Medieval food: How healthy was it?
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- Опубліковано 9 тра 2024
- It can be hard to stick to a diet in modern times when eating out. It was much the same for a medieval knight, so when he was dining in his own household his personal physician would work with his cook to keep their master in peak condition. In this episode, Jason and food historian Chris Carr discuss the medieval understanding of nutrition and how it affected the knight’s diet, as well as the influence of spices and how they defined one’s social standing. #medieval #cooking #recipes
• Executive Producer: Jason Kingsley OBE
• Executive Producer: Chris Kingsley
• Senior Producer: Brian Jenkins
• Producer: Edward Linley
• Director: Dominic Read
• Presenter: Jason Kingsley OBE
• Subject Matter Expert: Chris Carr
• Camera: Jo Taylor
• Camera: Dominic Read
• Editing: Lindsey Studholme
• Stills Photographer: Kasumi
• Production Manager: Kevin Case
• Audio: Frank Newman
• Sound Design: Liam Flannigan
• Music licensed from PremiumBeat
• Additional Camera: Darren Cook
• Additional Camera: Neil Phillips
• Additional Sound: Elizabeth Carlyon
Special Thanks:
• Chris Payton
• Ed Savage
Facebook: modernhistorytv/
Twitter: @ModernHistoryTV
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Many thanks to Chris Carr - check out www.brigaandfriends.co.uk - Розваги
Imagine in the distant future, a historian recreates McDonald’s burgers and fries with fascination.
Ailie McKenzie in few hundreds years or shorter, probably most food human eat would be synthetic food recycled from waste.
@@bilibiliism people probably won't eat any food because of food shortages
@Ailie McKenzie Yeah, the world will stop eating beef after tens of thousands of years, lmao
You mean a chemist 😉
What distant future? We’ll be dead in 50 years
You know someone's mad flexing when they show you their decked out spice box
A curious boast, but alas
An odd show-off, though very well
You should see my spice box
Uh good sire you have that sugar acorn i see!
Unorthodox display of hubris, but very well.
fun fact about diabetes, in my dad's hometown in north africa they would have you pee outside and if ants came to your urine (because of the sugar) that would be a sign you had diabetes
@Steve Slade maybe during cooler mornings?
Thank you for sharing this story. So interesting. :)
@Steve Slade ants I think they are brainless hiveminds controlled by the queen. Go retrieve food...go retrieve nesting...go tend the eggs..come straight back..go again, repeat
And so when they go to your high sugar content urine then it's the sustenance they are there for , I'm pretty sure ants literally work until they die.
@@astondias810 it s life really, in a way they are all an extension to the queen. They don't miss each other conciously like humans, instead of missing there's this term"bio-relation" which means literally "anything can miss anything" but unless the one doing the missing is human, it will be different rather that if a human Lost a companion, ally, etc. It will be more like, they recognize that all life benefits from the work of other beings.
riplip and there is a another thing ants never go to sleep for their whole lives they are just mindless beings (kinda like bees) controlled by their mother and if many die she just pops out 200 more
Most people would take weapons and technology with them if they could go back in time with a time machine, instead you can just take your spice rack with you and become the most powerful person in medieval times.
imagine, you walk into the biggest castle you see, the king demands to know who you are, and you whip out about 30 modern day dollars worth of spices including stuff like sumac or cayenne pepper and everyone falls to their knees and the king just goes "welp, i cant compete with that" and walks out
You can’t be powerful unless you have the firepower to back it up
@@Soullessknight1999 this is assuming that _you_ had to be the one supplying that firepower. There's a thing called connections, and that ties in with personal security. When you know a lot of important people, you can have _them_ sell off the spices, and in the meanwhile you have a cut of the profit. Nobody would lynch you for your precious stuff, and the (presumed) merchant would get all the more richer.
Of course, you can also hire mercenaries. Their reliability however, depends.
If you are not in any way part of the local merchant guild you may find it hard to sell your goods.
They may even interrogate you how these spices came into your possession. If you're lucky the local Magistrate or Lord of the land just will confiscate your goods and let you go free, since you have no authority backing up and protecting your interests in a lawful accepted manner. And can you even prove that you payed all your taxes?
personally id rather become a doctor...think about it, a simple first aid course would be the equivalent of being an leading brain surgeon back in the medieval era! that and id love to go back in time and just buy stock in companies i know will never go under...
When my Dad was a teenager in the 50s he worked in a butcher shop. He told me there was an old lady that would come in and get the oxtail. The butcher would give it to her because it was something he would usually throw away because nobody wanted it. Oxtail was regarded as poor people's food in that place and time. Now oxtail costs more than many cuts of beef. Funny how that works.
Yup - also hearts and coley from the fishmonger... Got me survived, so far. We didn't have puddings :(
Same for the cuts of beef and pork you now make spareribs out of here in Germany....for the longest time they were considered poor quality meat and now cost as much as a full chunk of pork or beef (can't get a good translation ^^)
in my country, we cook almost every part of cow body. especially the tail that we make a stew from it
Lobster used to be for the lower classes... Stuff keeps reversing
In some south American or African lands poor people collect clams and similar sea food. For them it's desperate times food, because it's bad tasting.
