What Did Medieval Peasants Eat?

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Subtitles: Jose Mendoza

MAKKE
ORIGINAL 14TH CENTURY RECIPE (From The Forme of Cury)
Take drawen benes and seeth them well. Take them up of the water and cast them in a morter grynde them all to doust till thei be white as eny mylk. Chawf a little rede wyne, cast thereamong in the gryndyng, do therto salt, leshe it in disshes. Thenne take Oynouns and mynce them smale and seeth them in oile til they be al broun, and florissh the dishes therwith. And serve it forth.

MODERN RECIPE
INGREDIENTS
- 3 Cups (450g) Fava/Broad Beans (or any other bean)
- 1/2 Cup - 1 Cup (118ml - 236ml) Red Wine or Ale
- Salt to taste
- 1 Onion minced (white or yellow)
- Oil or Butter for frying

METHOD
1. Wash and boil the beans over a medium heat until soft. Remove the beans from the water and mash them until smooth.
2. Warm the wine or ale over a low heat and mix with the beans. Start with 1/2 cup and add more to achieve desired consistency. Mix in salt to taste.
3. Place a large pan over medium heat and add the butter or oil. Add the minced onion and fry until golden brown, about 7-10 minutes. When ready, garnish onions on top of the beans and serve.

PHOTO CREDITS

#tastinghistory #medievalpeasant #medievalfood

[TastingHistory]

Have you ever tried Great Courses? If so, which did you do?
Try it out at

[monsterluv]

Interesting, how similar people are. Medieval peasants eat beans and fried onions; i, as a college student, eat the exact same thing.

[ElementalOctopus]

"If you'd be interested"

You even need to ask?
Monk food series pls

[JAB]

Funny thing about 'peasant food' - the first time I ate in a Vietnamese restaurant (to which I was introduced by a college buddy in the early 1990s) I enjoyed it thoroughly. During the meal my friend commented that most of the food on the menu, seen as exotic and special in this country, was pretty much all 'peasant food' in Vietnam. That started me thinking that such is probably the case with many 'ethnic' foods. From there I got the idea that if someone were to open a restaurant in Tokyo selling cornbread, pinto beans, biscuits and gravy and so on would likely make a killing.

[angelapiccolella]

We grew up very poor in rural America but I always remember the food as being good. One of my favorite dinners from that time was "Hotdog Stew." Sauted onions and peppers, browned hotdogs in a tomato sauce. Sounds weird but is was amazing. My father would bake us bread, my mother gardened and made home made yogurt, grew sprouts under the sink in a jar. I consider this poor but blessed and to this day I still love simple peasant food.

[DarthHao]

The Raticate in the back reminds me of the quote “when times are tough, the poor eat the rats. When times are tougher, the rats eat the poor.”

[RyllenKriel]

The Forme of Cury should have a peasant section called "Serf it forth!"

[gregurata]

The word “corn” in England, prior to the introduction of maize from the Americas, was a generic word which referred to grains of all types.

[evocati]

Imagine going back in time to medieval Italy and telling the nobility how much their country is going to be obsessed with garlic in the future

[panqueque]

Imagine being the king of England having an expensive feast and some French dude comes in and calls your wine garbage.

[ryke_masters]

"Punishing peasants for the poaching of prized provisions was rather a popular pastime for the posh."

Is the whole comments section just going to let that alliteration go unlauded? Come on!

[Hallows]

Yeah, Henry II’s court was NOTORIOUS for the poor quality of its wine. Eleanor did manage to class the place up, but her husband still rarely paid serious attention to the quality of provisions (unless he was trying to impress someone or make a show of largesse).

[valerydiane]

I'm italian and my mother cooks macco sometimes, it's just fava beans, onions, olive oil and some bay leaves to add some flavour. We usually eat as a side dish with some other vegetables and some meat.
It is so interesting to learn that it has such ancient roots!

[ThesLT]

Tasting History: Use whatever bean makes you happy.
Me: [uses coffee beans]

[craig.a.glesner]

Ah-ha! So, now we know why noble vampires are actually "turned away" by garlic, they just don't want to get caught eating low class food. :)

[AjiNoPanda]

Okay, NOW I know who Max reminds me of: Shawn Spencer from Psych! It's the facial expressions and deadpan delivery of the most farcical and alliterative phrases he can manage to write: ..."punishing peasants for poaching of prized provisions was rather a popular pastime for the posh." He deserves an award for that one!

[andrewcrookall]

Monk food would be interesting. I'd also love to see a series on historical 1st Nations foods like pemmican, pine tea etc. Might be tough though with no written history?

[lilyrosa]

Max: "If you like subjecting your family to medieval food at Thanksgiving..."
Me, who just made a Pumpion Pie, sweating: who...who would do that????

[FigureOnAStick]

Beans? Fried Onions? Lard? Wait a minute, this is just old timey refried beans!

[SombreroPharoah]

Depending which spices they mention, we actually have a lot! Native and traditionally used in Britain. From Wood Avens (Clove/cinnamon like), Hogweed seed (Galangal/Cardoman like), Many Mustards, Alexander Seeds (Black Pepper/Myrrh flavour). List goes on.