# For a week I want to eat a 'common man' diet from any place and era... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 12, 2011, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-week-i-want-to-eat-a-common-man-diet-from-any-place-and-era/571088 "2011-02-12T01:06:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-week-i-want-to-eat-a-common-man-diet-from-any-place-and-era/571088/21 "2011-02-12T04:12:04Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > I mean _diet_ as in “The usual food and drink of a person or animal” **NOT** “A regulated selection of foods for cosmetic weight loss.” > > Quite awhile ago I was interested in survival foods and what it took to keep someone alive for a given amount of time. I went a week ingesting nothing but water just to see what it felt like. > > I’m a historical buff too, and lately have pursued my interest in the kitchen to make plenty of dishes from historical eras…some with unfortunate results (‘hard tack night’ quickly turned into ‘pizza night’). In this quest I’ve searched for the common man’s diner because, shit, a 12th century Venetian could eat pepper if he had had the cash. > > Recipes are tricky because food that isn’t very good doesn’t make it into the next generations cookbooks, but my main problem is that I’ve been unable to find accurate quantities. > > I’m 6’1’’ and 210 lbs. so I’d be pretty large for a medieval peasant but still…what would I eat for a week on a viking ship headed for Lindisfarne? As a Roman grunt stationed on Hadrian’s Wall, what would my weeks ration be? Or a pyramid building slave? Dark Age Benedictine monk? > > I expect it to be dull and bland…I also expect to drink a lot of booze (which will make this really interesting) > > Any recipe cites would be appreciated but if they included historically accurate quantities you’d be worshiped. [Cariadoc’s website](http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/recipe_toc.html) will be of great help to you, as well as [Stefan’s Florilegium](http://www.florilegium.org/). ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-week-i-want-to-eat-a-common-man-diet-from-any-place-and-era/571088/22 "2011-02-12T04:30:43Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > That and food preservation. A typical serf would stuff himself fat in October only to chew on wood bark in March. That’s true. They’d sometimes gorge themselves on meat. It might have made only the same proportion of diet as today (probably less), but it came around erratically. When someone was slaughtering a boar or cow, the meat could feed _dozens_. But then that might happen only several times a year. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-week-i-want-to-eat-a-common-man-diet-from-any-place-and-era/571088/23 "2011-02-12T05:17:32Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > Fantastic post/name combo. > > Wasn’t mead like 9% though? It varies widely from weak beer to wine strength. Champagne yeast can get up to the 17% abv range, but weren’t used historically. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-week-i-want-to-eat-a-common-man-diet-from-any-place-and-era/571088/24 "2011-02-12T12:34:06Z")
For world wide recipes from the early 19th C, you might fancy [this book](http://www.amazon.com/Curiosities-Food-Dainties-Delicacies-Different/dp/1580082971/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1297513617&sr=8-2). It’s all meat dishes, and sometimes the dish produced will feed a couple of dozen (you need a big cooking pot for even a small manatee!), but it’s fascinating stuff! ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-week-i-want-to-eat-a-common-man-diet-from-any-place-and-era/571088/25 "2011-02-12T12:53:25Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’ve read that because lobster was so unpopular and generally not worth catching, they grew to much larger sizes than they do now. It was not considered unusual to see lobsters that were four or five feet long. Considering that the largest lobster _ever_ recorded was 3 feet 6 inches and estimated to be 100 years old to have reached that size, I’d have to take claims of 4 to 5 feet with a big pat of salted butter. ---
**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-week-i-want-to-eat-a-common-man-diet-from-any-place-and-era/571088/26 "2011-02-12T19:25:48Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Considering that the largest lobster _ever_ recorded was 3 feet 6 inches and estimated to be 100 years old to have reached that size, I’d have to take claims of 4 to 5 feet with a big pat of salted butter. So, you are saying that you find a 4-5ft lobster hard to swallow? ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-week-i-want-to-eat-a-common-man-diet-from-any-place-and-era/571088/27 "2011-02-12T21:32:56Z")
[For those who care;](http://www.romanarmy.net/food.htm) > [@](#): > > Calculations show that each [legionare’s] basic peace time diet would be a grain ration of about 1-1½kg per day (2-3lb) added to which would be Oil or Lard, Bacon or some other meat, Vinum (Vintage wine) or Acetum (Sour wine), Salt, Cheese, Vegetables etc. Contrary to popular opinion the meat part of the ration seems to have been regular and may have been substantial. Naturally no-one knows what the ration was but the most usually found remains are Beef, Sheep, Venison & Pig with Wild Boar, Goat & Hare. Elk, Bear, Wild Ox & Horse are also recorded at some sites. But I wish I could get closer to exact quantities. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-week-i-want-to-eat-a-common-man-diet-from-any-place-and-era/571088/28 "2011-02-12T21:36:32Z")