Meanwhile in EU same stuff costs so much.
That lady is so pleasant. I could listen to her all day.
Yup, she is great, reminds me a lot of my grandma.
@@Michael-ez6ix You too?!
Yeah, she's amazing. I wish she was my history teacher when I was a kid.
I have never seen anything so boring and so entertaining at the same time.
@@rhigh100 I would say tame and fascinating instead, because it's not really filling me up with excitement but it's definitely not in any way boring
I knew about tasting urine for diabetes. But here’s a new one, my youngest sister diagnosed her diabetes because she had been urinating frequently at night. She went wilderness camping and had to keep relieving herself at night on a bush to the edge of the campsite. She noticed the next day that honey bees were all over it! Other bushes of the same sort were bee free. As an experiment, she poured urine on another kind of bush, and within 10 minutes, the bees arrived. When she went to the doctor, he thought it was just hilarious, but he tested her and sure enough, she had diabetes!
Clever sister. ❤️
She did science! Very cool. I'd call her Queen Bee from then on.
Their interaction is so lovely to watch. She seems shy but he is so excited about her knowledge and steps aside to let us see how awesome she is
When I was a kid we were so poor we raised most of what we ate. We had fruit trees and a big garden. We raised chickens for eggs and rabbits for meat. We canned and froze enough to get us through the winter. At 54 I am in a good place financially but I cant afford to eat like I did as a kid. Now it is called "local organic" produce and "organic free range" rabbit. Too rich for me as a grown man. Go figure. I still love me some beans and potatoes though!
SteppapaJon I ate a lot of tubers and beans as a kid as well and do remember having chickens. Like you said now it’s a fortune to eat like a poorer person, the upper echelon caught on to what is truly healthy eating.
Officer Barbrady had a rural upbringing it’s just that people caught on to what really matters when it comes to your health. The older folk knew that the diet that wasn’t opulent actually had purpose in fueling the grueling work that needed to be done and there were results in real time to back it up, as a kid you didn’t pay attention to any of that but as an adult when you reflect you see things for what they are.
Modern science made the rich & sweet food easier to manufacture than natural & hearty food as well as making spices readily avaliable year long.
So at 54 you just no longer raise most of what you eat?
Time to buy a homestead.
Medieval celebrity chef to his kitchen-hands:
"The dish thou hast prepared is indubitably under-cooked."
You, you, you, you, and you. Begone!
That sentense deserves to be in a Gordom Ramsay image, high quality meme lol
By the grace of God, the rabbit is RAW!
"Wherefore art the gravey of yon lamb?"
@@yuhboi6816 I hate to be that guy but that joke doesn't work. "Wherefore" means why, not where.
Actually, the fact that higher class food increasingly tastes like Christmas makes a lot of sense. Christmas is one of, if not the, biggest feast of the year, so you would use the finest ingredients you could get. Honestly even today making a fruitcake, for example, is relatively expensive, with all the spices, nuts, dried and candied fruit, and alcohol.
Ooooh those good ol' days. They had Burger King and Burger Knight.
I would totally open a rip-off of Burger King called BURGER LORD
Burger QUARTERMASTER
jamma246 Burger Baron
Burger Pope
Food which brings u closer to God.
@@SomalianDuke They serve burgers made using communion bread
This channel is such a hidden gem, thanks youtube!
I know, right! 😃
Yes! & that lady is precious!
Zeroloda ARRRRRRRE YOU REEEEEEEEADY
Indeed!
Zeroloda idk how come everyone found it out a week ago
I think it's awesome to think that someone like me (a young lower middle class bloke) has a pantry, spice collection and book collection that would make any medieval king drop their jaw.
What a beautiful irony that it was a point of pride for a knight or a small lord to have a spice chest in their kitchen full of expensive and exotic spices, all procured through special trade or crusade to elevate the flavors in your daily food to new heights...
... and in truth, the lower "peasant" class has figured out how to make a meal 3 times tastier than yours on cheap ingredients native to the region without having to take a single step away from their town or farm.
They had less reliance of government than today. People expect to be spoon feed and take no responsibility.
@@bighands69 They were reliant on the government in a very negative way in that their immutable social station was completely defined by the feudal system that they lived under. Remember that commons like the sea, sunlight, air, seaweed etc. were deemed to be the property of their lords' jurisdiction. Less spoon fed but certainly not free.
@@bighands69 Less reliance? They could arbitrarily confiscate anything you owned. If you disagreed they would burn your village down and kill your family.
It is hard to say. On top of Jason's own taste here, we would never taste the dishes like it was supposed to taste back then due to an infinite amount of reasons. They even cite that in a previous episode.
@@darkzerk7 muriKAAAAAA. Seriously my man, you need to read an actual book of laws from the medieval period, there are many well preserved ones. It's not like your shitty Game of Thrones show.
