The Tasty Medieval Pasty
What could be more medieval than a meat pie?
Creation and Food in Old Norse Mythology
Not surprisingly, as we can ascertain by reading the Bible and many other religious and mythological texts of the past, also in Norse beliefs food and fecundity were central elements in the origin of all things
Did people drink water in the Middle Ages?
One of the oddest myths about the Middle Ages is that people did not drink water.
Spoiled or Splendid? Speculations on a Culinary Misgiving
In this essay, I intend to quickly present the case against the spoiled food of the Middle Ages, and then offer a few speculations as to why modern observers continue to perpetuate this distasteful myth.
10 Things to Know About Medieval Drinking Horns
Here are ten things we learned about medieval drinking horns from Vivian Etting’s book The Story of the Drinking Horn.
Citie Calls for Beere: The Introduction of Hops and the Foundation of Industrial Brewing in London 1200-1700
This paper examines the impact of hopped beer on the brewing trade in London between the years 1200-1700.
CONFERENCES: Renaissance Drinking Culture and Renaissance Drinking Vessels
This paper took a closer look at Renaissance drinking vessels and drinking culture and examined the types of vessels commonly used in Italy and the Netherlands during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
The Salvation Diet
For people in the Middle Ages, Lent was a time of both physical fasting and spiritual renewal. In her paper, ‘The Salvation Diet’, Martha Daas examines how medieval people endured the 40 days of fasting.
Let’s Eat! Banquets in the Middle Ages
When we think about medieval people eating together, it seems we invariably conjure up an image of a great hall, filled with people sitting at long tables.
When banquets were dangerous for the soul
What used to happen during wedding banquets that could threaten the integrity of people?
What was the best wine in the Middle Ages?
When medieval people chose what wine to drink, they might check at its colour, smell and taste. More importantly, the choice was often an individual one based what was the healthiest drink for them.
Food and prejudice: a western ambassador in Byzantium
On the 4th of June, 968, Liutprand of Cremona made landfall at Constaninople as ambassador for the German emperor Otto I.
Dietary Laws in Medieval Christian-Jewish Polemics: A Survey
In the religious debate between Jews and Christians, the biblical dietary laws come to illustrate important assumptions concerning the “other.”
Book Review: An Early Meal: A Viking Age Cookbook and Culinary Odyssey
A book that any non-academic Viking-enthusiast would love to have on their shelf or in their kitchen.
The very first Anglo Saxon toast?
If the Historia should not be used to accurately retrace the history of Britain, it nonetheless features some of those tiny hints historians must seriously attend to.
St. Brendan and his miraculous food: heavenly meals for a legendary voyage
Therefore, the so called Navigatio Sancti brendani abbatis features real persons in an imaginary world, where credible details and legendary traits mingle with each other
Lactose Intolerance in the Middle Ages
New research suggests that medieval people had a similar level of lactose intolerance as modern day people, meaning they could drink milk and eat yogurt and cheese without problems.
The magnificent banquets for the wedding of Annibale II Bentivoglio and Lucrezia d’Este
The banquet started at 20 o’clock and lasted for 7 hours. After some sweets as starters, the very protagonist of the dinner is meat: veals, peacocks, game and fowl of all sorts, followed by further sweets and cakes.
The Middle English culinary recipes in MS Harley 5401: an edition and commentary
The culinary manuscripts of the Middle Ages are increasingly a concern of those interested in social history — among others;(1) yet a significant impediment to research on Middle English culinary matters remains in the remarkable fact that there are still at least six sizeable collections of recipes that have never been edited and/or printed at all, as well as about a dozen more that have been only selectively collated in editions of material taken primarily from other manuscripts.
Medieval Cookbooks: Something to Inspire the Medieval Cook in all of us!
Baby it’s cold outside. Brrrrr! It’s January, snow is blowing, frost is nipping at your toes – it’s a great time to cook a hearty, hot meal. Want to make it even better? Try a medieval menu! Here are a few books to inspire the medieval cook in all of us.
Elemental theory in everyday practice: food disposal in the later medieval English countryside
For medieval rural communities the story of food did not necessarily end in its eating.
Brewing, Politics and Society in an Early Modern German Town – a case study of Görlitz in Upper Lusatia
In the Middle Ages, the Upper-Lusatian town of Görlitz – today situated on Germany’s Eastern periphery close to the Polish border – was at the heart of a wider European trading network.
Food and the North-Icelandic Identity in 13th century Iceland and Norway
Now food is becoming globalized, but we still recall how food could be used to construct a national identity, with the aid of the institutions of the national state.
The Brewer, the Baker, and the Monopoly Maker
This paper seeks to examine how productive entrepreneurial activities, such as innovation, influence unproductive entrepreneurial activities, such as regulatory rent seeking.