History Of Food In Elizabethan England

Ian Mortimer uses his book The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century to describe how one might live in the fourteenth century. This book covers a wide range of topics from what one might see and smell when approaching a city, to what one might wear, to how to stay alive. Mortimer’s clever use of a travel guide inspired book lends itself to a much wider audience. The evidence presented in this book is both engaging and intriguing, and provides easy reading for academics and non-academics both.

The Elizabethan era, named for Queen Elizabeth who reigned from 1558-1603, was a very relaxed time in England because no wars or conflicts were happening at the time (Davis 231). Many people believe that all people lived wonderful lives in the Elizabethan era, yet most people were poor and lived hard lives. “Undeniably the span of life is shorter in the sixteenth century than it will be in subsequent ages” (Davis 162). Important parts of life in London during the Elizabethan era were social classes, living conditions, recreation, education, and gender inequality.

Other foods such as, wild grapes, jack rabbits, wood rats, yucca fruit, wild potatoes, juniper, berries and mountain sheep were eaten all the time.

This particular book collected data from the students about which type of food they liked most and used pictures of the food to represent that number.

All serfs were farmers. Serfs had poor shelter and lacked a diet. Most serfs lived in small homes made of stones, with roofs made of clay tiles or shingles. They had hard dirt floors and slept on straw mattresses that were on the floor. They had some furniture such as stools benches and a table (Cels 9). Peasants often ate bread and had pottage which was like a soup. Pottage was flavored with various types of vegetables. Since peasants weren't that wealthy, they rarely ate meat because it was expensive to buy and keep animals. Small amounts of chicken, pork and beef were considered treats (Cels 9). Serfs children often helped the parents around the house. Young children that were peasants normally played with toys such as dolls, carts, horses,whistles,

THESIS STATEMENT: During the Elizabethan era various types of foods were eaten and extensive details were added to these foods. Social classes also played a big role in what the rich or poor ate.

The success to a healthy life is a healthy diet. For those living in the Elizabethan Era food was directly linked to health. Although diet in the modern age is simple, diet patterns of the Elizabethan era was very complex. The Elizabethan era’s diet was complex because it relied on many differentiating factors. These factors were class, region, religious holidays, and nutrition values. When comparing the diets of the classes there are no specific types of classes just upper and lower class. Class played an immense role in diet because the wealthier you were the better quality food you could afford. Another factor that affected diet was the different regions in Europe. Southern Europeans ate differently from Northern Europeans because they were able to grow certain foods, and different animal species were in greater abundance. Religious holidays also altered diet because certain religions prohibited consuming certain foods on specific days. An example of a religious holiday is Lent. Nutrition values and theories were plentiful and diverse. There were many lists from many different physicians pronouncing their newest diet regulations for a healthy life. All of these factors affected the Elizabethan diet. In the end one’s lifestyle greatly affected one’s diet.

Life in Elizabethan England was hard. While some people believe that the life was great in that era, but they are mistaken. The life during Elizabethan England era was very hard because of the poverty levels being very high, the towns were unclean and their diets were very poor.

Meat: beef, mutton, lamb, veal, kid, port, coney, pig, venison, fish (sometimes salted--pike, salmon, haddock, gurnard, tench, sturgeon, conger-eels, carp, lampreys, chines of salmon, perch, white herring, shrimp, pilchards, mackerel, oysters), sausage, eggs, sheep's feet, meat pies. Due to lack of refrigeration, techniques for preparing spoiled meat--vinegar,

On special occasions, bread or pancakes were baked. Men usually supplied meat: ham, venison, beef, salt pork, buffalo, rabbit, or bear. Settlers largely drank what we do today, but also foraged for delicious additions to their meals. They learned how to pick nuts and berries from the surrounding woodland, and sometimes purchased brown sugar, molasses, honey or salt. Available foods depended on location and season, so produce and game varied greatly from one area to the next.

Roman eggs were commonly eaten, but were much smaller than modern eggs, and were brought in large amounts. For a beverage, he brought a clay cask of must, a juice made from fresh grapes stored in such a way as to become alcoholic quickly, but maintain a low alcoholic content. http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodfaq6.html#ancientrome http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/233472.html Darius I brought fare attributed to several social classes/levels of ancient Egypt, consisting of baked and salted fish, fished from the nile a few days before. Another main course he brought was a large dish of game and wild fowl. In addition, Darius brought a dish full of boiled vegetables, which would have been eaten at every meal for a person of his social level.

The food served at dinner depended on how wealthy the people were.” (Fajardo 10) “Throughout the seventeenth century and well into the eighteenth century, dinner was served in the "hall" or "common room”. In the early settlements, poor families ate from trenchers filled from a common stew pot, with a bowl of coarse salt, the only

Food is a staple in life. Everyone needs it, but not everyone gets what they want from it. In England during the Elizabethan Era there was a variety of foods. There were many imported foods and spices but a great deal of people never had the chance to try those amazing foods, except for the rich people. In the Elizabethan time period, the food eaten by the different classes, at feasts, and the ingredients used, played a major role in the civilization of England.

In 1563, Queen Elizabeth declared a law that stated that everyone had to eat fish on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. If disobeyed it could result with three months in jail. But this wasn’t a problem for the poor, they regularly ate fish. Cooking methods of the Elizabethan Era people were spit roasting, baking, boiling, smoking, salting, and frying. Most of people didn’t own a oven, so they used communal ovens.

Petty disputes over rations soon turned into bashing in someone’s skull just for a sliver of meat and a dozen frozen peas. Families could be found huddling together but you could never tell if they had starved to death or frozen. Nobody checked anyway. Even the cannibals wouldn’t eat frozen meat if live meat was readily