It kind of amuses me to think about how precious spices were back then. There's always the quote floating around about how you could blow someone's mind from the olden days by showing them a cellphone, or something like that. But I think what would stagger them even more would be to take them to any local supermarket and show them the spice aisle. You could buy literal pounds of spices for a pittance, and get them whenever you want, rather than having to fork over tons of gold and wait for them to be painstakingly caravnned in from distant lands.
How to become god in medieval time
Digital tech? Nope.
A crate of spice? Yes.
I believe the reason why medieval people wouldn't be impressed by a cellphone is because they had nothing like it back then, so they can't comprehend it (Would probably call it magic). However, they did have spices and some that are even very similar or the same as we use today, they'd be way more impressed by that even though the cellphone is the more technologically advanced item.
I don’t know how accurate it is, but there were some accounts of knights during the second Crusade choosing to be paid in pepper instead of coin.
@@beardedbjorn5520 wouldn't be suprised if that was the case. Partly because pepper is a lot smaller and lighter than coin, and carting around a pouch filled with metal is kinda triksy. Esspecially when your going off to do some fighting. Would be weighing you down somewhat and thats far from ideal. But leave it back at camp, and chances are someone will try to steal a bit (less of a problem if you have a set of retainers with you). Pouch filled with pepper? Far easier to cart around.
Yeah beacuse they wouldnt understand a phone at all but they woud understand this
He looks like a kind and friendly Denethor (LOTR)
Has proper tableside manners too!
right...i will have nightmares of that word :D
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lmfao when he put on that finger wiping cloth over his shoulder, I got a random flashback of the scene where Denethor was eating that cherry tomato - guess my brain low key also thought they looked very alike xD
Can I just say that you seem to be right?!👈😁✌🙄
We have a saying in Germany that literally translates "To give away the spoon." It actually means to die. And it refers back to the custom of having your personal cutlery for a lifetime. Great channel and great series about medieval food!
Here in Vojvodina (the northern part of Serbia, where there used to be a larger population of Germans from Bavaria and, especially, Swabia, before WW2), we seemed to have borrowed the saying, 'Baciti kašiku', which means the same thing. There's also the expression 'Baciti peglu' ('To throw away the flat iron'), meaning 'to throw up, barf' (due to overeating or overdrinking).
That's interesting! I want to remember to borrow that phrase now.
There's also the phrase "born with a silver spoon" too
Dumm gelaufen!
Well now I wonder where "Ins Gras beißen" (to bite the grass, also meaning to die, but in a mocking way) comes from
The idea that there were medieval celebrity chefs is so wild to me but absolutely makes sense lol
*tastes piss*
"Its a bit tart, someones not getting their after breakfast biscuit"
*Tastes piss*
Delicious. Finally, some good fucking food
*Tastes Piss*
IT'S RAW!
You need more hot humors, spice all your meals for three weeks and get back to me.
I wonder how they found out that the urine would be sweet....were people just drinking each other's urine regularly, and they started to see a trend in the taste or what?
@@SimbaBrank23 worst Pepsi challenge ever
@@elloowu6293 Wouldn't this be more of a Mountain Dew "Do the Dew" challenge?
English people describing food and cooking is always the most wholesome and relaxing thing ever
Its funny because we are so bad at it.
@@projectilequestion Speak for yersen.
haley K facts
unless its Gordon Ramsay, he's quite spicy hahaha
@@diablo2v2 Gordon Ramsay makes me laugh - he grew up in the mean streets of, er, Stratford upon Avon. l'm surprised nobody has punched his lights out.
Lord Denetbor makes medieval cooking even more interesting!
The most sought after chef in those times was Gordonus Ramesses, who was frequently found searching for the nobility's fine lamb sauces...
Art thou an imbecile pottage?
@@Runix1 I fear so, Ser Ramesses.
"Ramesses", lol, was he Egyptian? Maybe a descendent of Cleopatra and Alexander the Great.
Please give these two a series, it's like Medieval River Cottage I love it
River pottage
@@sirandrelefaedelinoge criminally underrated comment
@@MrDavidFitzgerald agreed
I’m really impressed by the historian’s knowledge of Czech glass. I didn’t think it was that well known outside of our country.
I'm from Bulgaria, so we know Czech glass or Czech crystal as a very expensive and luxury. Especially the older folks. Because of our common socialistic past and the whole USSR thing, you could find чешки кристал in almost all of our homes. And I'm mightily impressed that it dates back to the medieval times. Respect.
She's a historian, it's her job. Of course she'd know!
I can't speak for other regions, but the Czech Republic is well-known for glassmaking in the United States. Most of our glass companies were originally founded by immigrants from Bavaria and Bohemia in the 19th century.
It's also a big reason why so many American beers tend to be Pilsner or lager style. Many of the beer brewers also came to America from the Czech Republic and Germany. They were easily able to bottle and sell their own beer, due to their mastery of glassmaking.
@Jed Lawson hmmmm, does it have a meaning? and what was the original original name in czech?
@@maymay5600 It's named after the Bohemian town (Budějovice) where it was originally brewed. Since the brewery was founded by German citizens, it got the German version of the town's name (Budweis). So basically Budweiser means "from Budweis" or "Budweisian" so to speak.
