# What did the daily diet of a medieval serf or Roman workman consist of? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 15, 2006, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-daily-diet-of-a-medieval-serf-or-roman-workman-consist-of/340038 "2006-01-15T02:53:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-daily-diet-of-a-medieval-serf-or-roman-workman-consist-of/340038/41 "2006-01-17T09:22:54Z")
> [@slaphead](#): > > I believe so. Also, in western europe at least putting alcohol in the (filthy) water was the preferred way of keeping terminal diaorrhea at bay (boiling being too complicated for them :dubious: ). The English built an empire during the course of a 400-year drinking spree… Beer-making usually involves boiling the water at some point; the alcohol, the acidity and the fact that it is stored in bottles, barrels or other closed/covered containers, serve to somewhat prevent the brewed product from becoming infected with disease-causing pathogens. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-daily-diet-of-a-medieval-serf-or-roman-workman-consist-of/340038/42 "2006-01-17T09:42:08Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Worchester sauce is a salty fish based sauce. It has anchovies in it, honest. It does indeed, but it’s so overpowered by the tamarinds that the fish taste is somewhat hidden. The Thai fish sauce mentioned, and also “nuoc mon” from Vietnam, would be more like what Jonnus Q Roman ate, from the sounds of garum. Note that these two sauces don’t have any spices in them, at least not in SEA. And they’re nothing like soy at all. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-daily-diet-of-a-medieval-serf-or-roman-workman-consist-of/340038/43 "2006-01-17T09:55:09Z")
Adam Hart Davis (great bloke) made, among others, a TV series for the Beeb called ‘What the Romans did for us’ - one week it was dedicated to cooking and it covered, or was in agreement with most of what people have said above; a couple of things in there that I haven’t seen mentioned in this thread (unless I’ve overlooked them): -The Roman fish sauce wasn’t just used in savoury dishes (although there was less of a distinction between the concepts of sweet and savoury dishes anyway) - there are surviving recipes for things like a sort of baked pear dessert that includes garum as a flavouring. -In Britain, there are plants and animals that we today consider native, but are in fact naturalised introductions brought in by the Romans; rabbits and Ground Elder are the two examples that spring immediately to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-daily-diet-of-a-medieval-serf-or-roman-workman-consist-of/340038/44 "2006-01-17T10:00:11Z")
> [@coffeecat](#): > > What was the difference between that and today’s rye bread, which is chewable and darn good?More recently, too. I have an old cookbook, passed down from my mother and probably her mother, that has recipes for such traditional yummies as Steer’s Foot Soup, Roast Beef Udder, and Roasted Spleen. :eek: Otters’ noses! Wolf Nipple Chips! Get 'em while they’re hot. They’re lovely! Actually, I saw spleen for sale not very long ago in the supermarket; frozen cubes of pink stuff in a bag marked ‘pork melts’. Haven’t tried it yet, but I probably will at some point; no better or worse really than, say, liver. ---
**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:** [January 17, 2006, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-daily-diet-of-a-medieval-serf-or-roman-workman-consist-of/340038/45 "2006-01-17T12:23:52Z")
> [@slaphead](#): > > I believe so. Also, in western europe at least putting alcohol in the (filthy) water was the preferred way of keeping terminal diaorrhea at bay (boiling being too complicated for them :dubious: ). The English built an empire during the course of a 400-year drinking spree… I believe that making beer gets you a lot more clean potables than boiling water. Basically, it’s an energy problem. Thje only mobile energy source was wood; moving that was a real problem. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-daily-diet-of-a-medieval-serf-or-roman-workman-consist-of/340038/46 "2006-01-17T13:08:34Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Otters’ noses! Onna stick! C.M.O.T. Derleth > [@Mangetout](#): > > Adam Hart Davis (great bloke) made, among others, a TV series for the Beeb called ‘What the Romans did for us’ All addressed to some chap named Brian, who never could get his declensions right. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-daily-diet-of-a-medieval-serf-or-roman-workman-consist-of/340038/47 "2006-01-17T13:10:45Z")
Sure; the programme title was an intentional reference to that famous scene. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-daily-diet-of-a-medieval-serf-or-roman-workman-consist-of/340038/48 "2006-01-17T13:29:31Z")
A year or so ago I read a brief article in one or another of the popular science magazines. It concerned archeological study of medieval English cesspits. According to that article, the medieval poo in question contained materials indicating the medieval English ate a _lot_ of preserved herring. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-daily-diet-of-a-medieval-serf-or-roman-workman-consist-of/340038.md?page=2)