What Medieval Peasants Really Ate In A Day

Medieval times are often portrayed today as a time filled with noble kings and chivalrous knights who slew dragons to save beautiful maidens trapped in towers. They make great fairy tales, Hollywood movies, and reenactments at Renaissance fairs.

But peasants during medieval times rarely get their due, and it’s likely because the life of a peasant during medieval times -- aka the Dark Ages -- basically sucked. If there was a plague they were very likely left to die, if there was a war they went to the front lines, and if there was famine, guess who got to starve?

But during times when there was food around, what did these folks at the bottom of the Dark Ages food chain get to eat? Let's find out.

#History #Food #Medieval

A study in pottery | 0:00
Changing lifestyles | 1:50
Butter | 2:48
Beer | 4:04
More drinks | 5:22
Cannibalism | 6:18
The deer trade | 7:32
Christmas treats | 9:03
Spices | 10:01
Fast food | 10:55

[GrungeHQ]

Do you think you'd be able to survive in medieval times?

[DarknetDude]

The Peasant probably eats healthier than a lot of us in the Modern Age.

[joebarnett]

I’m so poor rn most of these meals are mouthwatering to me 😂

[markgigiel]

Beer and wine etc. were NOT drank because water was bad. We have always liked to get drunk and high. Too bad we can't admit it. If everyone used some marijuana, we could end wars and stop the hate.

[jupersan]

I was asking that question for a long time... thanks for explaining.

[markgigiel]

I still like to eat medieval type stew. I like it a lot actually.

[SonyaOutThere]

It’s a fallacy to think that peasants ate bad diets or had little access to good food sources. They may not lived extravagant lives and had to do some really hard work, but they lived close to nature, farmed, hunted, and preserved produce 🍅, meat 🥩, and herbs 🌿. Over the years, they became creative with how they prepared different items of food to which they had access.

[dustinhaus]

It is going to be different at different places at different times. There are a lot of things we do know, from domestic guides, palace records, merchant logs,

[_noname]

no twatter or burger king? sounds like heaven

[johnrivera]

The first sentence sounds a lot more like today and less like past.

[RjBenjamin]

That ain’t nothing! When I was a kid we were so poor we all gathered around the dinner table for a hot bowl of steam.

[zebulon]

I don't what they ate but the way things are going we will all be eating less than they did😱

[zuzukyd]

0:01 Is that from the Monty Python movie?

[deewesthill]

In childhood, in a poor family, i seldom got to even taste butter. My family could only afford cheap margarine. Otherwise we ate a sort of modified peasant's diet including oatmeal, milk, cabbage, onions, carrots, round ground beef, cornbread, cottage cheese, apples, and jello. Not a bad diet.

[phillange]

VG on citing research and not just making claims and assertions. Thanks!

[brianjlayman]

Soooo. All peasants in mid evil time Owens pottery and had access to the food you speak of .. hmmm why do I feel it’s not that simple 😬

[akiraasmr]

They didn't drink the modern beer they drank ale which didn't have hops and was watered down so they wouldn't get drunk when working long hours in the field.

[LoudMime]

so Kingdom Come Deliverance was right lols

[cccspwn]

Me: Neat, (orders a pizza on DoorDash)

[TheLastTitan]

Hey grunge can we get some history on Santa and Xmas.