You laugh about checking the urine but I was a med lab tech and I remember (more years than I want to confess to) back when I was in college when we were first studying urinalysis and the various test our instructor told us that so much could be learned just using our senses so not to abandon them totally for the technology. If doing a diabetic their urine could give off fruity smell and while not recommending it of course but would you taste it it would be sweet. and yes we were grossed out but as we learned and progressed we reached a point that on many tests we could tell the most likely outcomes just by what we observed and the tech merely confirmed them.
it's not like they drank a mug of it, they probably put a drop on their finger to taste.
@14miki oh I know , heck the quickest acid/base testing device is your tongue. I was lucky my MLT instructors also how to do a lot of tests manually as well something I will be forever grateful.
@@annereilley4892 really I never would have guess..I till wouldn't want to be tasting other people's urine let alone if they are sick specially when I have seen what can be living in there. But please by all means, be my guess and have at it.
lets have some oh yeah
As a vet tech, our lab teacher started the urology section and she showed how to do a basic exam before testing. She mentioned you could taste it for sweetness and explained about glucose, but no one believed her. Then she took a giant gulp and we all freaked out. She giggled and admitted it was apple juice. Then explained that the taste test is true but there's other more accurate ways to do it
I am so sick (fighting a few viruses, and Hashimoto's synd. etc)
and finding gems like these two people, brightens my day, a d distracts a bit from all the pain. Thank you for making these wonderful and edifying videos!!!!👍🌞🤸🏻♀️
Shannon Aguilar Hope you’re feeling better!
I hope you are feeling better now. Back when my family was human trafficking me when was a 12 year old child, they and the pedophiles refused to take me to Medieval Times restaurant/show (medieval-based restaurant with a show of jousting on horseback) because they felt the actors dressed as knights would figure out they were enslaving me and raping me and I would get rescued by a knight and live happily ever after which they did not want. So I went ahead and rescued myself instead and now I'm free to watch people eat medieval food or go myself to a medieval restaurant in Estonia or something :) so I am glad that at least I could see the commercials on TV for medieval times restaurant and dream of being rescued to get enough hope to rescue myself. And jousting looks like a cool sport for me to watch live. :) so I'm still gonna go do that someday. :)
@@lemurlover7975 lol wtf
@@lemurlover7975 Great sense of humour.
@Shannon Aguilar
I am going to suggest functional medicine. Finding a medical doctor that does functional medicine may help you to manage your health so as to add more tools to your armory. It is not a cure but can help.
My dream is to watch a video made by this guy with other medieval experts from other countries on youtube and mix all their knowledge only on a channel so we can understand a general european medieval culture. Think about a Spanish, a German, a British, an Italian and a French talk all together and explain crusades, knights or battles
PLEASE DO IT! We need it!
Nice idea, would take some organising.
You forgot the Portuguese, have much more culture than the spanish and were way more powerfull than some of the countries you named. Not to mention, Portuguese cousine is one of the richest in the world.
@@roxmate8742 Let me guess : You're portuguese ? lol
Ever heard of something called a library?
Main purpose is storing something called books where collected knowledge of all sorts are available..
@@bastobasto4866 well the Portuguese were the first to bring capsicum to the southeast asia in the Renaissance, that is the single most important historic event for me as far as food goes
When wheat is contaminated with ergot fungus, removing the fibrous shell of the seeds to make white flour can actually save your life.
A lot of medieval peasants were poisoned with ergotism, a condition they called "St. Anthony's Fire". It made you lose fingers and toes over time and quite possibly go mad.
White bread was not "unhealthy food" at a time where dietary fibre was more than abundant. It was in fact quite a lot healthier than the risk of contamination from brown flour.
GregTom2 I always think of ergot as a plague of the Middle Ages, but many wheat farmers in the upper Midwest had an ergot outbreak this past summer.
Also, spelt white bread is, in fact, healthier than modern processed wheat white bread. Not as healthy as rye or barley bread, but hey.
@@HamCubes from Ergot fungus we get Ergometrine which is used when a placenta is retain or a post-natal uterus does not cramp down. Ergot fungus causes hallucinations and miscarriages.
14miki, That's why they soaked the grains. You would soak them with a little bit of acid like vinegar or lemon or whey, and it would take care of the anti-nutrients so all the nutrients in the grain were bio-available. They did this with legumes, also. We should go back to the way our grandma did it. Much healthier eating.
Medieval acid... 🤔
FINE, I'LL WATCH THE VIDEO, UA-cam.
Hey, that's not bad
Look Jotaro, not every recommendation is clickbait nonsense. This is a very high quality channel 👍
"hot/dry, cold/wet"
It is awesome how cultures completely interact (Chinese follow this concept of hot/dry etc) in different ways
europa's cuisine can't beat asia's, i believe.
The same "hot/cold" duality is also present in traditional Ayurvedic medicine...fascinating!
@@kayfoster7385 well they were closer to the spice islands
Yes, but I wonder if foods were classified the same way in each system. Not sure how subtly the medieval system broke down vegetables, for example. Were they all cold and wet? Because in TCM they're not.
theres this thing in chinese that no one can really translate but its this feeling/quality some things have that you need to balance out with its opposite, cuz if you dont, you’ll get a sore throat/sickness, so you eat fruit because you had something fried or spicy
She's lovely. Enthusiasm is a very attractive personality trait.
