as custards, candies, and cheesecakes. Food was fried, boiled, broiled, baked, sauteed, steamed, braised, and spit-roasted. There were six grades of bread alone. Some dishes were plain and simple; others heavily spiced. Still others were sauced, and some were extremely exotic.

    Class distinctions were reflected in what was eaten by whom. The diet of the commonality was determined by several factors. (1) How liberal or tight-fisted the lord was. (2) Whether they were yeomen, villeins, or serfs. (3) Were the harvests bountiful or scant? (4) Whether or not they owned any livestock, such as poultry or swine. Bread was the common food of everyone. The nobility ate whitened bread of twice- or thrice-sifted flour. The yeomen usually ate brown, whole-grained bread called cheat, and the serf was grateful for bread made from weed grains, bran husks, and ground peas or beans. The pottages of the well-to-do contained various meats. If the peasant's pottage featured an occasional piece of meat, that was solely dependent upon the lord's generosity, or whether he allowed the taking of rabbits from his chases or not. Taking anything larger than a rabbit constituted poaching, which was punishable by mutilation or death.

    The lord's cheeseboard was graced with brie, cheddar, and ruayne (cream) cheese. The whey cheeses of the lower classes were so dry they had to be boiled and pounded with a mallet before they could be eaten. Eggs were plentiful in the noble household and appeared in a variety of dishes, as well as in heavy wine beverages called cawdles. A serf or villein might keep a few chickens, but eggs were precious and only appeared in main dishes.

    Chickens went into the pot when they became too old to lay anymore. Because of the dominating influence of the Church on everyday life, fish was a prominent item on the table. The lower classes were usually allowed to take rough fish from the demense stockfish, salted and so hard it could be used as a hammer. Peasant seasonings were salt and, occasionally, pepper, and wild mustard. The King and his nobles consumed vast and costly amounts of more exotic spices such as cubeb, cinnamon, ginger, gallengale, saffron, nutmeg, cloves, and sandalwood powder. Except for low-grade honey, sweeteners were the province of the wealthy, especially cane sugar, which entered Europe after the First and Second Crusades. A fruit like apples was common to all. Citrus fruits, such as Seville oranges, which were available after 1280, were extremely expensive and found their way only to the tables of those few who could afford them. Game birds and numerous breeds of domestic fowl were part of the diet of the royal and powerful, but were the special province of the clergy, who were not allowed by the Church to indulge too heavily in "four-footed" meats. Most of these same foods were available to the emerging, increasingly wealthy, urban middle class. The prime determiner was personal income.

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