800-year-old medieval pottery fragments reveal Jewish dietary practices
A team of scientists have found the first evidence of a religious diet locked inside pottery fragments excavated from the early medieval Jewish community of Oxford.
Love, Lust, and Libido: Aphrodisiacs in Medieval Europe
Delve into the period cookbooks, artworks, and courtly feasting cultures of northern Europe to discover ingredients, recipes, and customs thought to arouse the libido, heighten pleasure, increase potency or, conversely, kill the mood.
Medieval Beer with Noëlle Phillips
Beer: it’s delicious, it’s nutritious, and it’s inseparable from ideas of the Middle Ages. This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Dr. Noëlle Phillips about medieval beer: who was making it, who was drinking it, and how the brewing industry leans on the medieval world for its marketing today.
Online course on how to create a medieval Easter feast
The intriguing world of medieval Easter will be unearthed at a new virtual course staged by Blackfriars Restaurant in Newcastle in conjunction with Durham University’s Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (IMEMS).
Abstaining from alcohol in medieval China
If you, like many at this time of year, have resolved to give up alcohol, then it might be a comfort to remember you are not the first in history to have attempted this. As Song dynasty writer Liu Xueji found, then as today, peer pressure and social obligations can test one’s resolve to cut back on wine.
Bad Bread, Big Wines, and Plenty of Meat: A Culinary Tour in the Year 1404
When Ruy González de Clavijo travelled to Samarkand in the early 15th century, he would experience a wonderful new world of foods.
Beefing up Medieval Europeans: Meat Consumption in the 15th Century
One can find a lot of evidence that medieval Europeans were dining on beef, pork and mutton.
A 13th-century Scandinavian cookbook: Libellus de arte coquinaria
It might surprise some readers to know that one of the oldest cookbooks from medieval Europe was written in Scandinavia.
Online course to create a Medieval Christmas Feast
Medieval Christmas to be brought to life with a virtual cooking course.
Treat… or Treat? How Did Medieval People Get Their Sugar Fix?
Have you ever wondered how medieval people sweetened their dishes?
Acorns in the Middle Ages
How did acorns go from becoming food fit only for pigs to a delicacy for the wealthy in the Middle Ages?
Online course on medieval cooking to start next month
”With our experts guides you’ll be able to eat medieval with confidence.”
Norman Conquest of 1066 did little to change England’s eating habits
The story of the Norman Conquest of England has primarily been told from evidence of the elite classes of the time. But little has been known about how it affected everyday people’s lives.
Research reveals diverse diet in medieval Ethiopian communities
Early Muslim communities in Africa ate a cosmopolitan diet as the region became a trading centre for luxury goods, the discovery of thousands of medieval animal bones has shown.
A Tang dynasty monk and his secret candy recipe
A new column by Elizabeth Smithrosser will be looking at China in the Middle Ages. In her first post she looks at a very tasty treat dating back to the Tang dynasty.
Diet, Prejudice and Non-Verbal Communication: Liutprand of Cremona’s Embassy to Constantinople
Thanks to Liutprand’s sharp (and biased) report, we have the chance to peer into the cultural prejudices which characterized the relationship between the eastern and the western hemispheres of Europe
Cannibalism in the Icelandic Sagas: a bad habit or an ancient magical practice?
In Icelandic sagas, giants are described as awkward, evil and uncivilized, and curiously their diet mainly consists of two elements: horse meat and human flesh.
How Millets sustained Mongolia’s Empires
The new discoveries show that the development of the earliest empires in Mongolia, like in other parts of the world, was tied to a diverse economy that included the local or regional production of grain.
Christmas and Food in the Middle Ages
Here are five foods associated with Christmas that originated in the Middle Ages.
Six modern foods with medieval origins
Many foods still enjoyed around the world were invented in the Middle Ages, such as these six foods and drinks.
Why medieval people were fasting on Fridays
In British Library MS Harley 2253, there exists a short passage which explains ‘Reasons for Fasting on Friday’
How beer came to medieval England
It might be a surprise to some readers to know that this beverage was only introduced to England in the latter half of the fourteenth century, and that it arrived thanks to Dutch immigrants.
Scientists discover secrets of medieval beers
The DNA analysis of these yeasts showed how these specific hybrids originated in medieval Germany and later spread across different European breweries as the pilsner beers grew more popular.
Six Medieval Rules for Healthy Living
If you are looking for advice on healthy living, perhaps you should try reading the medieval text The Theatre of Health. It offers six rules ‘for the daily maintenance of health,’ five of which sound very modern.