Like people throughout the ages, medieval men and women enjoyed food and drink and a feast in the Middle Ages was an eagerly anticipated event for people of all classes. During the medieval age, the threat of starvation hung over all but the very wealthy. A bad harvest could mean months of food shortages and only the very rich could afford to import food to make up for any shortfall.
The Food That Was Served at a Medieval Feast
For most people, the food which was be served at a special occasion, was that which could be obtained locally. For a feast, the food would be provided in more abundance than usual, and more attention would have gone into its preparation, but it would still be food which had been obtained from the local area and most probably grown in the area in which it was eaten.
The time of year also had a lot to do with which food was served. Animals were slaughtered after harvest, ready for winter and salted to preserve the meat which could then be eaten during the winter months. It was forbidden to eat meat during Lent or Advent and two of the biggest feasts; Easter and Christmas were held to celebrate an end to weeks of abstinence, reason enough for most people to enjoy a hearty meal of the foods they had been forbidden for so long.
Feasting in the Household of a Noble or Royal Family in Medieval Times
Noble and royal families had the greatest access to a variety of food in the Middle Ages. These households could afford to buy meat, to import wine and buy spices to enliven the dishes that were served. Spices were a sign of status and liberal use of various tastes and textures was a way to show guests at a feast that their host was a man of means.
Wealthy households would serve at least five dishes during a feast and the leftovers were given to the poor afterwards. Dishes could include a beautifully presented bird, such as a swan, meat served in breadcrumbs, heavily boiled vegetables and white bread. One of the best known delicacies is the ‘four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie’ immortalised in the popular nursery rhyme. The birds were placed into a cooled pie and when the pie was cut, flew free.
The fruit served at the end of the meal was seasonal, and often baked with spices, served alongside a selection of fine wines.
The whole experience was as much about entertainment as eating and there was a real sense of occasion. Because food was often so hard to come by, when it was available at a celebration, it was appreciated all the more
Source
Elliott, Lynne Food and Feasts in the Middle Ages [Crabtree, 2004]
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