Tudor food and drink

Tudor food is the food consumed during the Tudor period of English history, from 1485 through 1603. Rich people commonly held banquets.

Food

Vegetables

The common vegetables used in the Tudor period were onions and cabbages, but nearer the end of the Tudor period, new foods were brought over from the Americas, such as tomatoes, potatoes, and peppers.

Meat

The poor ate whatever meat they could find, such as rabbits, blackbirds, pheasants, partridges, hens, ducks, and pigeons, and also fish they caught from lakes and rivers. Meanwhile, the rich people also ate more costly varieties of meat, such as swan, peafowl, geese, boar, and deer (venison).[1]

Herbs

Herbs were often used by rich Tudors to flavour their meals. They created separate herb gardens to grow what they needed, such as parsley, mint, rosemary, thyme and sage.[1]

Bread

Tudors of all classes consumed bread in all of their meals as the main source of carbohydrates; however, its quality varied. The cheapest bread available was Carter's bread, which was a mixture of rye and wheat. The middle class or prosperous tenants ate ravel—also known as yeoman's bread—made of wholemeal. The most expensive bread was manchet, made of white wheat flour.[2]

Banquets and feasts

The aristocrats held banquets and feasts consisting of different courses where each course had a variety of dishes brought out at the same time. People then could choose what they wanted to eat.[3]

starter

Tudor foods laid during a re-enactment

Tudor pies on pewter plates at Hampton Court

Brawn (boar meat)
roast tongue
Leg of pork
Roast beef
deer
Meat pie
Vegetables in season
Bread
Wine

main course

Roast lamb
Rabbit
Bread
Preserved fruit
Gingerbread
Sugared almonds
Deer pie
Fish pie

Beverages

Everyone drank ale during the Tudor period, as water was considered unhealthy. Ale at the time was brewed without hops, and was not particularly alcoholic.[2] The rich also drank wine,[1] which was mostly imported from Europe, though some wine was produced by vineyards in Southern England.

The rich drank from wine glasses imported from Italy, which were incredibly expensive, while the poor drank from wooden goblets and cups.[1]

Table manners

Having clean hands was very important, as several people would dig into a common dish with their fingers. Therefore, they were advised by "Miss Manners" of the day to wash their hands out in the open where everyone could see, to make sure that they were clean.[4] Besides that, manuals for manners from the Renaissance and Middle Ages listed some things that were frowned upon at the dinner table, including:

Putting fingers in the ears.
Putting hands on the heads.
Blowing nose with the hands.
Men were told to refrain from scratching.
Blowing noses off or wiping off sweat with napkins.
Poking around on a plate, probably looking for the better piece of food.
Throwing bones on the floor. The proper place for bones was a platter.
The release of wind.

References

"Tudor Food and Drink: Facts and Information | Primary Facts". primaryfacts.com. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
"Tudor England Food & Drink Facts - What Did Tudors Eat?". English History. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
"The Medieval Menu". tudorhistory.org. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
"Table manners". tudorhistory.org. Retrieved 2016-03-16.