@Ron 3 bruh
The status of that white bread is underscored by the fact that our modern word "lord" came from the Old English "hlaford," which means "bread keepr" -- hlaf meaning bread but giving us the word "loaf." So truly a status symbol back then.
And "lady" comes from "hladigh" - bread maker.
Yep. Exactly. That's what I love about being a food historian -- pointing out just how important food has been in world history. :)
Ha, I read Halfords instead of Hlaford :D
LOL -- that would certainly make a difference, wouldn't it.
Cynthia Clampitt possible but don't forget that William 1 changed the language to French and it remained French until the early 1500's. So the root word you are looking for comes from medieval French and not Medieval English.
My French teacher had me research into the transition between the strong castles and the fancier renaissance castles in France. I found a bunch of cool things about food and etiquette and such! One fact is that the French royals considered food close to the earth as the peasant food so they’d eat the food that didn’t touch the ground such as fish, poultry, tree fruits, etc. Peasants may have eaten healthier bc they actually ate veggies haha! Also, I can’t find the time period (maybe 14th century?), but French nobility had a very complicated seating hierarchy tied to social class with different ranks of chairs from thrones and armchairs at the high table all the way down to folding chairs and stools at the long tables.
This is not the first time I’m watching this series, nor will it be the last. Bless this man and the historian lady, this series is my absolute favourite on UA-cam and this channel’s content is what present History channel should try to live up to!
Have you ever heard of Mrs. Crocombe from English History? Its Victorian cookery but just as good. That woman can throw some shade too.
@@breeinatree4811 this reply is a little too late, but Yes! I love Mrs Crocombe and her sassy remarks haha. There's also another similar channel called the townsends which explores 18th century American lifestyle, which is also extremely well done.
This series is outstanding. Great information and seems to be thoroughly researched. Thanks.
“We don’t like the French”..... some things never change
Nobody likes the French. Not even the French.
He doesn't even pronounce Demesne correctly. It's the same as domain, except for the first vowel.
Touché!
@@Markle2k Crusader Kings FTW.
@Paul Deland The Normans made almost no genetic impact on England, and those who did migrate over were Norman nobility, who were of Scandinavian origin rather than native French. We are Celtic and Germanic, broadly speaking there are no French genes in native Englishmen. Of course the Normans made a large cultural impact on us, but although they spoke French they still culturally had more in common with their nordic ancestors (and by extension the Anglo-Saxons) than the French who were far more influenced by southern Romance cultures.
This is a great program.
Tom N. Yes!
Actually the 4 humors in medieval medicine were Sanguine (Blood) Choleric (Yellow Bile) Melancholic (Black Bile) and Phlegm. Though the heat cold wet dry properties of these were used to gauge a person's health and mental state.
Yes, copied from the ancient Greeks
There was another mistake in the video. The fork was common in the Byzantine Empire as early as the 5th century. It wasn't invented in 13th century Italy.
Medieval humans: Rich eats greasy unhealthy food and poor eats healthy
Modern humans: Rich eats healthy and poor eats grassy unhealthy food.
Mostly because the government likes to make healthy food expensive so only rich people can afford it.
Dank_Space lol no
Wrong! In Modern times, both rich and commoners eat unhealthy food in equal amounts.
Rich Classy restaurants don't serve healthy food. They serve good tasting food. Taste is not the same as health.
And you don't need a lot of money to eat healthy food cause it's all about simplicity.
Just eat natural healthy foods. Don't eat too much meat like the medieval peasants did. Or maybe even go full vegetarian.
dude vegetables are dirt cheap, what are u on about. most people choose to eat unhealthy because it's quick and tastes better, stop making excuses
@Roger Dodger you went a little too deep, but I somewhat agree
I am flying around with a big-ass spaceship on one screen and watch medieval food preparation on the other. What a time to be alive, man... :)
Lol this is beautiful. No Man’s Sky?
@@tortoisenhare Star Citizen
But you're not actually doing either. The people in medieval times actually lived in them and the people a century from now will actually be in star ships.
@@annereilley4892 No shit Sherlock.
I was just about to ask if it was Start Citizen. I LOVE what they are doing!
I belong to the SCA which is a medieval reenactment group, and I have made medieval food. It's rather spicy/savory and interesting tasting to modern taste buds. I made 'pasties' with ground beef, cinnamon (among other seasonings), and raisins one time, and it was really very interesting tasting, but good.
I am also a SCAdian ( Trimaris) and I've yet to try suchlike. I look forward to it.
It sounds similar to Middle Eastern cuisine.
if you look at alot of late medieval/early modern dishes you'll find alot of similar pairings, nutmeg was found in almost everything since the price came down on it to the point that it was widely affordable for special meals. Another strange thing to modern taste buds was the use of oysters and anchovies as a seasoning: they were often either used as a paste for the anchovies or boiled as a stock for the oysters. Oyster gravy and oyster stuffing used to be common all the way up to around WW1 and anchovy paste is still used in some foods today like Worcestershire sauce and some ketchup.
