Regional cuisines of medieval Europe
Encyclopedia
The regional cuisines of medieval Europe were the results of differences in climate, seasonal food variations, political administration and religious customs that varied across the continent. Though sweeping generalizations should be avoided, more or less distinct areas where certain foodstuffs dominated can be discerned. In the British Isles
, northern France
, the Low Countries
, the northern German-speaking areas, Scandinavia
and the Baltic
the climate was generally too harsh for the cultivation of grape
s and olive
s. In the south, wine was the common drink for both rich and poor alike (though the commoner usually had to settle for cheap second pressing wine) while beer
was the commoner's drink in the north and wine an expensive import. Citrus fruits (though not the kinds most common today) and pomegranate
s were common around in the Mediterranean. Dried fig
s and date
s occurred quite frequently in the north, but were used rather sparingly in cooking.
Olive oil
was among the ubiquitous ingredients around the Mediterranean, but remained an expensive import in the north where oil of poppy
, walnut, hazel and filbert was the most affordable alternative. Butter and lard, especially after the terrible blood-letting of the population during the Black Death
, was used in considerable quantities in the northern and northwestern regions, especially in the Low Countries
. Almost universal in middle and upper class cooking all over Europe was the almond
, which was in the ubiquitous and highly versatile almond milk
, which was used as a substitute in dishes that otherwise required eggs or milk, though the bitter variety came along much later.
At no time during the Middle Ages
was there a completely unified state that incorporated all or even a majority of all German
-speaking peoples. The map was dotted with minor kingdoms, free cities and, in the High
and Late Middle Ages
, the ports controlled by the Hanseatic League
, a powerful trading alliance. Most of these were under the loosely defined suzerainty
of the Holy Roman Empire
. Here the definition of "Germany" is the lands where High and Low German
was spoken, which extended roughly from Alsace
in the west to Silesia
in the east and from the Tyrol
in the south to the Baltic Sea
coast in the north.
Though various forms of dishes consisting of batter or dough cooked in fat, like crêpes, fritter
s and doughnut
s were common in most of Europe, they were especially popular among Germans and known as krapfen (Old High German
: "claw, hook") and were quite similar to the deep fried dough pastries of today. The extensive use of lard
and butter
for cooking and a diet that was perceived as especially fatty gained Germans a reputation as being the "fat Germans". The fasting regulations of the Catholic Church posed particular problems to the German population. Olive
s could not be cultivated and olive oil was an expensive import. Oils made from various nut were available, but in relatively short supply. By far, the most common sources of fat were butter
and, above all, lard
. The price of fish was generally higher, and while it was unaffordable to most people for most of the time, the need to use fish for fasting days could mean considerable increases in expenses for the wealthier households. Mustard was used in other parts of Europe long before the Middle Ages, but seemed to be especially common in Germany. A 14th century travel account by Eustache Deschamps
, a French poet, shows his considerable discontent with the German custom of smearing generous amounts of mustard on just about every type of meat.
It was rare that recipes for use in dire situations were included in recipe collections, but one example from a cookbook in Low German has been preserved. It gives instructions for a wartime stew consisting of any available greens and vegetables to be boiled in animal stomachs or intestines, an effective method in situations where no proper kitchenware would be available. In the First Margrave War
, the city of Nuremberg
was able to feed its citizens properly and still emerge victorious through careful planning, extensive stockpiling of grain and meat and strict control of prices by the town council.
(often made into kasza
, a type of porridge) and wheat
. Barley
and oats
were cultivated, but used mostly as animal feed or for brewing beer
. Cabbage
(especially as sauerkraut
), kale
, pea
s, broad beans, and onion
s were the most common vegetables. Dill
and mustard
were almost ubiquitous potherbs and parsley
was used as a leafy green in stews, as a flavor additive, and applied as a coloring agent in dishes for the upper classes. Beef
, pork
and poultry
(primarily chicken
) were the most common meats, with the occasional appearance of mutton and lamb. Game
, as elsewhere, was highly prized, but in short supply and usually limited to the high nobility, as hunting licenses were controlled by land owners. Fish was a staple, but unlike Germans, Poles tended only to eat it on fast days when meat was forbidden by the church.
Beer
was drunk by all social classes, and came in many different varieties and made from millet, wheat, barley, rye or oats sometimes in combination. Wheat beer
was the most common. Labrador tea
, a mildly toxic herb, was often used as an ingredient to increase intoxication. It was mixed with hops
and then added to a barley and wheat beer to produce what was called "thick beer". Though often believed to be a common Slavic drink, mead
was fairly expensive and primarily enjoyed at wedding
s and baptismal parties, though always overshadowed by the ever-present beer. It had a high standing as a ceremonial drink and used when arranging alliances and closing contracts. Wine
was generally quite expensive and was enjoyed mostly by the nobility. Although there is evidence of a few vineyard
s in Poland, almost all wine had to be imported.
A large variety of breads, like obwarzanki were sold by vendors in Krakow
as early as the 14th century and placki, flat cakes, came in a surprising number of varieties, including one variety with an apple
topping, reminiscent of pizza
. German bakers operating in Polish towns had much influence. Krepels (from German Krapfen
, "claw; hook") were fried pastries with a cheese filling served with strawberries
or other fruit, and resembled a modern empanada
.
of the Early and High Middle Ages before the Norman conquest
in 1066
. Ale
was the drink of choice of both commoners and nobles, and the known dishes included various stews, simple broth
s, and soup
s. The level of refinement was low, and international influence fairly insignificant. This all changed in the 11th century after the Norman invasion. With the invaders came a new and less provincial gentry, and new eating habits, especially for the nobility. While traditional British cooking today is not regarded with high esteem internationally, the Medieval Anglo-Norman cooks were considerably more refined and more cosmopolitan. It has previously been believed that the Anglo-Norman cuisine was mostly similar to that of France, but recent study has shown that many recipes had unique English traits. This was based partly on the different available foodstuffs on the British Isles
, but more due to influence from Arab cuisine
through the Norman conquest of Sicily
. The Arab invaders in the 9th century had cultivated their lifestyle culturally and economically to such a degree that the Norman invaders inherited and adapted many of their habits, including cooking styles. Norman participation in the crusades also brought them into contact with Middle East
ern and Byzantine
cooking.
The subtlety (or entremet
), the fanciful and highly decorative surprise dish used to separate one course from another, was brought to new levels of complexity and refinement by the English chefs. Among the specialties were pommes dorées ("gilded apples"), meatball
s of mutton or chicken
colored with saffron
or a glaze of egg yolk
. The Anglo-Norman variant, pommes d'orange, were flavored and coloured with the juice of bitter orange
s.
and rye
. Barley was the most widely grown, but a great percentage of the harvest went into the extensive beer
production, while rye was the principal bread grain. Like in the rest of Europe, oats
was considered only fit as animal fodder and was only eaten when no other choice was available, and then usually as porridge or gruel. Though grains were in the highest regard among medieval Scandinavians and were among the most frequently mentioned foods, other vegetable foods were an indispensable part of the diet: peas, turnips, beans, carrots, onions, leeks and various greens and herbs all provided essential nutrients and vitamins. Kale
, a form of cabbage
, was especially important in Denmark and Sweden and was a valuable source of fresh food in the winter months, since it kept well and could be harvested (and even tasted better) after the first frost had set in.
Fish was of great importance to most of Scandinavia, and particularly so was the herring
fishing in the Limfjord
and Oresund
. The great shoals of herring migrating from the Atlantic into the Baltic to feed were funnelled through certain narrow points and were caught in huge numbers. The amount of fish caught was more than enough to feed the local population and allowed for huge exports of smoked, and especially salted, fish. Great herring markets were organized in southern Scandinavia, most notably at Skanör
in Scania
, which was in the Middle Ages part of Denmark. From this market alone, merchant vessels of the Hanseatic League
, the powerful medieval confederation of northern German cities, exported upwards of over 100,000 barrels of salted herring during many decades of the Late Middle Ages. Of equal, or even greater importance was cod
, often fished on the North Sea and Atlantic, dried to make stockfish
, and imported as an important staple, particularly during fast and Lent. Many freshwater fish were also of great dietary or economic importance, such as salmon, eel, pike and bream.
Cattle rearing was very widespread in Scandinavia, especially Denmark, where the Black Death
had left huge field areas untended and well-suited for grazing. The majority of meat produced was consumed by the local population, but an export market for high-grade beef slowly built up after the 1360s, and had by the 17th century reached well over 100,000 animals per year. All this cattle meant not just meat, but also great quantities of dairy products, which consisted mostly of soured milk drinks, various cheeses and, also a major export product, butter
.