> [@Cyros](#): > > So, you are saying that you find a 4-5ft lobster hard to swallow? You’ll want to skip the salad bar. ---
**Author:** ![Walpurgis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Walpurgis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walpurgis)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-week-i-want-to-eat-a-common-man-diet-from-any-place-and-era/571088/29 "2011-02-12T22:34:06Z")
Viking Answer Lady is a lady in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) who has this wonderful web page with well-researched info on all things Viking. [Here’s](http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/food.shtml) a thorough description of what the Vikings ate and some recipes, too. There’s some yummy stuff in there! ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-week-i-want-to-eat-a-common-man-diet-from-any-place-and-era/571088/30 "2011-02-12T23:23:18Z")
I found a [wonderful cite](http://books.google.com/books?id=LfRiXN5hhCUC&pg=PA19&lpg=PA19&dq=roman+legion+rations&source=bl&ots=vxzD5YZu7o&sig=bcTSBEuT-Sxq_pDAVbV3Kj6lpQo&hl=en&ei=nfxWTY6wDM2RgQe5j7XnDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CFUQ6AEwCDgK#v=onepage&q=roman%20legion%20rations&f=false) for the daily ration of a Roman legionare and I’m going to start it monday to last a week. _ **My Diet:** _ 850 g of Grain - eaten as; -_puls_, or porridge, similar to polenta containing salt, water and fat, oil or milk. -Campfire bread also known as ‘ration bread’ very similar to our black bread. Officers would eat white bread but I’ll stick to the grunt’s food. -Biscuits were common too, the iron ration offering similar to hardtack…I’m not going anywhere near it. From experience that crap has the taste and consistency of cinder blocks. 160 g of salt pork called _laridum_ was by far the most common and was eaten all over the empire. Romans in northern Europe ate plenty of beef but no one else did and mutton was extremely rare. 45 g dry weight veggies, mostly lentils and faba beans no fruit…figs were mentioned occasionally but were never issued and in fact the soldiers pledge includes a provision that fruits were one thing a soldier could take and keep for himself on campaign. I’ll pass entirely. 27 g of cheese _caseus_, I’m not sure what type would be most appropriate yet. 5 g of salt, there will be plenty salt in store bought salt pork, cheese and black bread so I’ll probably pass on this ration…though it might end up in the puls. 1.5 oz of olive oil, butter was extremely rare and considered a hardship. 160 g of vintage wine (.27 liters) _vinum_ or half that for the much stronger sour wine _oxos_ or _posca_, both were often mixed with water and the sour wine usually had vinegar _acetum_. Any advice for a reasonably accurate vintage wine? I’d like to try the sour wine too, do they make it? I might even try vinegar with it if I can get it. 2 liters of water, the reasoned daily requirement. Often in supply on the march and since I’m in the dead of winter without rigorous daily exercise this should be more than enough. So…still looking for a good vintage and sour wine, a realistic cheese, an accurate salt pork equivalent and a good recipe for puls containing only my daily allotment. ---
**Author:** ![Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speak_to_me_Maddie)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-week-i-want-to-eat-a-common-man-diet-from-any-place-and-era/571088/31 "2011-02-12T23:39:18Z")
Many online sources cite [Pecorino Romano](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecorino_Romano) as a common cheese issued to Roman Legionaries. It’s easy enough to get at a good grocer, just make sure you get one made from sheep’s milk. It makes sense that it would be a hard cheese that resists spoilage. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-week-i-want-to-eat-a-common-man-diet-from-any-place-and-era/571088/32 "2011-02-12T23:59:41Z")
Salt pork is made from the same cuts as bacon, but without the smoking part of the process and more salt. So bacon might be a reasonable substitute, in the sense of being close to the real thing although with our less strenuous lifestyles the salt and cholesterol may not be so good for you. Then again, it’s just for a week. ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-week-i-want-to-eat-a-common-man-diet-from-any-place-and-era/571088/33 "2011-02-13T12:11:45Z")
> [@Cyros](#): > > So, you are saying that you find a 4-5ft lobster hard to swallow? In depression-era america lobster eats _you._ someone had to ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-week-i-want-to-eat-a-common-man-diet-from-any-place-and-era/571088/34 "2011-02-13T13:44:55Z")
You’ll never eat like common people. You’ll never chew whatever common people chew. You’ll never drink ale like common people. You’ll never watch your knife slide out of view and live on bread and stew, because there’s nothing else to do. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-week-i-want-to-eat-a-common-man-diet-from-any-place-and-era/571088/35 "2011-02-13T13:55:26Z")
> [@Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](#): > > Many online sources cite [Pecorino Romano](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecorino_Romano) as a common cheese issued to Roman Legionaries. That sounds perfect, I’ll try to hunt it down. > [@Broomstick\[/quote](#): > > Salt pork is made from the same cuts as bacon, but without the smoking part of the process and more salt. It looks nasty, the recipe to making my own salt pork will take more than two weeks so I hope I can find a substitute. Bacon will have to be the standby if I can’t and while unhealthy 5 1/2 oz of bacon a day won’t kill me…probably healthier than a Big Mac. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-week-i-want-to-eat-a-common-man-diet-from-any-place-and-era/571088/36 "2011-02-13T15:15:39Z")
