8-4Food

What were Popular Types of Banquets, Feasts, Food, and Drink in Elizabethan England? //Answer prepared by Hudson B// There was an enormous variety of food, drinks, and methods of cooking in the Queen Elizabeth times of England. A lot of what you ate in Elizabeth England depended on your wealth. The food eaten by wealthier people was much different than the food eaten by the poor. In fact, aristocratic family’s leftovers were given to the servants to eat, and the servants leftovers were brought to the door for distribution to the poor. As you can see, the food people ate did in fact vary substantially. The very first meal of the day was breakfast. Breakfast was usually more of an informal meal rather than a sit-down meal. In fact, many people didn’t eat breakfast at all. An average breakfast included food such as porridge, pottage, or even leftovers. A more hearty and sturdy breakfast could include fruit, bread with butter or cheese, wine or ale, and a meat such as beef, mutton, or chicken. The two main meals of the day were dinner and supper. In Elizabeth England, dinner was eaten at around noon and supper was eaten from 6 p.m. to 9p.m. Dinner was the largest meal for most people. Simpler meals were usually served all at once, but wealthier meals might have several courses. In many cases, people ate snacks outside of these meals. When people felt hungry, they might eat some cold food or bread and maybe some ale. Since water was not very clean, people usually drank ale and sometimes wine.

In Elizabeth England, people consumed lots of bread, meat, dairy products, fruits and vegetables, and seasonings and spices. A lot of bread was eaten in Elizabethan times and was served at almost every meal. The best bread people could eat was lighter colored bread called manchet. The second finest bread was called cheat, and was a little less refined than manchet. Poorer people tended to eat bread such as rye, barley, or mixed-grained bread. Elizabeth England was also known for its wonderful meats. There were four types of meat in Elizabeth England: red meat, poultry, game meats, and fish. Red meat included beef, mutton, veal, lamb and pork. Poultry consisted of chickens, ducks, geese, and pigeons. For game meats there was deer, rabbit, and birds. According to the book Daily Life in Elizabeth England, more seafood was eaten in Elizabeth England than today and included cod, herring, oysters, mussels, flounder, mackerel, salmon, eel, whiting, plaice, crab, shrimp, trout, and pike. The less fortunate derived most of their protein from eggs, butter, milk, and nuts. Vegetables also played a big role in English food and it was very common for people to have gardens at home. Home grown vegetables such as artichokes, asparagus, cucumbers, radish, spinach, lettuce, beans, leeks, peas, and cabbage were very commonly eaten. Most fruits, spices, and seasonings grew in household gardens as well. As you can see, there were many types of food in Elizabeth England.

Elizabeth England had specific styles of cooking and eating. First of all, all cooking in Elizabeth England involved a fire. There were six main cooking methods during the time of Queen Elizabeth: baking, spit roasting, boiling, salting, frying, and smoking. Most people cooked food in pots, kettles, pans, cauldrons, and skillets. Eating utensils at the dining table usually consisted of a spoon, a wooden plate, a bowl, and a linen napkin. People ate meat with a range of knives, forks, and ladles. Drinking vessels were also placed on the dining table and varied from beakers to goblets or even to wooden bowls. Elizabeth England had a great variety of cooking methods and eating utensils as well food.

Works Cited "Elizabethan Food Availability." //Elizabethan Food Availability//. 8 Apr 2009 .  "Elizabethan Food." __Elizabethan Food__. 8 Mar 2009 . Singman, Jeffrey. //Daily Life in Elizabethan England//. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1995. Print. Stewart, Gail. //Elizabethan England Life in Elizabethan London//. Farmington Hill: Lucent Books, 2003. Print.