8-5Food

Answer prepared by Michelle B.**
 * What were popular types of banquets, feasts, food, and drinks like in Elizabethan England?

Although it was not the vast majority of people who got to dine in the lavish ways of Queen Elizabeth 1, there were different sorts of banquets and feasts that were popular to those, as whom we call now “socialites” in society. Since few people could qualify as such a regal stature in England, the common person in England during the Elizabethan time period dined in a completely different fashion. The completely impoverished people had their own ways of eating too, so there were many different levels of what a meal would be considered. Breakfast was not qualified as a meal, but more of just something you have quickly as you get up and start your work day, but the two main meals of the day were dinner, which was around the time of lunch for us, and supper which would be like dinner for us. Laws state that they were not allowed to eat meat on Fridays and Saturdays, because they wanted to support the fish industry. Most food in this time period was sweeter than food is today.

The people who lived in very tough conditions, and were below the poverty level didn’t have the options, or that means of paying for the food like the Queen. Bread was a common staple for these sorts of people. The bread that they ate wasn’t anything fancy, they rarely use anything other than barley or rye. In awful times they just used beans, oats, and peas. They also ate cheese, and ale, but as you can tell they didn’t have very elaborate diets.

The average middle class person didn’t eat in the same limited way as the impoverished citizens, but they also weren’t very excessive when it came to eating. Meats, and fish were available for these people to eat, but they also had a variety of vegetables, fruits, and nuts available to them. Some of the meats that that people enjoyed eating were different wild animals such as deer, boar, and rabbit, but also domestic animals such as beef, veal pork, chicken, and swans were popular among these sorts of people, but they weren’t among the upper class. Some vegetables that were common were garlic, peas, onions, asparagus, and many others. Also, apples, plums, lemons, goose and mulberries, raisins, and many types of seeds were popular. There were many different types of alcoholic beverages that you could find during this time. Some of these are Perry, a slightly alcoholic pear cider, Brandywine, a distilled wine, and other sorts of wine that were rather sweet and heavy, therefore you would strain them. They were a thicker substance, containing different types of residue from the grapes or other things that were used to make them; therefore you would strain them so that when you drink it none of that is there. Also, they drank beer, which was usually ale, a relatively flat drink that can be flavored with almost anything.

The upper class including the queen got to dine in the most extravagant fashion, whether it was banquets or just fancy feasts they always had a large meal with many different options available to them. Not only was the quality of the food important, but the presentation of the food was equally important. Some of the best ways of displaying your wealth was by presenting expensive food in an intricate creative way. For example if you were serving a peacock as a course during supper, or at a banquet you could use the peacock feathers to create eccentric display. The many course meals that were served often consisted of all kinds of meats such as, lamb, beef, mutton, pork, bacon, veal, rabbit, hare, peacock, goose, blackbirds, and pigeon. Also, fish was served. Vegetables and fruit were sometimes included in these huge meals, but often time the roasted or boiled meat was served with bread. They were very fond of sugar and marzipan, but since they were more expensive to import they were used typically for special banquets.

As you can see food was an important piece of the Elizabethan time period. Whether it was just living off of bread and cheese which you had to dole out, or whether you were having extravagant feasts and banquets the people during this time period valued their food, but the extent of food they consumed varied depending on the persons’ place in society. So if you like a luxurious meal you might want to try traveling back to be a noble figure in the Elizabethan age.

author unknown. "Elizabethan Banquet & Feast." __Elizabethan Era__. unknown. 6 Mar 2009 .
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