Medieval cuisine

Medieval cuisine includes foods, eating habits, and cooking methods of various European cultures during the Middle Ages, which lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. During this period, diets and cooking changed less than they did in the early modern period that followed, when those changes helped lay the foundations for modern European cuisines.

Cereals remained the most important staple during the Early Middle Ages as rice was introduced to Europe late, with the potato first used in the 16th century, and much later for the wider population. Barley, oats, and rye were eaten by the poor while wheat was generally more expensive. These were consumed as bread, porridge, gruel, and pasta by people of all classes. Cheese, fruits, and vegetables were important supplements for the lower orders while meat was more expensive and generally more prestigious. Game, a form of meat acquired from hunting, was common only on the nobility's tables. The most prevalent butcher's meats were pork, chicken, and other poultry. Beef, which required greater investment in land, was less common. A wide variety of freshwater and saltwater fish were also eaten, with cod and herring being mainstays among the northern populations.

Slow and inefficient transports made long-distance trade of many foods very expensive (perishability made other foods untransportable). Because of this, the nobility's food was more prone to foreign influence than the cuisine of the poor; it was dependent on exotic spices and expensive imports. As each level of society attempted to imitate the one above it, innovations from international trade and foreign wars from the 12th century onward gradually disseminated through the upper middle class of medieval cities. Aside from economic unavailability of luxuries such as spices, decrees outlawed consumption of certain foods among certain social classes and sumptuary laws limited conspicuous consumption among the nouveau riche. Social norms also dictated that the food of the working class be less refined, since it was believed there was a natural resemblance between one's way of life and one's food; hard manual labor required coarser, cheaper food.

A type of refined cooking that developed in the Late Middle Ages set the standard among the nobility all over Europe. Common seasonings in the highly spiced sweet-sour repertory typical of upper-class medieval food included verjuice, wine, and vinegar in combination with spices such as black pepper, saffron, and ginger. These, along with the widespread use of honey or sugar, gave many dishes a sweet-sour flavor. Almonds were very popular as a thickener in soups, stews, and sauces, particularly as almond milk.

The cuisines of the cultures of the Mediterranean Basin since antiquity had been based on cereals, particularly various types of wheat. Porridge, gruel, and later bread became the basic staple foods that made up the majority of calorie intake for most of the population. From the 8th to the 11th centuries, the proportion of various cereals in the diet rose from about a third to three-quarters. Dependence on wheat remained significant throughout the medieval era, and spread northward with the rise of Christianity. In colder climates, however, it was usually unaffordable for the majority population, and was associated with the higher classes. The centrality of bread in religious rituals such as the Eucharist meant that it enjoyed an especially high prestige among foodstuffs. Only olive oil and wine had a comparable value, but both remained quite exclusive outside the warmer grape- and olive-growing regions. The symbolic role of bread as both sustenance and substance is illustrated in a sermon given by Saint Augustine:

This bread retells your history [...] You were brought to the threshing floor of the Lord and were threshed [...] While awaiting catechism, you were like grain kept in the granary [...] At the baptismal font you were kneaded into a single dough. In the oven of the Holy Ghost you were baked into God's true bread.

The growing presence of Islam in the medieval period defined a shift in both the religious attitudes of Europeans and their perspectives on cuisine. As the Mediterranean became increasingly symbolic of a religious divide between European Christianity and Islam, tensions placed significance on symbolic dietary practices. The religious connotations of bread and wine in Christianity opposed the dietary restrictions on alcohol and the differences in the bread-making practices pertinent to Islamic cuisine. Thus, the consumption of bread and wine spread northward from the Mediterranean region in part as a means of Christian opposition. Additionally, pork was reinforced in European cuisine as a product of importance and value, differing from the Islamic dietary restrictions on pork consumption. However, these divergences did not prohibit the exchange of flavors and goods from occurring between Islamic regions and Europe.

After the Bubonic Plague in 1347-1352, dietary norms changed drastically due to different food resources available in Europe. Since the population in Europe significantly dipped, farm land and livestock was left mostly unattended and uncared for. Availability of wheat and oats, popular foods before the Bubonic Plague, started declining. Evidence from bone collagen samples suggest that after the Bubonic Plague, Europeans consumed more animal protein such as beef, goats, chicken, sheep and pork rather than cereal and grains.