Forget the Hollywood image of a muddy peasant gnawing on a dry crust of bread while a king tosses a turkey leg over his shoulder. First off, turkeys are from the Americas; no one in 12th-century France had ever seen one. If you want to know what did people eat in the middle ages, you have to look past the tropes. It was a world of incredible seasonal variety, rigid religious fasting, and a surprisingly sophisticated understanding of how food affected the body.
Most people ate what was within walking distance. Localism wasn't a trendy lifestyle choice back then—it was survival. If the harvest failed, you were in trouble. But when things were good? The diet was actually quite hearty.
The Grain Obsession: Why Bread Was Everything
Bread wasn't just a side dish. It was the plate, the meal, and the currency. For the lower classes, grain made up roughly 70% to 80% of their daily calorie intake. They weren't eating fluffy white sourdough, though. They ate "maslin," a rustic mix of wheat and rye grown together in the same field.
Sometimes it was barley. Sometimes oats.
If you were poor, your bread was dark, heavy, and full of fiber. If you were wealthy, you ate pandemain, the finest white bread made from bolted flour. But the bread didn't just sit on the table. In many households, stale, thick slices of bread called "trenchers" served as edible plates. By the end of the meal, the bread had soaked up the meat juices and sauces. You either ate your plate or gave it to the poor. Honestly, it’s a pretty efficient system compared to our modern plastic waste.
What Did People Eat in the Middle Ages Besides Bread?
The real hero of the medieval kitchen was pottage. Think of it as a thick, everlasting soup. It sat in a cauldron over the fire, and you just kept adding things to it. Leeks, onions, cabbage, and whatever herbs were growing near the door—parsley, sage, savory.
Peas and beans were the primary protein for the masses. Dried legumes lasted through the winter and provided the necessary "meatiness" when actual meat was too expensive. But don't assume they never had the real thing. While the nobility hunted deer and boar in private forests, peasants kept pigs. Pigs were the ultimate medieval livestock because they could forage in the woods for acorns and didn't require expensive grain. When autumn hit, the community would slaughter the hogs, salt the meat, and hang it to smoke.
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The Fish and Fasting Problem
The Church dictated the menu for about a third of the year. No meat. No eggs. No dairy.
During Lent or on Fridays, everyone turned to fish. This created a massive trade network for salted herring and dried cod. If you lived in London or Paris, you might get fresh river fish, but for most, it was "stockfish"—cod dried until it was hard as a board. You had to beat it with a hammer before soaking it just to make it edible. For the rich, this was an opportunity to show off. They’d have "almond milk" instead of cow's milk and create elaborate dishes where minced fish was shaped to look like ham or eggs. It was basically the medieval version of a veggie burger.
Spices, Sugar, and the Great Flavor Divide
If you walked into a high-end feast in 14th-century Venice or London, the smell would hit you like a brick. It wasn't just the smell of roasted meat; it was the heavy, intoxicating scent of ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.
Spices were the ultimate status symbol.
They weren't used to "hide the taste of rotten meat," which is a total myth. If you could afford expensive spices imported from the East, you could definitely afford fresh meat. Using spices was about showing off your bank account. The cookbook The Forme of Cury, written by the cooks of King Richard II, describes dishes that are incredibly complex. They loved "agrodolce" (sour and sweet) flavors, mixing vinegar or verjuice with sugar and dried fruits like currants and dates.
- Saffron: Used as much for its golden color as its flavor.
- Galingale: A root similar to ginger but with a peppery, pine-like kick.
- Cubebs: Small peppercorns that had a floral, slightly bitter taste.
Drinking Like a Medieval Local
Water wasn't always dirty, but it wasn't always reliable either. So, people drank ale and wine. Ale was a fermented grain drink, often brewed by women known as "alewives." It was thick, nutritious, and had a lower alcohol content than modern craft beer. It was essentially liquid bread.
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Wine was the preference of the elite, especially in Southern Europe. In England, they imported massive quantities of "Claret" from Bordeaux. But it wasn't aged like our wines today. Medieval wine was drunk young and often spiced. "Hippocras" was a popular after-dinner drink—wine strained through a cloth with sugar, cinnamon, and ginger. It was thought to "close the stomach" and aid digestion.
The Humoral Theory: Eating for Your Health
People didn't just eat what tasted good; they ate according to "Humoral Theory." Based on the works of Galen and Hippocrates, they believed the body was made of four humors: blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile.
Food was medicine.
If you had a "cold" temperament, you needed "hot" foods. Beef was considered "dry and cold," so it was better for people with a "hot and moist" disposition. This is why medieval recipes often seem weird to us—they were balancing the elemental properties of the ingredients. Fish was "cold and moist," so it was almost always cooked with "hot" spices like pepper to keep the body in balance. It sounds like pseudoscience now, but to a medieval doctor, it was as factual as Vitamin C.
Misconceptions and Surprises
One thing people get wrong about what did people eat in the middle ages is the variety of vegetables. We tend to think they only ate turnips. In reality, they had a huge array of greens. Beets, radish, parsnips, carrots (which were purple or yellow, not orange), and various wild greens were common.
They also ate birds we’d find strange today. Swans, herons, and even peacocks appeared at royal banquets. The peacock was often skinned, cooked, and then sewn back into its feathers with its beak gilded in gold for a dramatic entrance. It supposedly tasted terrible—tough and stringy—but it looked incredible on Instagram... if Instagram had existed in 1380.
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How to Eat Like a Medievalist Today
If you want to actually experience these flavors, you don't have to go to a Renaissance Fair. You can recreate the authentic "Great Hall" vibe with a few specific steps.
First, look for "Verjuice." It’s the juice of unripened grapes and was the primary acid used in medieval cooking before lemons became widely available. Use it to deglaze a pan after roasting chicken or pork.
Second, experiment with "Poudre Forte." This was a "strong powder" spice mix. You can make your own by blending black pepper, cinnamon, and cloves. Rub it on a roast or stir it into a slow-cooked beef stew.
Third, try a "Compost." No, not the garden kind. A medieval compost was a preserve of root vegetables, fruits, and nuts in a spicy, honey-sweetened wine vinegar. It’s the perfect accompaniment to a heavy cheese board.
Finally, source some true stone-ground flour. Modern white flour is too processed. To get the texture of a medieval loaf, you need something with the germ and bran still partially intact. Bake it into a dense, round boule and use it as a bowl for a thick lentil and leek pottage. You'll find that the combination of earthy grains, bright acids from the verjuice, and the warmth of the spices is surprisingly modern. It’s a flavor profile that feels both ancient and completely fresh.