Lol, "interesting" is usually a diplomatic way of telling somebody you don't exactly like a bit of food while trying to preserve their feelings.
This channel is just...so perfect
having the access that we do to spices these days, we are spoiled
Definitely. As I read somewhere recently, in these times, peoples waged war for spices; today, they do for oil. I wonder how stupid our current societies will appear to historians in a few hundred years.
@@HyperDogeGaming That will happen when we do one of two things. 1) Get smart enough to get off fossil fuels or 2) Run out of fossil fuels
"Spoiled" is certainly a weird way to look at it... its called progress... societies in hundreds of years will look at us the same way, thinking "man are we spoiled now compared to those people living in the ancient 2000's with all their cancer, mcdonalds and global warming!"
The same way medieval people probably looked back at even earlier societies "Man are we spoiled in our villages and houses living as farmers while people back then had to survive in the wild!"
Therefore every future society is more "spoiled" than those living hundreds or thousands years before it...obviously. Thats logical and thats progress -> thats normal.
Peasants in medieval times had much better teeth than rich people because they couldn't afford sweets like honey and sugar. So the image of peasants with rotting dirty teeth is a myth. It was the rich whose teeth hurt all the time and fell out prematurely, not the poor.
Except that the coarse texture of their bread ground the enamel down. Everyone had dental issues.
Serai3 Wrong! We have skulls of medieval peasants and they lost most of their teeth by 30 years old because of the diet of millet, bread and vegetables. Millet was very hard on the teeth plus they didn't have toothbrushes or toothpaste in those days so gum disease and malnutrition was actually quite common.
And even more recently than the Middle Ages. Napoleon's wife, the Empress Josephine, had the most appalling teeth. It was reported by a contemporary that they looked like cloves.
People right now dont know or care about dental hygiene and you expect medieval peasants to have perfect teeth ? no way
Yes. The poor also had means by which to clean the gunk from their teeth now and again. Chew sticks for example... literally a sprig of mint or other certain plants, they would just chew on.
That sugar is still used in Mexico, we call it "piloncillo".
You can get similar here in Australia, we have a lot of sugar cane farms
@@geministargazer9830 I haven’t come across here in Southern Qld. Since most of the cane farms are up north, I’m guessing it’s mainly found up there.
@@beardedbjorn5520 you can find it if you look for it
True, go to any of your local places in Mexico and you can just grab it off the shelf as soon as you walk in along with a variety of different candies (marzipans, Duvalin, paleta payaso, Bandera de coconut) I lived here all my live, kinda of weird to think you can't walk into any place and find all this stuff lol
One thing about studying history: your sense of gratitude for the modern world goes up. I give thanks to live in a world where nutmeg is fairly affordable and I can randomly sprinkle it on my milk. (It’s good that way, especially if you microwave your milk first.) Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to put this series together!
Chris is amazing - she is SO knowledgeable! thank you for having her on.
I think it was Louix XIV who had only Italian cooks as he didn't trust French cooks.
😅 He didn't trust them politically, or professionally? Did he think they would poison him by accident, or on purpose?
Weird flex but ok
@@cameo64 This meme is dead.
@@ilanlm1 weird flex, but ok
I have a similar policy: I won’t eat anything cooked by an English person.
This program basically shows you how even a working man in living in reasonably well off country in the modern era could be richer than even the most powerful kings of europe back in the medieval era standards of living wise.
well, I think pretty much everyone with a roof over their head in the western world lives better than any medieval king. two words: flowing water.
@@GalliadII Well the Romans already had a version of that centuries before that period. Actually, aside from flowing water, I would argue true globalisation. After all, think of all the food you are able to eat nowadays relatively cheap: Indian, Chinese, Korean, Arab, Mexican...etc, all within a few hours travelling distance if you live in a big city. Even if you are the King of England, most of what you can eat are sourced locally.
@@tat3179 yes the romans had it, but medieval europeans did not. there was an attitude against all things roman during the middle ages. this did not change until the renaisance began. and yes, I agree. But still this food looks great as well.
@@GalliadII Sure, my point is while flowing water is vital, our true wealth in this generation we are in is the fact that the resources and cultures of the entire planet is within our reach, within reasonable limits of course.
@@tat3179 most of them anyways. ^^
but consider the luxury to be able to flush your toilet. there are people alive today who do not even know what a toilet is.
I once heared a story of african refugues who washed potatos in the toilet, because they did not know what it was.
I can't stop rewatching this. Chris is compelling.
It is very interesting to know that in Medieval time, physicians know properties of food too. I always thought this is only known to Chinese/ Eastern people. 'tis true that I remember when my father donated his blood he cooked a pot of chicken stew with ginseng and dates. I didn't liked that sweet flavoured protein too much but guess that's what a body which is weak (wet and cold ) craves for. It is also why when people catches cold should drink ginger tea because ginger is also is warm in its food property.
The theory of hot cold wet is actually really common when it comes to Chinese medicine treatment, I am not surprised with this.
