What did the daily diet of a medieval serf or Roman workman consist of?

Factual Questions
21

Actually, the grain dole, originally enacted by G. Gracchus, provided corn freely or at a set minimum price. However, this was limited to citizens of Rome and was limited to a certain number of people. If I can recall correctly, the dole was limited to 100,000 people. (I could be wrong on the 100,000 number, and it certainly fluctuated over time. Other cities may have had their own doles as well, Constantinople would be one city I know was given this right). For citizens who possessed this “dole” right it became a priveldged commodity because it ensured a “standard of living”.

I recall a professor reading us a list of weekly rations from Mesopotamia. It included fish, breads, and an incredible amount of beer. I’m thinking if we have a list like this preserved we should have something similar from imperial Rome.

22

Weren’t alcoholic (beer & wine) beverages the rule in many ancient cultures as they kept better than water and were more nutritious?

23

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…

24

The population of Europe reached a high shortly before the Black Death that was not matched until 18th century, so caloric intake probably was not the restrictive factor. (It would seem reasonable, though, that adding new foods would increase the chance of a well balanced diet.) When I took a history class on the Middle Ages, the claim was that most protein came from legumes. The claim was also that during the early Middle Ages, Of course, I’m an old fart, so our ignorance may have receded some since then.

I was also taught that garum was the prime protein source for Roman citizenry, at least those in Italy and near the coasts. The Germanic peoples introduced butter, beef, and beer as staples. (As opposed to olive oil, fish, and wine.)

25

I’ve heard that in many places in the world there’s a plentiful carbohydrate and starch source (bread, rice, manioc, etc.) that everyone eats. They often have this with some sort of topping or additive which they think of as “flavoring”, but which is, in fact, a central part of their nutrition – think of vegetables on rice, sauce on spaghetti, sops eaten with bread. Thse “flavorings” were mostly vegetable, but frequently were made with meat. In other words, even when people said they weren’t eating meat, that it was maybe just in there for flavor, they really were eating meat, albeit in a “disguised” and not very plentiful form.

Along those lines, fish and seafood was a big part of the Roman diet. I don’t think that “garum” “fish sauce” was rich man’s food, and it falls into the category of “flavorings” that really aren’t.

26

Is there a specific recipe for “garum”? Can you buy it in the grocery store?

27

The subject is addressed in the first couple of chapters of Kurlansky’s Salt: A World History, which I recently started reading. Apparently peasants in Egypt subsisted on little more than unleavened bread, onions, and beer.

It’s an entertaining book so far, and I heartily recommend it.

28

There was an Egyptian prayer I heard once that went, “Give me bread, and beer, and onions, and I will make a sacrifice to you.” Apparently that was shorthand for “give us this day our daily bread”, such that all their needs were met.

I believe the beer was very thick stuff - more like a thin, alcoholic porridge than modern beer.

Regards,
Shodan

29

Of course, there is a passage in the Bible about what the Hebrew slaves of that period ate, which sounds a bit better -

I bet the fish part is river fish from the Nile.

Regards,
Shodan

30

The best I can figure is that it’s some sort of salted, fermented sauce - we used soy sauce instead when me made ‘authentic’ Roman recipes for our Latin class. I found a site which quoted Pliny the Elder but was sketchy, so I’ll try to track down the actual quote.

31

Aha! From Perseus: “it is prepared from the intestines of fish and various parts which would otherwise be thrown away, macerated in salt; so that it is, in fact, the result of their putrefaction.”

32

Fermented fish sauce, such as this, is very close to the ancient garum, although it doesn’t have any spices. Whatever you do, whether you’re cooking ancient Roman recipes or modern southeast Asian ones, don’t use soy sauce; the flavors of the two are utterly and completely different, and the only thing they have in common is they’re both salty.

33

I remember reading a sligthly dubious theory once, that European history was so full of bloodshed because the leaders spent most of their time drunk and agressive, whilst the Chinese were busy drinking tea and building a proper civilization. :dubious:

34

Reading one of the above links I found this quote:

It has been my observation that spices make sense when you are using older or lower quality vegetables but that if you have fresh good-quality vegetables you really don’t need much spice. In fact, you ought to just let the foods speak for themselves most of the time.

