IS FEAR A FACTOR
FOR YOU?
IT’S ON
Renaissance
Food and Drink
What People Ate During
Shakespeare’s Time
Bread
• Bread is a staple (biggest part of every meal)
• The bread of the lower classes is made with
cheaper grains than wheat: barley and rye,
• Lower class bread had grit in it.
• The bread of the upper classes was made with a
higher proportion of wheat, Stale bread was cut
into squares and used for trenchers -- a surface
on which to serve the other food and sauces.
Breakfast
• Not the most important meal of the day
• Usually a piece of bread in wine or ale,
and maybe a little leftover cold meat pie
Main Meal of the Day was Lunch
• Large banquets were a sign of nobility
• Meat was also a sign of nobility or for
special occasions only, so was fruit.
• Shellfish were considered a food for poor
people (bottom feeder animals)
Cutlery
• During the Renaissance, cutlery was not
widely used
• Cutlery was introduced around the time of
Shakespeare’s death, but was only used
in the most wealthy households
• Therefore, people ate with their hands
Nobles vs. Poor
• Nobles ate large amounts of
food, eating was celebrated
• Had large meals, servants ate leftovers,
then went to the poor waiting outside
• Poor ate a lot of stew.
Drinks
• Water was not safe (sewage and other
contaminants)
• Mostly drank beer, ale, honey-mead, wine,
almond milk and buttermilk
Foods we have that
they did not have
• Vanilla
• Chocolate
• Potatoes
• Coffee
• Tea
Table Manners
•
•
•
•
Can’t blow nose with fingers
Can’t scratch anatomical part
Must throw bones on the floor
A burp at the end of the meal is
considered polite
Are you ready for the Renaissance
Fear Factor Dinner?
• 3 teams of 10
• Rules: Different person must try each food
• Points: 10 points for a chew and swallow
• 8 points for chewing and swallowing part of it
•
•
•
•
•
6 points for swallowing without nose held
5 points for swallowing with holding nose
4 points for sticking it in your mouth
2 points for licking
0 points for a refusal
Winners
• Team with the most points at the end wins
a prize
• IS FEAR A FACTOR FOR YOU??????
1st Drink
• Buttermilk! (Because water was not clean)
Turnip!
• Potatoes have not really been discovered
yet (new world crop)
Artichokes
• Actually eaten raw
• Usually Elizabethans thought raw foods
gave them gas
Mystery #1??????
Liver
• Remember that the Elizabethan's didn’t
waste anything
“… and I ate his liver with some
fava beans and a nice Chianti…”
Salted and Pickled Herring
• A way of preserving meat
• Another way was to bury meat at least 3
feet underground with salt and spices
Meat Covered in Sugar
• For some reason, the Elizabethans were
obsessed with sugar
• Expensive item because they had to
import it from North America
Mystery #2
Escargot!
• England is surrounded by water
Figs
• Renaissance
was obsessed
with exotic
food, especially
Greek food
(Renaissance
was a re-birth
of Greek and
Roman culture)
Blue Cheese
• Accidentally discovered due to a lack of
refrigeration
• Gorgonzola
(the kind you
are eating) was
discovered in
879.
Mystery # 3
Horseradish Root
• Raw Horseradish root
• No refrigeration in Renaissance, so
needed strong spices to cover up the taste
of rotten meat
• Also, meat often boiled all day, so spices
help make up for lack of taste
VENI, VIDI, VICI
• You came, You saw, You
Conquered your
RENAISSANCE FEAR
FACTOR DINNER.
• The barf bags are to your
right as you exit the
classroom.
Mystery #4
Cow Tongue
• In the Renaissance
meat was rare, so
they didn’t waste
any part of the
Animal
Very fatty and filling