I was thinking the same thing.
michael hu It comes from India and slowly migrated to South East Asia and China then later Japan. Not a big leap from India to europe, considering they are much more related than India and east asia.
Yeah the first europeans t write bout this were the greek. It probably spread by the beginning of antiquity
@@npg68 do you keep any rabbits ??? ; )
Would have come into Europe via Arab physicians who would have picked up through their trading networks with the Far East.
Oh my gosh, I want to stick my whole head in that spice box
@@aalexjohna LMAO
@@aalexjohna dead
@@jedediahoakwynn-dough5769 nope not enough, fraid that will make the problem much worse
@@aalexjohna username checks out
@@aalexjohna IM FUCKING SCREAMING
I love how happy and fascinated you both are, she’s so happy that you and all of us watching are enjoying this so much
MANN i just discovered this channel. its absolutely badass. great production quality, great subjects.. youtube as it should be :)
Thanks.
you're spot on! the disinfectant used during a root canal is sourced from clove oil (it's horrifying tasting though!)
Clove oil also is a local anesthetic to numb the pain.
I have a cook book that was my father's grandmother, 19 the Century, my father always talked about Oxtail Stew, I found a recipe in that book. It took about 8 hours to cook. I made it for him 💔😢a short time before he died, which is a good memory for me!
My mother was still making oxtail soup when I was a kid in the 70s. It was a very economical food as oxtail could be gotten cheaply at the grocery store.
Their enthusiasm is contagious.
Can this women please make her own youtube channel reading some books or something? Her voice is so pleasant i could literally listen to her all day.
I enjoy this woman, she would be seen on the show more!
Grains of paradise are not pepper. They taste completely different and are in their own specific family. Never buy spices pre-ground. They will only last less than a year but if you buy whole spices and crush or great them yourself in a sealed container they will last forever. I want those glasses! :-)
grate
I think she meant pepper as in TASTE. They do have a peppery taste and were often used the same way.
You & her make such a wonderful team or duo in the whole food series. I would like to see more videos with Chris in them? Lol Your like the experimental taste tester and she is like this medieval chef scientist lady lol.
This is aboslutely awesome what is being done in this channel. I'm from Poland where I have my stables and I enjoy long distance horse riding ( recently I have done 600km in 15 days on a horseback including outdoor sleeping ), but I'm also very much in history. I'm passionate about wild food and medieval and pre-medieval methods of cooking, preserving and gathering of foods. Don't ever give up investigating these topics! If you ever came across of a book written by Lukasz Luczaj - the professor of the University here in Poland, do read it. He has learned a lot about wild growing plants (visiting and working in the countryside in China ) the ways of preparing, storing and cooking, but also about outdoor cooking and living. You might find it helpful in your research.
I’ll see if I can find that book, thanks. What do you do with your horse when you are asleep when you’re travelling?
@@ModernKnight keep it safe and tie it to an area and fall asleep
Spices are still expensive. Take a look at how much you pay per ounce! The difference is the availability of them.
Wanda Pease Never buy spices in the supermaket. There usually cost way more and are of worse quality then the ones I get on amazob.
saffron and vanilla beans are most expensive
The sad part is that it's now expensive even in parts of the world where they used to be in abundance and costed very little, it's because they now have to be "exported"!
@@redchilli450 makes sense why Amazon is cheaper now
@Holden Mcgroine I grew up seeing certain spices on my mom's spice rack NEVER lose a single speck of mass from birth to 18.
These Medieval food videos are so fascinating! Food is such a familiar experience, and to think of how we can relate to the same taste sensations that people so many hundreds of years ago would have experience really brings it to life. At to that all the extra facts of culture, commodities, class and community, it's just all incredibly interesting. It's also highlighted to me just how long bacon consumption has been for us, and how even the idea of novelty and souvenir spoons can be traced all the way back to Medieval royalty, there are so many gems of information packed into these videos. Thank you so much for making them.
Romans had their own (obviously tomatoless) form of pizza. That always gets me
My grandmother (Netherlands) still used to make pears in spiced wine. So do I occasionally. It is delicious!
"oh there are even odder jobs" made me laugh out loud!
Get this woman a cooking show! This is one of my favorite channels on UA-cam, btw.
"The throne of Gondor is MINE, and no other's!!" - Jason Kingsley
I love the Lord of series of books read them through twice. This comment made me laugh! Thanks! It was fun!
Haha Gondor, good times...
This is what I once believed archaeology was about--people and how they worked alone and together, hunted, gathered, grew, cooked and ate, wore, made and celebrated, perhaps with how and why. But with only an oral tradition (as in North America), I kept being told I was wrong and could't interpret material culture like that, so I took up writing instead. You've given me fresh interest in material culture, thanks!
I would love to see more peasant dishes. More exploration of the peasant diet. I want to have my own kitchen garden and cook seasonally so seeing the ways that peasants used to do that would be super interesting.