I think that spices probably had a role in making less than fresh food more palatable even if they weren’t used to disguise rotteness (which seems like a bad idea to me).

35

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:

36

Rye bread today is never made with pure rye flour but rather uses it more as a flavouring agent. Normal rye bread is only about 1/3rd rye with the rest being high-gluten bread flour.

37

I know that this differs from market to market, but here you will find bread with high rye content in every bakery. Actually you may only call it “rye bread” if it is made with at least 90% rye flour. There is also so called “rye mixed bread” that requires only 60%. Even bread with 100% rye is not that hard to find.

38

It just so happens that I wrote a paper about this last semester! First, it’s somewhat hard to pin down what exactly they ate because it varied depending on the specific time period and the location. For example the diet of those living in Northumberland in 1100 wasn’t necessarily the same as the diet of those living in Nurthumberland in 1350. Life in the past wasn’t static and like our modern age things did change.

“Life in a Medieval Village” by Frances and Joseph Gies concentrates on England and sometimes it wasn’t so good to be a peasant but other times it wasn’t as bad as we think. There isn’t as much evidence for what the average peasant ate in the 13th century but apparantly most of the wheat he produced went to market while his bread was typically made from barley and oats. They ate a bread called “maslin” which was a mixture of either wheat and rye or barley and rye baked into a 4 pound loaf and consumed by men, women, and children. Barley grains destined for the pot were sometimes set in a cool damp place and allowed to sprout before being boiled.

Now that isn’t the end of their diet. Fat bacon or salt pork might be added along with onions and garlic, in addition to beans and peas. When in season cabbage, lettuce, leeks, spinach, and parsley might be part of the diet as well as fruits such as apples, pears, and cherries and nuts, roots, and berries could be gathered from the woods. Fruit was usually cooked because raw fruit was thought to make one sick with the “bloody flux.” It is also possible that every meal, including breakfast, was washed down with a weak ale that was brewed at home or purchased from a neighbor. For some there might have been the occasional supply of cheese, milk, and butter, but meat would have been pretty rare but the occasional chicken and pig wasn’t unheard of as well as salted fish and eels. Yummy. Archaeological evidence shows that fish was eaten even in inland villages and that some peasants even enjoyed wine imported from France.

I can’t remember the book I read the following in, but apparantly in the area of what is now Germany there was such an abundance of game that hunting was very common and even the lowest peasant ate a diet that was about as meat rich as what we eat these days. Breakfast probably consisted mainly of what was left over from yesterday, dinner (lunch) was the largest meal of the day, and supper was whatever they could grab before going to bed. (snacks were eaten I’m sure)

According to the “Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome” by Lesley and Roy Adkins, the Roman diet revolved around “corn (grain), oil, and wine.” Bread was eaten at most meals nad could be accompanied by sausage, eggs, cheese, fish, or shellfish depending on the wealth of the person eating. Vegetables might include cabbage, parsnips, lettuce, asparagus, onions, garlic, marrows, radishes, lentils, beans, and beets. Meat would have been a luxury to most people so for the most part the common man probably ate bread and veggies. Sauces were very popular with people of all classes.

Wine was drunk by everyone though the qualitied varied. Wine was almost always watered down, drinking undiluted wine was barbaric, and it was typically spiced in some way and heated when the weather was cool. A common drink among the poorer classes was called posca. Posca was made from watering down acetum, a low quality wine close to vinegar. It was regarded by many as uncivilized to drink milk so they used it for cheese and medicinal purposes instead.

I have it on good authority that Washington ordered Domino’s Pizza at Valley Forge but it didn’t arrive in the alloted 30 days and he and his army ate like kings come the spring thaw.

Marc

39

Worchester sauce is a salty fish based sauce. It has anchovies in it, honest.

40

Worcestershire sauce has an interesting history