Northern French cuisine had many similarities to the Anglo-Norman French
across the channel
, but also had its own specialties. Typical of the Northern French kitchen were the potage
s and broth
s, and French chefs excelled in the preparation of meat, fish, roasts
, and the sauces that were considered appropriate to each dish. The use of dough
and pastry
, which was fairly popular in Britain at the time, was almost completely absent from recipe collections with the exception of a few pie
s. Nor were there any forms of dumpling
s or the fritter
s that were so popular in Central Europe
. A common Northern French habit was to name dishes after famous and often exotic places and people.
A specialty among finer French chefs was the preparation of so-called parti-colored dishes. These mimicked the late medieval fashion of wearing clothing with two colors contrasting one another on either side of the garment, a fashion that survived in the costumes of court jesters. The common Western European "white dish" (blanc manger) had a northern French variant where one side was colored bright red or blue. Another recipe in Du fait de cuisine
from 1420 described an entremet consisting of a roasted boar
's head with one half colored green and the other golden yellow.
influence on the entire Mediterranean region
was so considerable that to this day, the basic food in most of the region is still wheat
bread, olive
s, olive oil
, wine
, cheese
, and the occasional piece of meat or fish. The territories from the Atlantic to the Italian Peninsula
, and especially the Catalan
and Occitan-speaking areas were closely interrelated culturally and politically. The Muslim
conquest of Sicily
and southern Spain
was highly influential on the cuisine by introducing new plants like lemon
s, pomegranate
s, eggplants and spices such as saffron
. The coloring of food and many other cooking techniques were passed on by the Arab invaders to their European possessions and were gradually spread to regions further north.
has a highly varied geography with a central Meseta, a vast, flat plateau, surrounded on all sides by mountain ranges and cut off from the rest of Europe by the Pyrenees
. This meant that several distinct cultures co-existed on the peninsula with several unique cuisines. Since Ancient times it had been a colony of several Mediterranean
cultures. The Phoenicia
ns introduced the cultivation of olive
s and the Greeks
brought the Malvasia
grape, founding a wine industry that would become renowned in the Middle Ages. But it was the Roman Empire
, of which the peninsula was the westernmost outpost, that had the biggest impact on Iberian cuisine. After the collapse of Roman rule, Visigoth
ic invaders conquered most of the modern day Spain and Portugal in the 5th century. The Visigoths took on many Roman customs, like the focus on vegetables, and used Latin
for official purposes. But it was the invasions of North African Muslims and the establishment of Al-Andalus
that gave Iberian cuisine its unique nature. The Muslims brought with them the highly refined cuisine influenced by Arab courts in the Middle East. The center of this Arab civilization was Baghdad
, at the time one of the largest cities in the world. The new rulers introduced many new customs and foodstuffs; goblet
s made of glass
rather than metal, savory meat dishes cooked with fruit, spices and herbs like cinnamon, mastic
, caraway
, sesame
and mint
and the use of ground almonds or rice as thickeners and a fondness for adding tangy liquids like verjuice
, tamarind
and the juice of bitter oranges to produce a distinctly sweet-sour taste. The impact can clearly be seen in the multitude of Arab loanwords in Spanish
; naranja "orange", azúcar ("sugar"), alcachofa ("artichoke"), azafrán ("saffron") and espinaca ("spinach"), many of which eventually spread to other languages in Europe. The Spanish Muslims established the sequences of dishes which was to permeate the entire continent and which is still forms the basis for many modern European meals; soup followed by meat dishes and finished off with sweets. It also believed that escabeche
, a vinegar-based dish, could very well be of Arab-Persian origin, though this has been contested.
One of the earliest medieval cookbooks in a language other than Latin
was Libre de Sent Soví ("The Book of Saint Sophia
"), written in Catalan
around 1324. A majority of its recipes call for bitter oranges, rose water and cider to achieve the popular tangy flavor of late medieval cuisine. It contains many fish recipes, but surprisingly enough, no mention of shellfish
, which must have been one of the major food sources in the Catalan coastal regions. The highly influential Libre del Coch, in Catalan as well, was published in a printed edition in 1520, but is assumed to have been written no later than 1490. The typical medieval white dish (manjar blanco
) seems to have appeared first in Catalonia in the 8th century and eventually evolved into a type of sweet pudding. While poorly represented in cookbooks, the most common food for the general population, other than the regular staples of bread, wine, garlic, onion and olive oil, included eggs, lamb, beef, kid and bacon.
The Jewish population of Al-Andalus, the Sephardic Jews
, developed their cuisine
in close contact with Christians and Muslims. Influences went in both directions and lasted even after the expulsions and forced conversions of the Jewish population that followed the Reconquista
. Among the specialties was adafina (from Arabic
al dafina "the buried treasure"), a meat dish that was prepared by burying it in hot coals on the day before the Shabbat
. Jewish fish pie dishes have survived in Spanish cuisine
as empanadas de pescado.
The lucrative Mediterrenean trade in spice
s, silk
and other luxuries from Africa
and Asia
were shipped on the galleys of the powerful city-state
s of Genoa
, Venice
and Florence
, making them phenomenally rich. Medieval Italy
, meaning primarily the northern Italian Peninsula
, was one of the few regions in medieval Europe where the distinction between nobility and prosperous commoners were more or less irrelevant, the result of a significant, rich and self-conscious middle class
. This meant that the level of culinary refinement and diversity was especially great when compared to the rest of the continent. Italian cuisine was, and still is, better described as a multitude of highly varied regional cuisines, each with long traditions and their own specialties. Italian dishes can therefore be considered either traditional or imported. Being the hub of a vast trade network meant that there was greater access to foreign luxuries to influence the local cooking. Still, there was a great deal of conservatism and in general far more of local Italian foodstuffs were exported to the New World
than the other way around, though the impact of important products such as vanilla
, corn
, kidney beans, and of course, the tomato
, which had a considerable impact on the cooking south of Naples
, even if this transition took some time.
Many Italian staples and internationally recognized favorites were invented and refined during the Late Middle Ages and the early Renaissance; pasta
was on everyone's dinner plate by the 13th century, though it was commonly made out of rice
flour rather than durum wheat; pizza
, the medieval Italian term for "pie", and torte
s came in many varieties with a wide range of toppings, ranging from marzipan
, and custard
s to chicken, eel, or even hemp
; polenta
made from French green lentils or barley
; risotto; and a myriad of local or regional variants of sausage
and cheese
which was eaten by more or less everyone. As early as the Middle Ages, the cheeses, in particular, appear to have been highly specialized, from a fresh Tuscan to an aged Milanese from Tadesca, wrapped and shipped in tree bark. Medieval Italians also used eggs to a higher degree than many other regions, and the recipe collections describe herb omelettes (herboletos) and frittata
s. Grapes as tasty morsels and lemons as a cooking ingredient was ubiquitous and, of course, olive oil of every conceivable kind was the cooking fat of choice in all regions, including the north, for dressing salads, frying, seasoning, marinading and preserving meats.
, had far more in common with Italian and Catalan
cooking than with northern French cuisine. Ingredients that distinguished southern cooking included sugar
, walnut oil
, chickpeas, pomegranate
s and lemon
s, all of which were grown locally. While pomegranate seeds were occasionally used to decorate dishes in France and England, flavoring dishes with pomegranate juice
was a practice unique to the Occitan areas. The use of butter
and lard
was rare, salted meat
for frying was common, and the preferred methods of cooking tended to be dry roasting, frying, or baking. For the latter, a trapa, a portable oven that was filled with food and buried in hot ashes, was often used.
Dishes still common today, like escabeche
, a vinegar-based dish, and aillade (aioli
), a garlic
sauce (still made in Toulouse with walnut oil), were well-established in the Late Middle Ages. Evidence of influence from Muslim Spain can be found in recipes for matafeam, a Christian version of the originally Hispano-Jewish Shabbat
stew adafina, but with pork rather than lamb. And, Raymonia (Occitan; Ital: Romania) is based on the Arabic Rummaniya, a chicken bruet with pomegranate juice, ground almonds, and sugar. Only one recipe collection is positively identified as being from southern France. The Modus viaticorum preparandorum et salsarum is a collection of 51 recipes. It was written ca. 1380-90 in Latin
with occasional words in Occitan. The Modus contains a Salsa de cerpol (Wild thyme sauce) and a Cofiment anguille (Confit of eel), which appear nowhere else but in Occitania.
A cookery book from northern Europe may have originated in Provence. Known from its incipit as Libellus de arte coquinaria, it is the Codex K version of the Harpestraeng Cookbook, which is part of a collection of medical papers written by, or belonging to, Dr. Henrik Harpestraeng. It is currently housed in the Royal Library of Copenhagen (Ny samling Nr. 66, 8 vo.). Food historian Dr. Rudolf Grewe proposed a NW Mediterranean origin for this book based on the recipes and their ingredients, such as saffron. Since Harpestraeng studied medicine in Provence, probably at Montpellier, he may have obtained the book during that time. Harpestraeng may have brought the book to Denmark, where he was the physician to King Valdemar II. Codex K is believed to have been copied into Danish from an earlier Low German original, or copy. This would have happened before 1244, the year Harpestraeng died. If so, Libellus de arte coquinaria is the earliest Western European cookery book, since Apicius
' De re coquinaria.