The fact that poorer people often have better meals is true even now. In developing countries like South Asia food is picked, meat slaughtered in the afternoon and sold out by the evening and the household consumes the fresh food on the same day, and fresh food and milk are bought daily, often from the source, unlike a lot of developing countries where food sits on the shelves or fridge for days. No wonder the food tastes so much better even in humble settings.
Also crops are grown for flavour and not longevity on the shelves so often the species cultivated have better flavours and the freshness adds to it.
sushanalone the food is also leaps and bounds more nutritious than factory farmed food eaten throughout most of the 1st world.
adrianna same here. Rich people can afford organic and healthier food whereas poor people here rely on microwave meals and fast food dollar menus.
@adrianna same where i live
Lentils and rice are cheaper than fast food everywhere in the world. Poor people rely on fast food because they are worked so hard to make enough to pay their bills, they don't have time or energy to cook. This is also why rich banker types tend to eat unhealthy, they don't have time so they eat drive thru fast food for breakfast and lunch.
gddmn lol bankers have plenty spare time you fool
the two people showing, are so fun to watch, just lovely...
10:51
I was like: This glass looks like from a town near my home in the Czech Republic.
a few moments later: :O :O fucking knew it 😂
This needs to be at my first renaissance festival! I absolutely love the enthusiasm and passion in this video from them, great video, thank you all!
That kind of sugar is common in Mexico, we call it "piloncillo" or "panela". I did not know it was used then. Interesting video :D
I am smitten. When I watched her pull out the rolled bark, (thick, dry, tough) and announce it wasn't Cinnamon, but Cassia.....I became a believer.
Cinnamon is diaphanous, paper thin, crumbly, and fabulous. Cassia is none of those things.
Carry on!
That the spice box was so valuable makes me think of an interesting D&D heist plot. The PCs break into a lord's manor. Instead of going for their stash of gold or jewels, they'd be angling for the lord's spice box. Complete with needing to get the key off the lady's belt, whether through stealthy pick-pocketing, or the, ahem, "bardic approach".
good idea!
i love them both!
i can't believe i watched a bunch of videos on this channel before but i forgot to subscribe until today
Lol the fork was an evil foreign French thing
Vince Evans
Byzantine*
not only that - it was also the tool of the devil. that at least was a concern in germany/HRE.
Ancient Assyrian nobility was already using forks , eating with hands was considered not classy back then.
This is modern misconception like the one with beer been consumed more than water. They didnt use forks most of the time, because simply, everyone was carrying the knives, it was both tool, and eating instrument. If you are peasant you wold probably eat smoked/cured pork as the main meat source, it is really comfortable to slice, and eat with the knife. Same with the fish, it”s quite ok to eat with the small knife.
When my great grandmother died in 1993, she died knowing our families recipes from the old world, over 500 years of recipes from mash, bangers, figgy pudding, homemade Hops, field rabbit, and seasoned mutton. I was able to read the recipes thank god she wrote them down but dammit it’s difficult because it was in Scottish Gaelic.
Reject modernity, embrace tradition. What if you learn or find someone that knows Gaelic and make a new translation of the book?
He such a great conversationalist. I find his choice of words strangely satisfying.
I would LOVE to see a small series on preparing foods for certain weathers and statuses.
Not a clue why this was recommended to me, but it's so interesting I'll be watching more now.
And forks were invented by the (Eastern) Romans. The fork was introduced to Western Europe by Theophanu, the niece of Tzimiskes and wife of Otto II.
I love all your videos! Thanks for doing all this for us! Keep it up
This was good stuff, supplemented my SCA knowledge very well. It actually brought to the fore that in SCA we focus on dishes and recipes, but not on how people went about eating - the mechanics of it, like the shoulder towel and not using your left hand, for instance. One thing with this video, I would have liked to see him doing more of the actual eating - cutting the food and using the knife, finding what bits he needs to use a spoon for, etc.
The SCA has some of the greatest feasts anyone will ever eat! I remember the food was so good that it was superior to the finest resturants in Europe or the US.
If you're at a SCA feast, you will definitely be eating well that night!😉😄
These are so fun to watch! Thank you for such interesting food history!
This was fun to watch. Thank you!
Now I don't feel so weird. I have this pull to look at peoples spice racks or spice cupboards. Haha
Haha 😁
You're not alone there
One of the best history series. I clicked like before I watch this video.
Thanks
This must be one of the best sites on UA-cam.The whole production is class.
Great channel! I love your work. The history of foods is as interesting to me as any other.
This is a lovely series. I wanna cook everything on the menu now!
My Aunt worked fro a Laboratory in the early 1940s until she retired when she was 73. the owner of the laboratory said they would detect sugar in the urine by taste! I still find this amazing.
I discovered you today! Just so happy, your videos are very interesting and informative. Compliments from an italian history student at university! Francesca
Absolutely loving this series! The food episodes are very interesting. The host is fantastic. Bravo!
These videos are actually great. I feel like I've learnt a lot, but it also got me quite hungry. Cheers, Ser!
I'm so happy to have stumbled on this channel. Utterly fascinating, and beautifully presented. Hope to see more of Chris as well. She's awesome!
Welcome aboard!
I am REALLY enjoying this medieval food series!
Please post more!