What with marching and fighting I think perhaps Roman legionaries actually _needed_ the calories in salt pork and such. Even with a modern mechanized army troop rations are considerably higher calorie than the recommended civilian diet. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-week-i-want-to-eat-a-common-man-diet-from-any-place-and-era/571088/37 "2011-02-13T16:57:40Z")
> [@](#): > > It looks nasty, the recipe to making my own salt pork will take more than two weeks so I hope I can find a substitute. Bacon will have to be the standby if I can’t and while unhealthy 5 1/2 oz of bacon a day won’t kill me…probably healthier than a Big Mac. You can buy salt pork in blocks at just about any grocery store. Look in the meat case by the pork, or maybe by the bacon. But, as you said, it’s not really palatable. It’s meant to be used as a flavoring, not eaten by itself. If I were a Roman soldier, I’d use it to flavor my grains or vegetables, not eat it in chunks ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-week-i-want-to-eat-a-common-man-diet-from-any-place-and-era/571088/38 "2011-02-13T17:51:01Z")
Here’s a great book about what a English seaman or tar ate. _Feeding Nelson’s Navy: The True Story of Food at Sea in the Georgian Era_ Note that you can find hardtack on line from a number of sources. If you ate hardtack, jerky and maybe a apple, you’d copy what many ate for trail rations. Cowboys would eat beans and beef for weeks. ---
**Author:** ![xoferew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/e9a140/32.png) [@xoferew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xoferew)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-week-i-want-to-eat-a-common-man-diet-from-any-place-and-era/571088/39 "2011-02-13T18:33:31Z")
Have you considered an ancient Japanese diet? > **[Jomon cuisine: What went into the Jomon pots?](https://heritageofjapan.wordpress.com/just-what-was-so-amazing-about-jomon-japan/ways-of-the-jomon-world-2/jomon-crafts-and-what-they-were-for/ways-of-the-jomon-world/jomon-cuisine-what-went-into-the-jomon-pots/)** > > Archaeologists have tried to recreate the Jomon cooking scene and some of the dishes and foods, after examining the remains of the kitchen dumps or middens in excavated sites.   Jomon shell midden … “One of the main dishes of the Jomon meal is thought to be a humble dish of acorn flour dumplings boiled in a herb and root vegetable soup flavored with rock salt or other ingredients boiled with wheat, millet or other available cereals. …The cookie was made of chestnut, walnut flour, meat and blood of wild boar, deer, and wild bird eggs.” I saw a TV show once about a middle school boy who cooked and ate Jomon food as an educational project. He seemed to think the soup wasn’t bad. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-week-i-want-to-eat-a-common-man-diet-from-any-place-and-era/571088/40 "2011-02-13T20:14:23Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Dammit! How come you Brits always get the best shows??!!! Public funding. I see the usual SCA sites have already been mentioned. Just to add a couple tings > [@Sitnam](#): > > As a Roman grunt stationed on Hadrian’s Wall, what would my weeks ration be? In addition to the rations you already listed, don’t forget [condiments](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garum). Essential to real Roman cuisine - they even put it in desserts. Thai/Vietnamese fish sauce is an OK substitute. I have found a modern version of [_puls_](http://julilla.tripod.com/breakfast.htm), and also the [Apicus version](http://www.class.uidaho.edu/luschnig/owls/Recipes/7.htm): Porridge (puls punica) [from Apicius] ``` * Soak a pound of spelt well in water. * Add three pounds of fresh cheese, 1/2 pound of honey, one egg. Mix thoroughly. Pour into a pot and cook. ``` Note the high cheese-to-wheat ratio. BTW, usually, when old recipes call for “fresh cheese”, I use something like a cottage cheese or ricotta. > [@](#): > > Or a pyramid building slave? You should realise the pyramids were built by professionals and seasonal workers, not slaves. Anyway, apparently your staple there is [sourdough bread](http://www.aeraweb.org/lost-city-project/feeding-pyramid-workers/) and beer. > [@](#): > > Dark Age Benedictine monk? You’re lucky there, [Benedict did some of the work for you:](http://www.ccel.org/ccel/benedict/rule2/files/rule2.html#ch39) basically: 2 meals a day, two cooked dishes at each, a pound of bread and half a pint of wine. Remembering that monasteries often had quite good vineyards, ponds and farms. No 4-footed animals, so you’re OK with poultry and fish. But later monasteries used the Rule as [more of an aspirational thing](http://www.binhampriory.org/ruinstour/refectory.html). It certainly wasn’t a hard life. > [@](#): > > I expect it to be dull and bland Why? Like I said above - Romans were mad for pungent fish sauce, Benedictine monks loved their tipple, and even the pyramid-builders didn’t go to work without their beer. Plus there are lots of herbs and the like that grow throughout the world. Why would food have to be bland when a handful of savoury, sage or thyme could be had for nothing in the woods or from any garden? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-week-i-want-to-eat-a-common-man-diet-from-any-place-and-era/571088.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-week-i-want-to-eat-a-common-man-diet-from-any-place-and-era/571088.md?page=3)