Renaiss

an

ceIS FEAR A FACTOR FOR YOU?

IT’S ON

Renaissance Food and Drink

What People Ate During Shakespeare’s Time

Bread

• Bread is a staple (biggest part of every meal) • The bread of the lower classes is made with

cheaper grains than wheat: barley and rye,• Lower class bread had grit in it. • The bread of the upper classes was made with a

higher proportion of wheat, Stale bread was cut into squares and used for trenchers -- a surface on which to serve the other food and sauces.

Breakfast

• Not the most important meal of the day

• Usually a piece of bread in wine or ale, and maybe a little leftover cold meat pie

Main Meal of the Day was Lunch

• Large banquets were a sign of nobility

• Meat was also a sign of nobility or for special occasions only, so was fruit.

• Shellfish were considered a food for poor people (bottom feeder animals)

Cutlery

• During the Renaissance, cutlery was not widely used

• Cutlery was introduced around the time of Shakespeare’s death, but was only used in the most wealthy households

• Therefore, people ate with their hands

Nobles vs. Poor• Nobles ate large amounts of

food, eating was celebrated

• Had large meals, servants ate leftovers, then went to the poor waiting outside

• Poor ate a lot of stew.

Drinks

• Water was not safe (sewage and other contaminants)

• Mostly drank beer, ale, honey-mead, wine, almond milk and buttermilk

Foods we have that they did not have

• Vanilla

• Chocolate

• Potatoes

• Coffee

• Tea

Table Manners

• Can’t blow nose with fingers

• Can’t scratch anatomical part

• Must throw bones on the floor

• A burp at the end of the meal is considered polite

Are you ready for the Renaissance Fear Factor Dinner?

• 3 teams of 10• Rules: Different person must try each food• Points: 10 points for a chew and swallow• 8 points for chewing and swallowing part of it• 6 points for swallowing without nose held• 5 points for swallowing with holding nose• 4 points for sticking it in your mouth• 2 points for licking• 0 points for a refusal

Winners

• Team with the most points at the end wins a prize

• IS FEAR A FACTOR FOR YOU??????

1st Drink

• Buttermilk! (Because water was not clean)

Turnip!

• Potatoes have not really been discovered yet (new world crop)

Artichokes

• Actually eaten raw

• Usually Elizabethans thought raw foods gave them gas

Mystery #1??????

Liver

• Remember that the Elizabethan's didn’t waste anything

“… and I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti…”

Salted and Pickled Herring

• A way of preserving meat

• Another way was to bury meat at least 3 feet underground with salt and spices

Meat Covered in Sugar

• For some reason, the Elizabethans were obsessed with sugar

• Expensive item because they had to import it from North America

Mystery #2

Escargot!• England is surrounded by water

Figs

• Renaissance was obsessed with exotic food, especially Greek food (Renaissance was a re-birth of Greek and Roman culture)

Blue Cheese

• Accidentally discovered due to a lack of refrigeration

• Gorgonzola

(the kind you

are eating) was

discovered in

879.

Mystery # 3

Horseradish Root

• Raw Horseradish root

• No refrigeration in Renaissance, so needed strong spices to cover up the taste of rotten meat

• Also, meat often boiled all day, so spices help make up for lack of taste

VENI, VIDI, VICI

• You came, You saw, You Conquered your RENAISSANCE FEAR FACTOR DINNER.

• The barf bags are to your right as you exit the classroom.

Mystery #4

Cow Tongue

• In the Renaissance meat was rare, so they didn’t waste

any part of the

Animal

Very fatty and filling