Ye Andleofa

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Ye Andleofa
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Editor's Note
The diet of the medieval people was very diferent
form ours today. They lived in a tme where people
grew their own food, and were sometmes in danger
of starvaton; the diet of an individual depends on
his social status; and feasts were an important part
of people's social life. This issue focuses on what the
Anglo-Saxons ate, how they dealt with food, and how
signifcant food and dining were to them.
Ye Andleofa
medieval magazine
Marlee Pabico
Editor/Writer
Uzziel Delamide
Dania Galicia
Aaron Garcia
Irina Herras
Writers
References
htp://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/saxons/food.htm
htp://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~cpercy/courses/1001Duncan.htm
htp://regia.org/life/feastng.htm
htp://www.regia.org/feastngandfastng.htm
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Cooking in the Past

Rags and Riches

Feasting, Medieval Style

A Day of Sacrifce
Gooseberry Fool
To make a Gooseberry Fool
Take a pint and an half of gooseberries
clean picked from the stalks, put them
into a skillet with a pint and half of fair
Water, scald them till they be very ten-
der, then bruise them well in the Water,
and boil them with a pound and half of
fine sugar till it be of a good thickness,
then put to it the yolks of six eggs and a
pint of cream, with a nutmeg quartered,
stir these well together till you think they
be enough, over a slow fire, and put it into
a dish, and when it is cold, eat it.
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Contents
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Cooking
s we all know, the Saxons had so many delicious food.
What ingredients did they have in their tme? Lets check
in the
Past
A
it out!
The Saxons grew plants like wheat for bread and barley for
brewing. They grew oats for animal fodder and porridge too.
In their tme, they did not have as many vegetables as we have
now. They only have garlic, carrot, cabbage, but these vegetables
were very organic. Their carrots were purplish red and small. The
cabbages were of wild variety and the leaves were small unlike
the cabbages that we are eatng nowadays. The apples, plums,
cherries, and sloes were small as we have today.
They had diferent varietes of fsh like herring, salmon, eel
and perch; pike and plaice. Some of these fsh are extnct. They
ate the fsh raw but sometmes they preserved it by saltng,
pickling, smoking and drying. How did they catch those fsh? The
river fsh were caught in nets while fsh-spears were caught in
wicker traps. Large sea fsh were caught in big nets that foat in
the sea. They also hunted whales and dolphins not only for their
meat, but also for the whalebone and fat.
The meat that they ate in their tme was like the meat that
we are eatng today. The most important meat that they had
were the pigs because they fatened more quickly than the other
animals. But in the Saxon period, the number of pigs slowly
decreased. They had cows too that produced ten tmes more
meat than goats, sheep, and beef meat. As the pigs decreased,
cow meat grew increasingly. Hens, duck, and geese provided
eggs, and they used the meat for cooking while their hollow
bones were used to make musical instruments such as the pipes.
Wild birds were eaten too such as plover, grouse, and herons.
In their tme, the Saxons did not have as many
vegetables as we have now.
by aaron garcia
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hen they say the Anglo-Saxons were vegetarians, does
that mean all of them were? The Anglo-Saxons were W
mostly vegetarian for a reason. Not everyone was able to fnd
meat for slaughter, and not everyone could aford to slaughter an
animal.
The Anglo-Saxons lived of what they had grown, which
was mainly composed of cereals like wheat, rye, barley and
oats; vegetables like carrots, parsnip, cabbages, peas, beans
and onions; and fruit such as apples, cherries and plums. Exotc
foods such as potatoes, tomatoes, bananas, pineapples - fruits
and vegetables of the New World, were unknown to the Anglo-
Saxons.
The wealthier Anglo-Saxons could aford to eat more than
just home-grown foods. When the ordinary Anglo-Saxons would
drink weak beer instead of water, the wealthier Anglo-Saxons
would drink imported wine. When the ordinary Anglo-Saxons
would eat vegetables, the wealthier Anglo-Saxons would eat
venison and other kinds of meat.
Wealth in the Anglo Saxon world was based on agriculture
and food trade, so a feast would be a display of the afuence
and capability of a household. Feasts were not just for the
aristocracy, ofen large spreads were put out for the laboring
peasants at harvest tme by their rulers. The feast was an act of
hospitality, and as such played an important part in the social
values of Early Medieval English culture.
Rags
Riches
&
Exotc foods such as potatoes,
tomatoes, bananas, pineapples - fruits
and vegetables of the New World,
were unknown to the Anglo-Saxons.
by irina herras
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Feasting,
easts were a regular part of the Anglo-Saxons everyday
life. It was their way of celebratng practcally anything
embellishing the food to show the status and capability of the
feast-giver and his guests. Simpler editons of the ornate dishes
were made for those guests of lower rank. Imagine a banquet
of meat, roasts, rich sauces, cheeses, fsh, sweet meats, salads,
quality bread, and botomless drinking horns of ale, beer, mead,
and wine!
The feast ofcially starts with the blowing of a horn to signal
the guests to enter and wash their hands. There were rules of
etquete even then. The Anglo-Saxons observed a seatng order,
the proper use of napkins, table-cloths, how to eat, and what to