Some dietary details have been extrapolated from Vatican
archives from 1305–78 when Avignon
was the seat of the Avignon Papacy
. Though the lifestyles of the papal courts could often be very luxurious, the Vatican account books of the daily alms
given to the poor describe some of what lower class food in the region was like. The food that was handed out to the needing consisted mainly of bread, legumes, and some wine. These were occasionally supplemented with cheese, fish, olive oil and meat of low quality.
Montpellier
, located on in Languedoc
only a few miles from the coast, was a major center for trade, education in medicine, and was famous for its espices de chamber or "parlor confections", a term for sweets such as candied aniseed and ginger. The confectionery from the town was so renowned that its market value
was twice as high as that of similar products from other towns. Montpellier was also well-known for its spices and the wines with which they were flavored, like the ubiquitous hypocras
.
empire. Inherited from Greek traditions was the use of olive
s and olive oil
, wheat bread, and plenty of fish. These would very often be served or prepared with garós, the Greek term for garum
, a sauce made out of fermented fish
that was so popular that it more or less replaced salt
as the common food flavoring. The Byzantine kitchen was also influenced by Arab cuisine
from which it imported the use of eggplants and orange
s. Seafood
was very popular and included tuna
, lobster
, mussel
s, oyster
s, murena
, and carp
. Around the 11th century the habit of eating roe
and caviar
was also imported from the Black Sea
region. Dairy products were consumed in the form of cheese
(particularly feta
), and nuts and fruits such as dates, fig
s, grape
s, pomegranate
s, and apple
s. The choice of meats were lamb, and several wild animals like gazelle
s, wild ass
es, and suckling young in general. Meat was often salted, smoked or dried. Wine was popular, like elsewhere around the Mediterranean, and it was the drink of choice among the higher social classes, where sweet wines like Muscat
or Malmsey were popular. Among the lower classes, the common drink tended to be vinegar
mixed with water. Like all Christian societies the Byzantines had to abide by the dietary restrictions of the church
, which meant avoiding meats (and preferably general excesses) on Wednesdays and Fridays and during fast and Lent
.
The Byzantine empire also became quite famous for its desserts, which included biscuits, rice pudding
, quince
marmalade
, rose sugar and many types of non-alcoholic beverages. The most common sweetener was honey
, with sugar
extracted from sugar cane being reserved for those who could afford it.
The food of the lower classes was mostly vegetarian and limited to olives, fruit, onion
s, and the occasional piece of cheese
, or stew
s made from cabbage
and salted pork
. The standard meal of a shoemaker was described in a Byzantine poem, one of the Prodromic Poems, as consisting of some cooked foods and an omelette followed by hot salted pork with an unspecified garlic
dish.
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
, northern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, the Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
, the northern German-speaking areas, Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
and the Baltic
Baltic states
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
the climate was generally too harsh for the cultivation of grape
Grape
A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...
s and olive
Olive
The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...
s. In the south, wine was the common drink for both rich and poor alike (though the commoner usually had to settle for cheap second pressing wine) while beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
was the commoner's drink in the north and wine an expensive import. Citrus fruits (though not the kinds most common today) and pomegranate
Pomegranate
The pomegranate , Punica granatum, is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing between five and eight meters tall.Native to the area of modern day Iran, the pomegranate has been cultivated in the Caucasus since ancient times. From there it spread to Asian areas such as the Caucasus as...
s were common around in the Mediterranean. Dried fig
Ficus
Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes, and hemiepiphyte in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The Common Fig Ficus is a genus of...
s and date
Date Palm
The date palm is a palm in the genus Phoenix, cultivated for its edible sweet fruit. Although its place of origin is unknown because of long cultivation, it probably originated from lands around the Persian Gulf. It is a medium-sized plant, 15–25 m tall, growing singly or forming a clump with...
s occurred quite frequently in the north, but were used rather sparingly in cooking.
Olive oil
Olive oil
Olive oil is an oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps...
was among the ubiquitous ingredients around the Mediterranean, but remained an expensive import in the north where oil of poppy
Poppy
A poppy is one of a group of a flowering plants in the poppy family, many of which are grown in gardens for their colorful flowers. Poppies are sometimes used for symbolic reasons, such as in remembrance of soldiers who have died during wartime....
, walnut, hazel and filbert was the most affordable alternative. Butter and lard, especially after the terrible blood-letting of the population during the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
, was used in considerable quantities in the northern and northwestern regions, especially in the Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
. Almost universal in middle and upper class cooking all over Europe was the almond
Almond
The almond , is a species of tree native to the Middle East and South Asia. Almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree...
, which was in the ubiquitous and highly versatile almond milk
Almond milk
Almond milk is a milky drink made from ground almonds. Unlike animal milk, almond milk contains no cholesterol or lactose. Regular, unsweetened almond milk can be used as a substitute for animal milk in many recipes, and as it does not contain any animal products, is suitable for vegetarians and...
, which was used as a substitute in dishes that otherwise required eggs or milk, though the bitter variety came along much later.
Germany
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
was there a completely unified state that incorporated all or even a majority of all German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
-speaking peoples. The map was dotted with minor kingdoms, free cities and, in the High
High Middle Ages
The High Middle Ages was the period of European history around the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries . The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which by convention end around 1500....
and Late Middle Ages
Late Middle Ages
The Late Middle Ages was the period of European history generally comprising the 14th to the 16th century . The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern era ....
, the ports controlled by the Hanseatic League
Hanseatic League
The Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe...
, a powerful trading alliance. Most of these were under the loosely defined suzerainty
Suzerainty
Suzerainty occurs where a region or people is a tributary to a more powerful entity which controls its foreign affairs while allowing the tributary vassal state some limited domestic autonomy. The dominant entity in the suzerainty relationship, or the more powerful entity itself, is called a...
of the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
. Here the definition of "Germany" is the lands where High and Low German
Low German
Low German or Low Saxon is an Ingvaeonic West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands...
was spoken, which extended roughly from Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
in the west to Silesia
Silesia
Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
in the east and from the Tyrol
German Tyrol
German Tyrol is a historical region in the Alps now divided between Austria and Italy. It includes largely ethnic German areas of historical County of Tyrol: the Austrian state of Tyrol and the province of South Tyrol but not the largely Italian-speaking province of Trentino .-History:German...
in the south to the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
coast in the north.
Though various forms of dishes consisting of batter or dough cooked in fat, like crêpes, fritter
Fritter
A fritter is any kind of food coated in batter and deep fried. Although very similar to a doughnut it differs in the fact that it requires some base ingredient beyond the dough it is cooked with.-Anglo-American fritters:...
s and doughnut
Doughnut
A doughnut or donut is a fried dough food and is popular in many countries and prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franchised specialty outlets...
s were common in most of Europe, they were especially popular among Germans and known as krapfen (Old High German
Old High German
The term Old High German refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of...
: "claw, hook") and were quite similar to the deep fried dough pastries of today. The extensive use of lard
Lard
Lard is pig fat in both its rendered and unrendered forms. Lard was commonly used in many cuisines as a cooking fat or shortening, or as a spread similar to butter. Its use in contemporary cuisine has diminished because of health concerns posed by its saturated-fat content and its often negative...
and butter
Butter
Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...
for cooking and a diet that was perceived as especially fatty gained Germans a reputation as being the "fat Germans". The fasting regulations of the Catholic Church posed particular problems to the German population. Olive
Olive
The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...
s could not be cultivated and olive oil was an expensive import. Oils made from various nut were available, but in relatively short supply. By far, the most common sources of fat were butter
Butter
Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...
and, above all, lard
Lard
Lard is pig fat in both its rendered and unrendered forms. Lard was commonly used in many cuisines as a cooking fat or shortening, or as a spread similar to butter. Its use in contemporary cuisine has diminished because of health concerns posed by its saturated-fat content and its often negative...
. The price of fish was generally higher, and while it was unaffordable to most people for most of the time, the need to use fish for fasting days could mean considerable increases in expenses for the wealthier households. Mustard was used in other parts of Europe long before the Middle Ages, but seemed to be especially common in Germany. A 14th century travel account by Eustache Deschamps
Eustache Deschamps
Eustache Deschamps was a medieval French poet, also known as Eustache Morel . Born at Vertus, in Champagne, he received lessons in versification from Guillaume de Machaut and later studied law at Orleans University. He then traveled through Europe as a diplomatic messenger for Charles V...
, a French poet, shows his considerable discontent with the German custom of smearing generous amounts of mustard on just about every type of meat.
