The average European Medieval diet

[Mik]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/tripideas/what-was-the-average-diet-like-in-medieval-europe/ss-AAVViNA?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=ec865e526efc46a2b626aa00ca3b441e

[Renauda]

Interesting.

[Jolly]

I remember reading a book years ago (can't remember the title) about an excavation of an English village circa 1000 A.D. One of the things that surprised the archeologists was the size of the people...A six-foot tall man was not uncommon and they had a few male skeletons taller than six feet. Most of the women were around five and a half feet tall or taller. IOW, not much different from modern times.

They started looking at what they ate, historical farming records (what they could find) and any archeological evidence of what the people were eating.

Like the article linked, a lot of grains. Small game, when available. Rarely, but sometimes pork or chicken. Biggest difference was the harvest...Due to good weather, the harvests were apparently abundant at that time. Good nutrition, bigger people.

[89th]

Although it was frowned upon, some people also ate a third meal at night called reresoper, which means "rear supper." It would usually include ale and wine.

Ok, I’m game

[Jolly]

@89th said in The average European Medieval diet:

Although it was frowned upon, some people also ate a third meal at night called reresoper, which means "rear supper." It would usually include ale and wine.

Ok, I’m game

Thought you had already had rear supper with Aqua's sister?

[taiwan_girl]

Interesting but the calories eaten each day seems quite high, even if you are working in the fields

[Catseye3]

@taiwan_girl Medieval calories were smaller.

[George K]

@taiwan_girl said in The average European Medieval diet:

Interesting but the calories eaten each day seems quite high, even if you are working in the fields

I may have mentioned before, I was astounded at the number of calories consumed by the individuals on the Lewis and Clark expedition.

[Mik]

@taiwan_girl said in The average European Medieval diet:

Interesting but the calories eaten each day seems quite high, even if you are working in the fields

Not in an age where pretty much EVERYTHING was done manually.

[LuFins Dad]

@Mik said in The average European Medieval diet:

@taiwan_girl said in The average European Medieval diet:

Interesting but the calories eaten each day seems quite high, even if you are working in the fields

Not in an age where pretty much EVERYTHING was done manually.

And you needed a fair amount of fat just to survive the winter…

[taiwan_girl]

There are still people in the plains of Africa, etc who are herder/gatherers. I would be curious to know what their calorie is every day.

[Mik]

Friend them on Facebook and you can ask.

[George K]

@Mik said in The average European Medieval diet:

Friend them on Facebook and you can ask.

They can look up the data over the interwebz, after connecting to Elon's Starlink service with their iPhones.