do if food fell from the table. During the early part of this period
women did not have a place at the table They were restricted
from dining with the guests. Only the men can dine at the table
while the women act as cup-bearers serving drinks to the guests.
Medieval Style
(From lef clockwise) Paintng of
a feast hall; drinking horn; ornate
dishes served by cooks; cutng
meat; banquet of meats and roasts
F
under the sun. Both the rich and the poor held feasts of their
own and sometmes the lords put out feasts for his labourers.
Every person had the privilege to enjoy good food at a feast
regardless of ones social status.
An ideal feast was held in great halls decorated with fne
wall hangings, dense and colorful curtains, and kept warm
with furnaces and lamps. Feasts held by the peasants were
more humble because these were held outdoors or inside
their houses. It seemed, from writen evidence of the period,
that the feast day food was always antcipated for you can
always look forward to eatng beter food in greater quanttes.
The cooks would display considerable skills in making and
by marlee pabico
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Feasting,
An old poem about a coronaton feast stated that Stomachs
are flled with delicacies, minds with songs. Afer a hearty and
fulflling meal, the people expected entertainment and would
enjoy themselves with an array of story-tellers, musicians,
jesters, actors, dancers, and singers. Great celebratons such as
mentoned can last for three days although the day-long feasts
were more common. Sometmes guests were not allowed to
leave the feast not afer the lord has retred to bed.
Later on, when Catholicism fourished among the Saxons, the
Church converted these pagan feasts into the celebratons for
weddings, baptsm and betrothals. The Church also gave feasts
to the poor wherein they celebrated the abundant harvests and
other agricultural events.
Medieval Style
Stomachs are flled
with delicacies,
minds with songs.
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efore the glorious and antcipated feast, the Anglo-Saxons
observed a day of fastng to precede it. The paterns of
A Day
of Sacrifce
B
fastng and feastng were part of everyday life. Longer periods of
fastng came before periods of feastng and only the infrm and
children were excused.
There were three forms of fastng, one which excluded the
eatng of certain foods, one which only allowed the eatng of one
limited meal a day, and, the one most difcult for the modern
mind and stomach, that which demanded the food to have
unpalatable additons.
The reason for fastng was mostly connected with church
observatons. There was also the practcal reason that, at a tme
of year when food was short, to fast would be a help, in the mind
at least. The idea was for those who over-eat to, by fastng, free
up supplies for the poor. The church found all sorts of evidence
as to why meat was not always eaten - Adam's sin of glutony,
angels not needing food, Cain's cruelty and, of course, the forty
day fast of Christ in the wilderness.
The importance is evident since it was part of the priest's
dutes to tell the people of the days of fastng. If he failed to
do so he could be fned. This is one of the reasons for the
introducton of the calendars for fast and feast days being
developed. Friday fastng by not eatng meat, was common to
all and indeed it was said that to violate the rule was the most
visible way to reject the faith.
Food for fast days varied for the rich although the poor may
not have notced the diference so much especially if they lived
in an area away from the sea and so had limited access to fsh.
by uzziel delamide
In areas where fsh was available it was ofen caught in tmes
of plenty and smoked or salted for use later, the poor ate this
mixed with linseed or grape oil as fast-day food. A total Vegan
diet was not usual although there are recipes for meals needing
no meat, eggs or diary products. Some fast days only required
that the number of meals a day were cut to one and then it
could have three or four courses. The amount of food and the
tme when it was to be consumed was considered and special
rules applied to those needing to keep up their strength because
of the manual work they undertook. This even applied to some
monks and to those who had not taken their fnal vows. Rules of
the tme say that, in some cases, two should share the bowl for
one but that the dish should have meat puddings and sausages.
For others, and if no such things are available, then they should
have sufcient sof cheese, fsh and whatever vegetable dishes
are available instead.
The reason for
fastng was mostly
connected with church
observatons. There was
also the practcal reason
that, at a tme of year
when food was short,
to fast would be a help,
in the mind at least.
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Pudding of Goose Blood
To make a Pudding of Goose Blood
Save the blood of a goose, and strain it, then put in fine oatmeal steeped in
warm milk, nutmeg, pepper, sweet herbs, sugar, salt, suet minced fine, rosewa-
ter, limon pill, coriander seeds, then put in some eggs, and beat all these togeth-
er very well, then boil them how you do like, either in a buttered cloth or in skins,
or roast it within the neck of the goose.
Boiled Pigeons
To make Boiled Pigeons
Take your largest pigeons and cut them in halves, wash them and dry them, then
boil a little water and salt with some whole spice, and a little faggot of sweet
herbs, then put in your pigeons and boil them, and when they are enough, take some
boiled parsley shred small, some sweet butter, claret wine, and an anchovy, heat
them together, then put in the yolks of eggs, and make it thick over the fire, then
put in your pigeons into a dish.
all recipes compiled by dania galicia
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