It was rare that recipes for use in dire situations were included in recipe collections, but one example from a cookbook in Low German has been preserved. It gives instructions for a wartime stew consisting of any available greens and vegetables to be boiled in animal stomachs or intestines, an effective method in situations where no proper kitchenware would be available. In the First Margrave War
First Margrave War
The First Margrave War from 1449–50 was the result of disputes between the Imperial City of Nuremberg and Albert III Achilles, margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach. Numerous towns in Franconia in modern Germany were badly affected by the war....
, the city of Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
was able to feed its citizens properly and still emerge victorious through careful planning, extensive stockpiling of grain and meat and strict control of prices by the town council.
Poland
The most common grains in Poland were milletMillet
The millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal crops or grains, widely grown around the world for food and fodder. They do not form a taxonomic group, but rather a functional or agronomic one. Their essential similarities are that they are small-seeded grasses grown in difficult...
(often made into kasza
Kasha
Kasha is a cereal commonly eaten in Eastern Europe. In English, kasha generally refers to buckwheat groats, but in Slavic countries, kasha refers to porridge in general and can be made from any cereal, especially buckwheat, wheat, barley, oats, millet, and rye...
, a type of porridge) and wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
. Barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...
and oats
OATS
OATS - Open Source Assistive Technology Software - is a source code repository or "forge" for assistive technology software. It was launched in 2006 with the goal to provide a one-stop “shop” for end users, clinicians and open-source developers to promote and develop open source assistive...
were cultivated, but used mostly as animal feed or for brewing beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
. Cabbage
Cabbage
Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae and is a leafy green vegetable...
(especially as sauerkraut
Sauerkraut
Sauerkraut , directly translated from German: "sour cabbage", is finely shredded cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria, including Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus. It has a long shelf-life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid...
), kale
Kale
Kale is very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein, zeaxanthin, and reasonably rich in calcium. Kale, as with broccoli and other brassicas, contains sulforaphane , a chemical with potent anti-cancer properties. Boiling decreases the level of sulforaphane; however, steaming,...
, pea
Pea
A pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the pod fruit Pisum sativum. Each pod contains several peas. Peapods are botanically a fruit, since they contain seeds developed from the ovary of a flower. However, peas are considered to be a vegetable in cooking...
s, broad beans, and onion
Onion
The onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion...
s were the most common vegetables. Dill
Dill
Dill is a perennial herb. It is the sole species of the genus Anethum, though classified by some botanists in a related genus as Peucedanum graveolens C.B.Clarke.-Growth:...
and mustard
Mustard plant
Mustards are several plant species in the genera Brassica and Sinapis whose small mustard seeds are used as a spice and, by grinding and mixing them with water, vinegar or other liquids, are turned into the condiment known as mustard or prepared mustard...
were almost ubiquitous potherbs and parsley
Parsley
Parsley is a species of Petroselinum in the family Apiaceae, native to the central Mediterranean region , naturalized elsewhere in Europe, and widely cultivated as an herb, a spice and a vegetable.- Description :Garden parsley is a bright green hairless biennial herbaceous plant in temperate...
was used as a leafy green in stews, as a flavor additive, and applied as a coloring agent in dishes for the upper classes. Beef
Beef
Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle. Beef can be harvested from cows, bulls, heifers or steers. It is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of the Middle East , Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Europe and the United States, and is also important in...
, pork
Pork
Pork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig , which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC....
and poultry
Poultry
Poultry are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of producing eggs, meat, and/or feathers. These most typically are members of the superorder Galloanserae , especially the order Galliformes and the family Anatidae , commonly known as "waterfowl"...
(primarily chicken
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
) were the most common meats, with the occasional appearance of mutton and lamb. Game
Game
A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...
, as elsewhere, was highly prized, but in short supply and usually limited to the high nobility, as hunting licenses were controlled by land owners. Fish was a staple, but unlike Germans, Poles tended only to eat it on fast days when meat was forbidden by the church.
Beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
was drunk by all social classes, and came in many different varieties and made from millet, wheat, barley, rye or oats sometimes in combination. Wheat beer
Wheat beer
Wheat beer is a beer that is brewed with a large proportion of wheat. Wheat beers often also contain a significant proportion of malted barley. Wheat beers are usually top-fermented...
was the most common. Labrador tea
Labrador tea
Labrador tea is a name commonly applied to three closely related species:* Rhododendron tomentosum ,...
, a mildly toxic herb, was often used as an ingredient to increase intoxication. It was mixed with hops
Hops
Hops are the female flower clusters , of a hop species, Humulus lupulus. They are used primarily as a flavoring and stability agent in beer, to which they impart a bitter, tangy flavor, though hops are also used for various purposes in other beverages and herbal medicine...
and then added to a barley and wheat beer to produce what was called "thick beer". Though often believed to be a common Slavic drink, mead
Mead
Mead , also called honey wine, is an alcoholic beverage that is produced by fermenting a solution of honey and water. It may also be produced by fermenting a solution of water and honey with grain mash, which is strained immediately after fermentation...
was fairly expensive and primarily enjoyed at wedding
Wedding
A wedding is the ceremony in which two people are united in marriage or a similar institution. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes...
s and baptismal parties, though always overshadowed by the ever-present beer. It had a high standing as a ceremonial drink and used when arranging alliances and closing contracts. Wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
was generally quite expensive and was enjoyed mostly by the nobility. Although there is evidence of a few vineyard
Vineyard
A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...
s in Poland, almost all wine had to be imported.
A large variety of breads, like obwarzanki were sold by vendors in Krakow
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
as early as the 14th century and placki, flat cakes, came in a surprising number of varieties, including one variety with an apple
Apple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
topping, reminiscent of pizza
Pizza
Pizza is an oven-baked, flat, disc-shaped bread typically topped with a tomato sauce, cheese and various toppings.Originating in Italy, from the Neapolitan cuisine, the dish has become popular in many parts of the world. An establishment that makes and sells pizzas is called a "pizzeria"...
. German bakers operating in Polish towns had much influence. Krepels (from German Krapfen
Berliner (pastry)
A Berliner Pfannkuchen is a predominantly...
, "claw; hook") were fried pastries with a cheese filling served with strawberries
Strawberry
Fragaria is a genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, commonly known as strawberries for their edible fruits. Although it is commonly thought that strawberries get their name from straw being used as a mulch in cultivating the plants, the etymology of the word is uncertain. There...
or other fruit, and resembled a modern empanada
Empanada
An empanada is a stuffed bread or pastry baked or fried in many countries in Latin America, Southern Europe and parts of Southeast Asia. The name comes from the verb empanar, meaning to wrap or coat in bread. Empanada is made by folding a dough or bread patty around the stuffing...
.
Britain
Relatively little is known about the eating habits of the Anglo-SaxonsAnglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
of the Early and High Middle Ages before the Norman conquest
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
in 1066
Battle of Hastings
The Battle of Hastings occurred on 14 October 1066 during the Norman conquest of England, between the Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy and the English army under King Harold II...
. Ale
Ale
Ale is a type of beer brewed from malted barley using a warm fermentation with a strain of brewers' yeast. The yeast will ferment the beer quickly, giving it a sweet, full bodied and fruity taste...
was the drink of choice of both commoners and nobles, and the known dishes included various stews, simple broth
Broth
Broth is a liquid food preparation, typically consisting of either water or an already flavored stock, in which bones, meat, fish, cereal grains, or vegetables have been simmered. Broth is used as a basis for other edible liquids such as soup, gravy, or sauce. It can be eaten alone or with garnish...
s, and soup
Soup
Soup is a generally warm food that is made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables with stock, juice, water, or another liquid. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingredients in liquids in a pot until the flavors are extracted, forming a broth.Traditionally,...
s. The level of refinement was low, and international influence fairly insignificant. This all changed in the 11th century after the Norman invasion. With the invaders came a new and less provincial gentry, and new eating habits, especially for the nobility. While traditional British cooking today is not regarded with high esteem internationally, the Medieval Anglo-Norman cooks were considerably more refined and more cosmopolitan. It has previously been believed that the Anglo-Norman cuisine was mostly similar to that of France, but recent study has shown that many recipes had unique English traits. This was based partly on the different available foodstuffs on the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
, but more due to influence from Arab cuisine
Arab cuisine
Arab cuisine is defined as the various regional cuisines spanning the Arab World, from Morocco and Tunisia to Saudi Arabia, and incorporating Levantine, Egyptian .-History:...
through the Norman conquest of Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
. The Arab invaders in the 9th century had cultivated their lifestyle culturally and economically to such a degree that the Norman invaders inherited and adapted many of their habits, including cooking styles. Norman participation in the crusades also brought them into contact with Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
ern and Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
cooking.
The subtlety (or entremet
Entremet
An entremet is in modern French cuisine a small dish served between courses or simply a dessert. Originally it was an elaborate form of entertainment dish common among the nobility and upper middle class in Western Europe during the later part of the Middle Ages and the early modern period...
