Food and Feast in Medieval England (Paperback, New ed)

What did people in eat and drink in medieval times? How healthy was their diet? This unique and fascinating book examines the extraordinary range of food which found its way onto the tables of medieval English society, its production and distribution. Although bread, ale, meat and fish were the staple diet, fish ofeten came from as far away as Iceland, and as early as 1480 over 100,000 oranges were being imported to augment the diet. Every aspect of medieval food is desribed here: from hunting, fish-breeding, brewing and baking to food hygiene and storage and the way in which the food supply of a large household was organised. The nutritional value of the food is evaluated in order to consider how well fed the people were, and there are details of the elaborate regulations that existsed on the serving of food in great households. The book concludes with an examination of medieval feasts, such as that held at York on 26 December 1251, which took six months to prepare, and saw the consumption of no fewer than than 68,500 loaves of bread, 170 boars and 25,000 gallons of wine. Firmly based on archaeological and documentary evidence, this book providses a fascinating introduction to a vital but often neglected topic of medieval life.