Buck+Walsh

=The Food of the Elizabethan Era Society=

The people of the Elizabethan Era were relatively well-fed, even by modern standards and travelers from around Europe were often impressed by the hearty diet of England. With the exceptions of the severe shortages of 1586-88 and 1594-98, the Elizabethan Era had relatively good harvests and even people of the lower classes were well fed compared to those of the rest of Europe. This said however, food production was a hard process and incredibly tedious by today's standards, and so there was a higher level of frugality, often appreciated even by the upper class. A hierarchy system was developed to avoid wasting food: aristocratic families would give their leftovers to their servants who would, after eating their fill, pass on their leftovers to the poor in the streets (Singman, 1995). Such a social construct reflected how the separate classes lived on different food, often the lower classes eating what was available because the upper class turned their noses at it. From a modern perspective, we can see this didn't always benefit the nobles as much as they might have thought.

Meals
Breakfast was the first meal of the day, but was usually very quick or skipped altogether. Those who did eat breakfast usually ate upon waking from around 6-7am (elizabethan-era.org). Simple breakfasts could be porridge, pottage (stew), or leftover scraps. More substantial breakfasts could include ale or wine, butter or cheese, and some form of meat. Dinner was the midday meal and usually the largest meal of the day for common people. Upper class tended to have their largest meal in the evening during supper (Singman, 1995). However, these main meals were not the only time people were eating, and all classes tended to have snacks during the day, usually consisting of bread, cold meats, and ale. Peasants might bring such snacks to the field on long workdays and get by on their rations of bottled beer, bread, cheese, and butter. Aristocratic snacks (for events such as hunting parties, etc.) included cold meat, pies and sausages (Singman, 1995).

Diet
The staples of the Elizabethan Era were bread, meat, and fish, with bread being the most important though it was less crucial a food in England than the rest of Europe (thelostcolony.org). For making bread, wheat was the favored grain, and people preferred the bread to be as white as possible, though this amounted to a bread as dark as modern whole wheat at best (Singman, 1995). The upper class who could afford such luxury, purchased the small hand-loafs called "manchet" or the less refined "cheat". Those who couldn't afford wheat had to make do with rye or barely, or even beans or peas or oats if they were desperate. Without the modern technology of zip-lock or fridges, bread quickly went stale. Even this however, was put to use as stale bread became bread pudding and the crumbs used to thicken stews, soups, and sauces (Singman, 1995). Alternatively their were biscuit. Invented by the Crusaders, these kept longer and proved useful in cases such as on ships and were considered a convenience food (thelostcolony.org). Meat was the primary food of the upper class and readily available at livestock markets (thelostcolony.org). Unlike bread, meat was much more important to the diet of England than the rest of Europe. England consumed a wider variety of meat in the 16th century than it does today if that says anything. As far as red meats go there was beef, mutton, veal, lamb, kid, and pork, while poultry included chicken, duck, geese, peacock, heron, and pigeon (Singman, 1995). There was also goat and bacon. Game such as deer, boar, hare and rabbit were also available, but only nobles were allowed to hunt them and the punishment for poaching was having your hands chopped off (elizabethan-era.org). There was also a vast range of fish and seafood consumed in the Elizabethan Era, though mostly by the upper class. England was supplied with a wide variety of sea and fresh water fish including cod, herring, salmon, eel, whiting, trout, and pike. The costal areas also supplied shell fish includingcrabs, oysters, mussels, and cockles (elizabethan-era.org). In order to support the English fisheries (and English sea-power in general), Elizabeth reinstated the ban of eating meat during the season on Lent, as well as Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, throughout the season of Advent, and on the eve of cetain holy days; amounting in total to over a third of the entire year. Though these bans were never strictly followed, seafood still proved a handy substitute when meat was not available as it was relatively cheap, sold throughout the country, and preservable by means of salting, drying, or pickling (Singman, 1995).

Aside from these three staple foods, the diet of the Elizabethans was fairly unbalanced, particularly that of the upper class rather than the lower. Though household gardens, prevalent even in big cities, provided a variety of vegetables (then referred to almost entirely as "herbs"), there was a relatively low consumption of the food group, especially among the rich. Because unprepared foods like fresh vegetables and fruits were viewed suspiciously, they were rarely eaten by the upper class. Additionally, food that came from the ground was seen as unfit for the wealthy and left to the consumption of the poor. The same mentality was applied to dairy products, only to the lower class' nutritional benefit. The only vegetables that the upper class might have eaten regularly were rape, onion, garlic, and leaks. Though uncooked food was deemed suspicious, people generally did consume a decent amount of fruits as it was their main source of sugar. And Elizabethans //loved// their sugar. The Portuguese had been the leaders in spice and sugar trade, but the supply of sugar in Europe was greatly increased when Spain introduced sugar production to their Caribbean territories. The amount of sugar England was able to buy through the European trading channels was enough to justify opening up to seven sugar refineries by the end of the 16th century that produces sugar loafs from molasses and cone shaped loaves of varying purity. These sold for a shilling a pound which meant only the rich could afford them (Meads, 2001). Everyone however, seemed to be obtaining sweeteners in some way or other; those who could afford it indulging in expensive sugars and honey as well as sweet foods like ginger breads, cakes, candies, marzipan and marmalade (Singman, 1995). Without the necessary consumption of vegetables or dairy products and the dangerous over addiction to sugar, it comes as not surprise that the nutrition (or lack-there-of) especially of the upper class, was one to make Albert cry. People, particularity the wealthy, lacked vitamin C, fiber, and calcium, resulting in a variety of maladies including skin disease, scurvy, and rickets. Additionally, the upper class' over indulgence of sugar resulted in severely blackened teeth, so much that it became fashionable to have dark teeth as proof you were getting your necessary sugar. Elizabethans went so far as to use cosmetics to blacken their teeth if they actually couldn't afford the necessary sugar (elizabethan-era.org).

Works Cited

“The Elizabethan Era.” //Elizabethan Food//. Google, n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2010.  “Elizabethan Era Food and Drink.” //The Lost Colony’s Education Pages//. LK Associates, 2009. Web. 24 Sept. 2010. . Meads, Chris. //Banquets Set Forth: Banqueting in English Renaissance Drama//. New York: Manchester University Press, 2001. Print. Singman, Jeffrey L. //Daily Life in Elizabethan England//. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 1995. Print.