), the fanciful and highly decorative surprise dish used to separate one course from another, was brought to new levels of complexity and refinement by the English chefs. Among the specialties were pommes dorées ("gilded apples"), meatball
Meatball
A meatball is made from an amount of ground meat rolled into a small ball, sometimes along with other ingredients, such as breadcrumbs, minced onion, spices, and possibly eggs...
s of mutton or chicken
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
colored with saffron
Saffron
Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the saffron crocus. Crocus is a genus in the family Iridaceae. Each saffron crocus grows to and bears up to four flowers, each with three vivid crimson stigmas, which are each the distal end of a carpel...
or a glaze of egg yolk
Egg yolk
An egg yolk is a part of an egg which feeds the developing embryo. The egg yolk is suspended in the egg white by one or two spiral bands of tissue called the chalazae...
. The Anglo-Norman variant, pommes d'orange, were flavored and coloured with the juice of bitter orange
Bitter orange
The name "bitter orange", also known as Seville orange, sour orange, bigarade orange, and marmalade orange, refers to a citrus tree and its fruit. Many varieties of bitter orange are used for their essential oil, which is used in perfume and as a flavoring...
s.
Scandinavia
The climate in the far north of Europe made cultivation of cereals even more difficult, and the wheat so popular in the south was a luxury. Wheat could cost at least twice as much as the most common grains, barleyBarley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...
and rye
Rye
Rye is a grass grown extensively as a grain and as a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe and is closely related to barley and wheat. Rye grain is used for flour, rye bread, rye beer, some whiskeys, some vodkas, and animal fodder...
. Barley was the most widely grown, but a great percentage of the harvest went into the extensive beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
production, while rye was the principal bread grain. Like in the rest of Europe, oats
OATS
OATS - Open Source Assistive Technology Software - is a source code repository or "forge" for assistive technology software. It was launched in 2006 with the goal to provide a one-stop “shop” for end users, clinicians and open-source developers to promote and develop open source assistive...
was considered only fit as animal fodder and was only eaten when no other choice was available, and then usually as porridge or gruel. Though grains were in the highest regard among medieval Scandinavians and were among the most frequently mentioned foods, other vegetable foods were an indispensable part of the diet: peas, turnips, beans, carrots, onions, leeks and various greens and herbs all provided essential nutrients and vitamins. Kale
Kale
Kale is very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein, zeaxanthin, and reasonably rich in calcium. Kale, as with broccoli and other brassicas, contains sulforaphane , a chemical with potent anti-cancer properties. Boiling decreases the level of sulforaphane; however, steaming,...
, a form of cabbage
Cabbage
Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae and is a leafy green vegetable...
, was especially important in Denmark and Sweden and was a valuable source of fresh food in the winter months, since it kept well and could be harvested (and even tasted better) after the first frost had set in.
Fish was of great importance to most of Scandinavia, and particularly so was the herring
Herring
Herring is an oily fish of the genus Clupea, found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Three species of Clupea are recognized. The main taxa, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring may each be divided into subspecies...
fishing in the Limfjord
Limfjord
The Limfjord is a shallow sound in Denmark that separates the island of Vendsyssel-Thy from the rest of the Jutland Peninsula. It extends from Thyborøn Channel on the North Sea to Hals on the Kattegat. It is approximately 180 kilometres long and of an irregular shape with several bays, narrowings,...
and Oresund
Oresund
The Sound , is the strait that separates the Danish island Zealand from the southern Swedish province of Scania. Its width is just at the narrowest point between Helsingør, Denmark, and Helsingborg, Sweden...
. The great shoals of herring migrating from the Atlantic into the Baltic to feed were funnelled through certain narrow points and were caught in huge numbers. The amount of fish caught was more than enough to feed the local population and allowed for huge exports of smoked, and especially salted, fish. Great herring markets were organized in southern Scandinavia, most notably at Skanör
Skanör
Skanör is a town in Vellinge Municipality and part of the conurbation Skanör med Falsterbo in southwestern Scania, Sweden. City facilities include hotels, restaurants, a harbour, an old church and an elementary school. A greenbelt called Skanörs vångar will be a new residential area in Skanör.-The...
in Scania
Scania
Scania is the southernmost of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden, constituting a peninsula on the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, and some adjacent islands. The modern administrative subdivision Skåne County is almost, but not totally, congruent with the...
, which was in the Middle Ages part of Denmark. From this market alone, merchant vessels of the Hanseatic League
Hanseatic League
The Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe...
, the powerful medieval confederation of northern German cities, exported upwards of over 100,000 barrels of salted herring during many decades of the Late Middle Ages. Of equal, or even greater importance was cod
Cod
Cod is the common name for genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae, and is also used in the common name for various other fishes. Cod is a popular food with a mild flavor, low fat content and a dense, flaky white flesh. Cod livers are processed to make cod liver oil, an important source of...
, often fished on the North Sea and Atlantic, dried to make stockfish
Stockfish
Stockfish is unsalted fish, especially cod, dried by cold air and wind on wooden racks on the foreshore, called "hjell". The drying of food is the world's oldest known preservation method, and dried fish has a storage life of several years...
, and imported as an important staple, particularly during fast and Lent. Many freshwater fish were also of great dietary or economic importance, such as salmon, eel, pike and bream.
Cattle rearing was very widespread in Scandinavia, especially Denmark, where the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
had left huge field areas untended and well-suited for grazing. The majority of meat produced was consumed by the local population, but an export market for high-grade beef slowly built up after the 1360s, and had by the 17th century reached well over 100,000 animals per year. All this cattle meant not just meat, but also great quantities of dairy products, which consisted mostly of soured milk drinks, various cheeses and, also a major export product, butter
Butter
Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...
.
Northern France
Anglo-Norman language
Anglo-Norman is the name traditionally given to the kind of Old Norman used in England and to some extent elsewhere in the British Isles during the Anglo-Norman period....
across the channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
, but also had its own specialties. Typical of the Northern French kitchen were the potage
Potage
Potage is a category of thick soups, stews, or porridges, in some of which meat and vegetables are boiled together with water until they form into a thick mush.-History:...
s and broth
Broth
Broth is a liquid food preparation, typically consisting of either water or an already flavored stock, in which bones, meat, fish, cereal grains, or vegetables have been simmered. Broth is used as a basis for other edible liquids such as soup, gravy, or sauce. It can be eaten alone or with garnish...
s, and French chefs excelled in the preparation of meat, fish, roasts
Roasting
Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat, whether an open flame, oven, or other heat source. Roasting usually causes caramelization or Maillard browning of the surface of the food, which is considered by some as a flavor enhancement. Roasting uses more indirect, diffused heat , and is...
, and the sauces that were considered appropriate to each dish. The use of dough
Dough
Dough is a paste made out of any cereals or leguminous crops by mixing flour with a small amount of water and/or other liquid. This process is a precursor to making a wide variety of foodstuffs, particularly breads and bread-based items , flatbreads, noodles, pastry, and similar items)...
and pastry
Pastry
Pastry is the name given to various kinds of baked products made from ingredients such as flour, sugar, milk, butter, shortening, baking powder and/or eggs. Small cakes, tarts and other sweet baked products are called "pastries."...
, which was fairly popular in Britain at the time, was almost completely absent from recipe collections with the exception of a few pie
Pie
A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients....
s. Nor were there any forms of dumpling
Dumpling
Dumplings are cooked balls of dough. They are based on flour, potatoes or bread, and may include meat, fish, vegetables, or sweets. They may be cooked by boiling, steaming, simmering, frying, or baking. They may have a filling, or there may be other ingredients mixed into the dough. Dumplings may...
s or the fritter
Fritter
A fritter is any kind of food coated in batter and deep fried. Although very similar to a doughnut it differs in the fact that it requires some base ingredient beyond the dough it is cooked with.-Anglo-American fritters:...
s that were so popular in Central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
. A common Northern French habit was to name dishes after famous and often exotic places and people.
A specialty among finer French chefs was the preparation of so-called parti-colored dishes. These mimicked the late medieval fashion of wearing clothing with two colors contrasting one another on either side of the garment, a fashion that survived in the costumes of court jesters. The common Western European "white dish" (blanc manger) had a northern French variant where one side was colored bright red or blue. Another recipe in Du fait de cuisine
Du fait de cuisine
The late medieval cookbook Du fait de cuisine was written in 1420 in part to compete with the court of Burgundy by Maistre Chiquart, master chef of Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy....
from 1420 described an entremet consisting of a roasted boar
Boar
Wild boar, also wild pig, is a species of the pig genus Sus, part of the biological family Suidae. The species includes many subspecies. It is the wild ancestor of the domestic pig, an animal with which it freely hybridises...
's head with one half colored green and the other golden yellow.
Western Mediterranean
RomanRoman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
influence on the entire Mediterranean region
Mediterranean Basin
In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin refers to the lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have a Mediterranean climate, with mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers, which supports characteristic Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub vegetation...
was so considerable that to this day, the basic food in most of the region is still wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
bread, olive
Olive
The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...
s, olive oil
Olive oil
Olive oil is an oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps...
, wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
, cheese
Cheese
Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....
, and the occasional piece of meat or fish. The territories from the Atlantic to the Italian Peninsula
Italian Peninsula
The Italian Peninsula or Apennine Peninsula is one of the three large peninsulas of Southern Europe , spanning from the Po Valley in the north to the central Mediterranean Sea in the south. The peninsula's shape gives it the nickname Lo Stivale...
, and especially the Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
and Occitan-speaking areas were closely interrelated culturally and politically. The Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
conquest of Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
and southern Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
was highly influential on the cuisine by introducing new plants like lemon
Lemon
The lemon is both a small evergreen tree native to Asia, and the tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit. The fruit is used for culinary and non-culinary purposes throughout the world – primarily for its juice, though the pulp and rind are also used, mainly in cooking and baking...
s, pomegranate
Pomegranate
The pomegranate , Punica granatum, is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing between five and eight meters tall.Native to the area of modern day Iran, the pomegranate has been cultivated in the Caucasus since ancient times. From there it spread to Asian areas such as the Caucasus as...
s, eggplants and spices such as saffron
Saffron
Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the saffron crocus. Crocus is a genus in the family Iridaceae. Each saffron crocus grows to and bears up to four flowers, each with three vivid crimson stigmas, which are each the distal end of a carpel...
. The coloring of food and many other cooking techniques were passed on by the Arab invaders to their European possessions and were gradually spread to regions further north.
Iberia
The Iberian PeninsulaIberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
has a highly varied geography with a central Meseta, a vast, flat plateau, surrounded on all sides by mountain ranges and cut off from the rest of Europe by the Pyrenees
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
. This meant that several distinct cultures co-existed on the peninsula with several unique cuisines. Since Ancient times it had been a colony of several Mediterranean
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
cultures. The Phoenicia
Phoenicia
Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
ns introduced the cultivation of olive
Olive
The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...
s and the Greeks
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
brought the Malvasia
Malvasia
Malvasia is a group of wine grape varieties grown historically in the Mediterranean region, Balearic islands, Canary Islands and the island of Madeira, but now grown in many of the winemaking regions of the world...
grape, founding a wine industry that would become renowned in the Middle Ages. But it was the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, of which the peninsula was the westernmost outpost, that had the biggest impact on Iberian cuisine. After the collapse of Roman rule, Visigoth
Visigoth
The Visigoths were one of two main branches of the Goths, the Ostrogoths being the other. These tribes were among the Germans who spread through the late Roman Empire during the Migration Period...
ic invaders conquered most of the modern day Spain and Portugal in the 5th century. The Visigoths took on many Roman customs, like the focus on vegetables, and used Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
for official purposes. But it was the invasions of North African Muslims and the establishment of Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...
that gave Iberian cuisine its unique nature. The Muslims brought with them the highly refined cuisine influenced by Arab courts in the Middle East. The center of this Arab civilization was Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
, at the time one of the largest cities in the world. The new rulers introduced many new customs and foodstuffs; goblet
Chalice (cup)
A chalice is a goblet or footed cup intended to hold a drink. In general religious terms, it is intended for drinking during a ceremony.-Christian:...
s made of glass
Glass
Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...
rather than metal, savory meat dishes cooked with fruit, spices and herbs like cinnamon, mastic
Mastic (plant resin)
Mastic is a resin obtained from the mastic tree . In pharmacies and Nature shops it is called "arabic gum" and "Yemen gum". In Greece it is known as the "tears of Chios," being traditionally produced on that Greek island, and, like other natural resins is produced in "tears" or droplets...
, caraway
Caraway
Caraway also known as meridian fennel, or Persian cumin is a biennial plant in the family Apiaceae, native to western Asia, Europe and Northern Africa....
, sesame
Sesame
Sesame is a flowering plant in the genus Sesamum. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cultivated for its edible seeds, which grow in pods....
and mint
Mentha
Mentha is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae . The species are not clearly distinct and estimates of the number of species varies from 13 to 18. Hybridization between some of the species occurs naturally...
and the use of ground almonds or rice as thickeners and a fondness for adding tangy liquids like verjuice
Verjuice
Verjuice is a very acidic juice made by pressing unripe grapes, crab-apples or other sour fruit. Sometimes lemon or sorrel juice, herbs or spices are added to change the flavour. In the Middle Ages, it was widely used all over Western Europe as an ingredient in sauces, as a condiment, or to...
, tamarind
Tamarind
Tamarind is a tree in the family Fabaceae. The genus Tamarindus is monotypic .-Origin:...
and the juice of bitter oranges to produce a distinctly sweet-sour taste. The impact can clearly be seen in the multitude of Arab loanwords in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
; naranja "orange", azúcar ("sugar"), alcachofa ("artichoke"), azafrán ("saffron") and espinaca ("spinach"), many of which eventually spread to other languages in Europe. The Spanish Muslims established the sequences of dishes which was to permeate the entire continent and which is still forms the basis for many modern European meals; soup followed by meat dishes and finished off with sweets. It also believed that escabeche
Escabeche
Escabeche is a typical Mediterranean cuisine which refers to both a dish of poached or fried fish that is marinated in an acidic mixture before serving, and to the marinade itself...
, a vinegar-based dish, could very well be of Arab-Persian origin, though this has been contested.
One of the earliest medieval cookbooks in a language other than Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
was Libre de Sent Soví ("The Book of Saint Sophia
Hagia Sophia (disambiguation)
Hagia Sophia means either "Holy Wisdom" or "Saint Sophia"...
"), written in Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
around 1324. A majority of its recipes call for bitter oranges, rose water and cider to achieve the popular tangy flavor of late medieval cuisine. It contains many fish recipes, but surprisingly enough, no mention of shellfish
Shellfish
Shellfish is a culinary and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater environments, some kinds are found only in freshwater...
, which must have been one of the major food sources in the Catalan coastal regions. The highly influential Libre del Coch, in Catalan as well, was published in a printed edition in 1520, but is assumed to have been written no later than 1490. The typical medieval white dish (manjar blanco
Manjar Blanco
Manjar blanco is a term used to refer to a variety of delicacies in the Spanish-speaking world. In Spain the term refers to blancmange, a European delicacy found in various parts of the continent as well as the United Kingdom. In the Americas it refers to a sweet, white spread or pastry filling...
) seems to have appeared first in Catalonia in the 8th century and eventually evolved into a type of sweet pudding. While poorly represented in cookbooks, the most common food for the general population, other than the regular staples of bread, wine, garlic, onion and olive oil, included eggs, lamb, beef, kid and bacon.
The Jewish population of Al-Andalus, the Sephardic Jews
Sephardi Jews
Sephardi Jews is a general term referring to the descendants of the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula before their expulsion in the Spanish Inquisition. It can also refer to those who use a Sephardic style of liturgy or would otherwise define themselves in terms of the Jewish customs and...
, developed their cuisine
Jewish cuisine
Jewish Cuisine is a collection of the different cooking traditions of the Jewish people worldwide. It is a diverse cuisine that has evolved over many centuries, shaped by Jewish dietary laws and Jewish Festival and Sabbath traditions...
in close contact with Christians and Muslims. Influences went in both directions and lasted even after the expulsions and forced conversions of the Jewish population that followed the Reconquista
Reconquista
The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...
. Among the specialties was adafina (from Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
al dafina "the buried treasure"), a meat dish that was prepared by burying it in hot coals on the day before the Shabbat
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
. Jewish fish pie dishes have survived in Spanish cuisine
Spanish cuisine
Spanish cuisine consists of a variety of dishes, which stem from differences in geography, culture and climate. It is heavily influenced by seafood available from the waters that surround the country, and reflects the country's deep maritime roots...
as empanadas de pescado.
Italy
Spice
A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark, or vegetative substance used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for flavor, color, or as a preservative that kills harmful bacteria or prevents their growth. It may be used to flavour a dish or to hide other flavours...
s, silk
Silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
and other luxuries from Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
were shipped on the galleys of the powerful city-state
City-state
A city-state is an independent or autonomous entity whose territory consists of a city which is not administered as a part of another local government.-Historical city-states:...
s of Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
, Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
and Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, making them phenomenally rich. Medieval Italy
Italy in the Middle Ages
This is the history of Italy during the Middle Ages.- Transition from Late Antiquity :Italy was invaded by the Visigoths in the 5th century, and Rome was sacked by Alaric in 410. The last Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustus, was deposed in 476 by an Eastern Germanic general, Odoacer...
, meaning primarily the northern Italian Peninsula
Italian Peninsula
The Italian Peninsula or Apennine Peninsula is one of the three large peninsulas of Southern Europe , spanning from the Po Valley in the north to the central Mediterranean Sea in the south. The peninsula's shape gives it the nickname Lo Stivale...
