Cooking in the Middle Ages: Wealthy Knights Ate Like the Indians

 

 

“Medieval cuisine was more diverse than its reputation suggests. The Darmstadt historian Stephan Ebert is researching what people ate 700 years ago – and what that revealed about their social status.

 

When people think of the Middle Ages, they often imagine lavish banquets. Servants, wine, a roasted suckling pig. Food was an expression of wealth, power, and honor. Serfs, on the other hand, did not dine opulently at all: they had to make do with simple dishes such as carrot or cabbage soup. The prevailing idea is that those who could afford it ate predominantly meat-heavy, rich, and monotonous meals.

Stephan Ebert is researching what really ended up on the tables back then. He is a lecturer in Medieval History at the Technical University of Darmstadt and, among other things, conducts "Food Studies." Occasionally, he gives seminars in which students can learn about the culinary arts of the Middle Ages. Recipes from top chefs of the 13th to 15th centuries are reinterpreted using modern ingredients. In Germany, there are only a few scientists who are dedicated to researching medieval food culture.

Medieval cuisine resembled today's Indian cuisine. - Stephan Ebert

The slender historian with the long, curly hair doesn't look like a gourmet at first glance. Yet, as a boy, he was already passionate about cooking in his grandmother's kitchen. While other children watched cartoons in the afternoons, he learned how to bake strudel. After his doctoral thesis on famines in the Middle Ages, he was able to combine his passion for food with his research. He is fascinated not only by the recipes, often handwritten in Middle High German, but also by the connections between the Middle Ages and modern times. Many dishes today differ little from medieval dishes. Preparation and taste have changed primarily due to modern equipment and shorter cooking times.

 

Exotic Spices as Status Symbols

 

Surprisingly, the aromatic richness of late medieval dishes can be compared to today's Indian cuisine. "Spices like saffron, cloves, sugar, and other oriental spices appear frequently," explains Ebert. "These products were not available locally but had to be imported." The ingredients were intended to promote health as well as enhance the prestige of those who could afford such ingredients. The more colorful and exotic the dishes, the higher one's social standing.

 

However, contrary to appearances, simple fare was also eaten at court in everyday life. Banquets, on the other hand, were carefully staged events: the order of the courses, the selection of ingredients, and the table manners revealed the rank of the guests. People did not eat with knives and forks, but with their fingers. However, anyone who subsequently wiped their greasy hands on the tablecloth stood out negatively – bowls of water were passed around for cleaning.

Healing from the Cooking Pot

Even in the late Middle Ages, food was considered a remedy. "It was assumed that a good cook was also a kind of doctor," says Ebert. "Food was supposed to balance the so-called four bodily humors: blood, phlegm, yellow and black bile. Every dish could therefore also have a medicinal effect." Sugar was considered a panacea in the Middle Ages and, like salt today, was sprinkled on every dish. However, some spices that ended up in the cooking pot back then, such as tansy, could lead to poisoning if used in the wrong dosage. Ebert avoids such ingredients in his dishes.

 

Some foods have to be replaced with others because they no longer exist. "I once prepared hazel grouse. The recipe only said: hazel grouse, grated bread, egg, tansy, parsley, sage – fry it, bake it, and serve." Firstly, there are no more hazel grouse in Germany, and secondly, the preparation is demanding: time, quantities, and the cooking process must be estimated and experimented with. Ultimately, the medieval taste can never be authentically recreated. Agriculture, the quality of ingredients, and cooking methods have fundamentally changed, and modern appliances make cooking considerably easier.

Authentic preparation in an open-air laboratory

At the Lauresham archaeological open-air laboratory in Lorsch, Stephan Ebert gave his students insight into ancient cooking methods. While some were enthusiastic about the work, others encountered practical limitations, such as cutting ingredients with medieval tools. And questions arose: How do you regulate the smoke? How do you hang the cooking pot correctly? How do you clean clay pots that break easily? All in all, it was a wonderful experience for the participants.

 

"Only through such experiments does it become clear how physically demanding it was, and  explain how strenuous cooking was back then, what tools were used, and how attention had to be paid to details such as smoke, heat, and the properties of the materials used.”

 

One thing is particularly important to Stephan Ebert: “Medieval cuisine was by no means bland.” He says it was creative, diverse, and surprisingly modern. Vegetarian meals were more common than one might think, albeit for different reasons than today: Especially on fasting days, meat was often absent from the table.”