, was one of the few regions in medieval Europe where the distinction between nobility and prosperous commoners were more or less irrelevant, the result of a significant, rich and self-conscious middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
. This meant that the level of culinary refinement and diversity was especially great when compared to the rest of the continent. Italian cuisine was, and still is, better described as a multitude of highly varied regional cuisines, each with long traditions and their own specialties. Italian dishes can therefore be considered either traditional or imported. Being the hub of a vast trade network meant that there was greater access to foreign luxuries to influence the local cooking. Still, there was a great deal of conservatism and in general far more of local Italian foodstuffs were exported to the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
than the other way around, though the impact of important products such as vanilla
Vanilla
Vanilla is a flavoring derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla, primarily from the Mexican species, Flat-leaved Vanilla . The word vanilla derives from the Spanish word "", little pod...
, corn
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
, kidney beans, and of course, the tomato
Tomato
The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...
, which had a considerable impact on the cooking south of Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, even if this transition took some time.
Many Italian staples and internationally recognized favorites were invented and refined during the Late Middle Ages and the early Renaissance; pasta
Pasta
Pasta is a staple food of traditional Italian cuisine, now of worldwide renown. It takes the form of unleavened dough, made in Italy, mostly of durum wheat , water and sometimes eggs. Pasta comes in a variety of different shapes that serve for both decoration and to act as a carrier for the...
was on everyone's dinner plate by the 13th century, though it was commonly made out of rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
flour rather than durum wheat; pizza
Pizza
Pizza is an oven-baked, flat, disc-shaped bread typically topped with a tomato sauce, cheese and various toppings.Originating in Italy, from the Neapolitan cuisine, the dish has become popular in many parts of the world. An establishment that makes and sells pizzas is called a "pizzeria"...
, the medieval Italian term for "pie", and torte
Torte
A torte is a rich, usually multilayered, cake that is filled with buttercreams, mousses, jams or fruits. Ordinarily, the cooled torte is glazed and garnished . A torte is made with little to no flour, but instead with ground nuts or breadcrumbs, as well as sugar, eggs, and flavorings.- Origin...
s came in many varieties with a wide range of toppings, ranging from marzipan
Marzipan
Marzipan is a confection consisting primarily of sugar and almond meal. Persipan is a similar, yet less expensive product, in which the almonds are replaced by apricot or peach kernels...
, and custard
Custard
Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on a cooked mixture of milk or cream and egg yolk. Depending on how much egg or thickener is used, custard may vary in consistency from a thin pouring sauce , to a thick pastry cream used to fill éclairs. The most common custards are used as...
s to chicken, eel, or even hemp
Hemp
Hemp is mostly used as a name for low tetrahydrocannabinol strains of the plant Cannabis sativa, of fiber and/or oilseed varieties. In modern times, hemp has been used for industrial purposes including paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, health food and fuel with modest...
; polenta
Polenta
Polenta is a dish made from boiled cornmeal. The word "polenta" is borrowed from Italian.-Description:Polenta is made with ground yellow or white cornmeal , which can be ground coarsely or finely depending on the region and the texture desired.As it is known today, polenta derives from earlier...
made from French green lentils or barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...
; risotto; and a myriad of local or regional variants of sausage
Sausage
A sausage is a food usually made from ground meat , mixed with salt, herbs, and other spices, although vegetarian sausages are available. The word sausage is derived from Old French saussiche, from the Latin word salsus, meaning salted.Typically, a sausage is formed in a casing traditionally made...
and cheese
Cheese
Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....
which was eaten by more or less everyone. As early as the Middle Ages, the cheeses, in particular, appear to have been highly specialized, from a fresh Tuscan to an aged Milanese from Tadesca, wrapped and shipped in tree bark. Medieval Italians also used eggs to a higher degree than many other regions, and the recipe collections describe herb omelettes (herboletos) and frittata
Frittata
Frittata is an egg-based dish similar to an omelette or quiche, enriched with additional ingredients such as meats, cheeses, vegetables or pasta...
s. Grapes as tasty morsels and lemons as a cooking ingredient was ubiquitous and, of course, olive oil of every conceivable kind was the cooking fat of choice in all regions, including the north, for dressing salads, frying, seasoning, marinading and preserving meats.
Southern France
The cuisine of southern France, corresponding roughly to the extent of OccitaniaOccitania
Occitania , also sometimes lo País d'Òc, "the Oc Country"), is the region in southern Europe where Occitan was historically the main language spoken, and where it is sometimes still used, for the most part as a second language...
, had far more in common with Italian and Catalan
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
cooking than with northern French cuisine. Ingredients that distinguished southern cooking included sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
, walnut oil
Walnut oil
Walnut oil is oil extracted from English walnuts . It is about 50% linoleic acid, an essential omega-6 fatty acid. Walnut oil is also a good source of omega-3 fatty acids which are also essential to human nutrition....
, chickpeas, pomegranate
Pomegranate
The pomegranate , Punica granatum, is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing between five and eight meters tall.Native to the area of modern day Iran, the pomegranate has been cultivated in the Caucasus since ancient times. From there it spread to Asian areas such as the Caucasus as...
s and lemon
Lemon
The lemon is both a small evergreen tree native to Asia, and the tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit. The fruit is used for culinary and non-culinary purposes throughout the world – primarily for its juice, though the pulp and rind are also used, mainly in cooking and baking...
s, all of which were grown locally. While pomegranate seeds were occasionally used to decorate dishes in France and England, flavoring dishes with pomegranate juice
Pomegranate juice
Pomegranate juice is made from the fruit of the pomegranate. It is used in cooking both as a fresh juice and as a concentrated syrup, particularly in Persian cuisine.-Possible health benefits and risks:...
was a practice unique to the Occitan areas. The use of butter
Butter
Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...
and lard
Lard
Lard is pig fat in both its rendered and unrendered forms. Lard was commonly used in many cuisines as a cooking fat or shortening, or as a spread similar to butter. Its use in contemporary cuisine has diminished because of health concerns posed by its saturated-fat content and its often negative...
was rare, salted meat
Salt-cured meat
Salt-cured meat or salted meat, for example bacon and kippered herring, is meat or fish preserved or cured with salt. Salting, either with dry salt or brine, was the only widely available method of preserving meat until the 19th century...
for frying was common, and the preferred methods of cooking tended to be dry roasting, frying, or baking. For the latter, a trapa, a portable oven that was filled with food and buried in hot ashes, was often used.
Dishes still common today, like escabeche
Escabeche
Escabeche is a typical Mediterranean cuisine which refers to both a dish of poached or fried fish that is marinated in an acidic mixture before serving, and to the marinade itself...
, a vinegar-based dish, and aillade (aioli
Aioli
Aioli ) is a traditional sauce made of garlic, olive oil, and egg. There are many variations, such as the addition of mustard or, in Catalonia, pears. It is usually served at room temperature. The name aioli comes from Provençal alh 'garlic' is a traditional sauce made of garlic, olive oil,...
), a garlic
Garlic
Allium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and rakkyo. Dating back over 6,000 years, garlic is native to central Asia, and has long been a staple in the Mediterranean region, as well as a frequent...
sauce (still made in Toulouse with walnut oil), were well-established in the Late Middle Ages. Evidence of influence from Muslim Spain can be found in recipes for matafeam, a Christian version of the originally Hispano-Jewish Shabbat
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
stew adafina, but with pork rather than lamb. And, Raymonia (Occitan; Ital: Romania) is based on the Arabic Rummaniya, a chicken bruet with pomegranate juice, ground almonds, and sugar. Only one recipe collection is positively identified as being from southern France. The Modus viaticorum preparandorum et salsarum is a collection of 51 recipes. It was written ca. 1380-90 in Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
with occasional words in Occitan. The Modus contains a Salsa de cerpol (Wild thyme sauce) and a Cofiment anguille (Confit of eel), which appear nowhere else but in Occitania.
A cookery book from northern Europe may have originated in Provence. Known from its incipit as Libellus de arte coquinaria, it is the Codex K version of the Harpestraeng Cookbook, which is part of a collection of medical papers written by, or belonging to, Dr. Henrik Harpestraeng. It is currently housed in the Royal Library of Copenhagen (Ny samling Nr. 66, 8 vo.). Food historian Dr. Rudolf Grewe proposed a NW Mediterranean origin for this book based on the recipes and their ingredients, such as saffron. Since Harpestraeng studied medicine in Provence, probably at Montpellier, he may have obtained the book during that time. Harpestraeng may have brought the book to Denmark, where he was the physician to King Valdemar II. Codex K is believed to have been copied into Danish from an earlier Low German original, or copy. This would have happened before 1244, the year Harpestraeng died. If so, Libellus de arte coquinaria is the earliest Western European cookery book, since Apicius
Apicius
Apicius is the title of a collection of Roman cookery recipes, usually thought to have been compiled in the late 4th or early 5th century AD and written in a language that is in many ways closer to Vulgar than to Classical Latin....
' De re coquinaria.
Some dietary details have been extrapolated from Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
archives from 1305–78 when Avignon
Avignon
Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...
was the seat of the Avignon Papacy
Avignon Papacy
The Avignon Papacy was the period from 1309 to 1376 during which seven Popes resided in Avignon, in modern-day France. This arose from the conflict between the Papacy and the French crown....
. Though the lifestyles of the papal courts could often be very luxurious, the Vatican account books of the daily alms
Alms
Alms or almsgiving is a religious rite which, in general, involves giving materially to another as an act of religious virtue.It exists in a number of religions. In Philippine Regions, alms are given as charity to benefit the poor. In Buddhism, alms are given by lay people to monks and nuns to...
given to the poor describe some of what lower class food in the region was like. The food that was handed out to the needing consisted mainly of bread, legumes, and some wine. These were occasionally supplemented with cheese, fish, olive oil and meat of low quality.
Montpellier
Montpellier
-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....
, located on in Languedoc
Languedoc
Languedoc is a former province of France, now continued in the modern-day régions of Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées in the south of France, and whose capital city was Toulouse, now in Midi-Pyrénées. It had an area of approximately 42,700 km² .-Geographical Extent:The traditional...
only a few miles from the coast, was a major center for trade, education in medicine, and was famous for its espices de chamber or "parlor confections", a term for sweets such as candied aniseed and ginger. The confectionery from the town was so renowned that its market value
Market capitalization
Market capitalization is a measurement of the value of the ownership interest that shareholders hold in a business enterprise. It is equal to the share price times the number of shares outstanding of a publicly traded company...
was twice as high as that of similar products from other towns. Montpellier was also well-known for its spices and the wines with which they were flavored, like the ubiquitous hypocras
Hypocras
Hippocras , sometimes spelled hipocras or hypocras, is a drink made from wine mixed with sugar and spices, most notably cinnamon, and possibly heated...
.
Byzantium
The culinary traditions of Roman times lived on in the ByzantineByzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
empire. Inherited from Greek traditions was the use of olive
Olive
The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...
s and olive oil
Olive oil
Olive oil is an oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps...
, wheat bread, and plenty of fish. These would very often be served or prepared with garós, the Greek term for garum
Garum
Garum, similar to liquamen, was a type of fermented fish sauce condiment that was an essential flavour in Ancient Roman cooking, the supreme condiment....
, a sauce made out of fermented fish
Fermented fish
Fermented fish is an Eskimo food that is eaten raw and frozen. It is a staple part of the diet in many Yup'ik communities of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.- Preparation :Fermented fish is prepared by first digging a hole about two feet in the ground...
that was so popular that it more or less replaced salt
Salt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
as the common food flavoring. The Byzantine kitchen was also influenced by Arab cuisine
Arab cuisine
Arab cuisine is defined as the various regional cuisines spanning the Arab World, from Morocco and Tunisia to Saudi Arabia, and incorporating Levantine, Egyptian .-History:...
from which it imported the use of eggplants and orange
Orange (fruit)
An orange—specifically, the sweet orange—is the citrus Citrus × sinensis and its fruit. It is the most commonly grown tree fruit in the world....
s. Seafood
Seafood
Seafood is any form of marine life regarded as food by humans. Seafoods include fish, molluscs , crustaceans , echinoderms . Edible sea plants, such as some seaweeds and microalgae, are also seafood, and are widely eaten around the world, especially in Asia...
was very popular and included tuna
Tuna
Tuna is a salt water fish from the family Scombridae, mostly in the genus Thunnus. Tuna are fast swimmers, and some species are capable of speeds of . Unlike most fish, which have white flesh, the muscle tissue of tuna ranges from pink to dark red. The red coloration derives from myoglobin, an...
, lobster
Lobster
Clawed lobsters comprise a family of large marine crustaceans. Highly prized as seafood, lobsters are economically important, and are often one of the most profitable commodities in coastal areas they populate.Though several groups of crustaceans are known as lobsters, the clawed lobsters are most...
, mussel
Mussel
The common name mussel is used for members of several families of clams or bivalvia mollusca, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which are often more or less rounded or oval.The...
s, oyster
Oyster
The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....
s, murena
Moray eel
Moray eels are cosmopolitan eels of the family Muraenidae. The approximately 200 species in 15 genera are almost exclusively marine, but several species are regularly seen in brackish water and a few, for example the freshwater moray can sometimes be found in freshwater...
, and carp
Carp
Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. The cypriniformes are traditionally grouped with the Characiformes, Siluriformes and Gymnotiformes to create the superorder Ostariophysi, since these groups have certain...
. Around the 11th century the habit of eating roe
Roe
Roe or hard roe is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses of fish and certain marine animals, such as shrimp, scallop and sea urchins...
and caviar
Caviar
Caviar, sometimes called black caviar, is a luxury delicacy, consisting of processed, salted, non-fertilized sturgeon roe. The roe can be "fresh" or pasteurized, the latter having much less culinary and economic value....
was also imported from the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
region. Dairy products were consumed in the form of cheese
Cheese
Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....
(particularly feta
Feta
Feta is a brined curd cheese traditionally made in Greece. Feta is an aged crumbly cheese, commonly produced in blocks, and has a slightly grainy texture. It is used as a table cheese, as well as in salads Feta is a brined curd cheese traditionally made in Greece. Feta is an aged crumbly cheese,...
), and nuts and fruits such as dates, fig
Ficus
Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes, and hemiepiphyte in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The Common Fig Ficus is a genus of...
s, grape
Grape
A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...
s, pomegranate
Pomegranate
The pomegranate , Punica granatum, is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing between five and eight meters tall.Native to the area of modern day Iran, the pomegranate has been cultivated in the Caucasus since ancient times. From there it spread to Asian areas such as the Caucasus as...
s, and apple
Apple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
s. The choice of meats were lamb, and several wild animals like gazelle
Gazelle
A gazelle is any of many antelope species in the genus Gazella, or formerly considered to belong to it. Six species are included in two genera, Eudorcas and Nanger, which were formerly considered subgenera...
s, wild ass
Wild ass
Wild ass can refer to:*African Wild Ass*Kiang *Onager *Yukon Wild Horse is sometimes called the Yukon Wild Ass....
es, and suckling young in general. Meat was often salted, smoked or dried. Wine was popular, like elsewhere around the Mediterranean, and it was the drink of choice among the higher social classes, where sweet wines like Muscat
Muscat (grape and wine)
The Muscat variety of grapes of the species Vitis vinifera is widely grown for wine, raisins and table grapes. Their color ranges from white to near black. Muscat almost always has a pronounced sweet floral aroma. Muscat grapes are grown around the world...
or Malmsey were popular. Among the lower classes, the common drink tended to be vinegar
Vinegar
Vinegar is a liquid substance consisting mainly of acetic acid and water, the acetic acid being produced through the fermentation of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria. Commercial vinegar is produced either by fast or slow fermentation processes. Slow methods generally are used with traditional...
mixed with water. Like all Christian societies the Byzantines had to abide by the dietary restrictions of the church
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
, which meant avoiding meats (and preferably general excesses) on Wednesdays and Fridays and during fast and Lent
Lent
In the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...
.
The Byzantine empire also became quite famous for its desserts, which included biscuits, rice pudding
Rice pudding
Rice pudding is a dish made from rice mixed with water or milk and sometimes other ingredients such as cinnamon and raisins. Different variants are used for either desserts or dinners. When used as a dessert, it is commonly combined with a sweetener such as sugar.-Rice pudding around the world:Rice...
, quince
Quince
The quince , or Cydonia oblonga, is the sole member of the genus Cydonia and native to warm-temperate southwest Asia in the Caucasus region...
marmalade
Marmalade
Marmalade is a fruit preserve made from the juice and peel of citrus fruits, boiled with sugar and water. The benchmark citrus fruit for marmalade production in Britain is the "Seville orange" from Spain, Citrus aurantium var...
, rose sugar and many types of non-alcoholic beverages. The most common sweetener was honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
, with sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
extracted from sugar cane being reserved for those who could afford it.
The food of the lower classes was mostly vegetarian and limited to olives, fruit, onion
Onion
The onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion...
s, and the occasional piece of cheese
Cheese
Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....
, or stew
Stew
A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables , meat, especially tougher meats suitable for slow-cooking, such as beef. Poultry, sausages, and seafood are also used...
s made from cabbage
Cabbage
Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae and is a leafy green vegetable...
and salted pork
Pork
Pork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig , which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC....
. The standard meal of a shoemaker was described in a Byzantine poem, one of the Prodromic Poems, as consisting of some cooked foods and an omelette followed by hot salted pork with an unspecified garlic
Garlic
Allium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and rakkyo. Dating back over 6,000 years, garlic is native to central Asia, and has long been a staple in the Mediterranean region, as well as a frequent...
dish.