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Walking down the street in any city in the US, one finds that the streets are littered with restaurants. Food and drinks can be seen everywhere and are a big part of the cultures of many people. In Anglo Saxon England food was just as if not more important to the lives of the people.
Whereas in the present day there are a lot of options for foods, those in Anglo-Saxon England did not have as plentiful choices. Due to this, tribes often formed near places where they could find and harvest animals and crops.
Not only was food essential to sustain life, but it played a major role in medicines, religious rituals, celebrations of harvests, as well as for weddings and baptisms. An exploration of the food available to the Anglo-Saxons provides insights into the wealth and values of their culture.
Grains formed the majority of the Anglo-Saxon diet and were very important for their health. Grains were so essential since they provided Anglo-Saxons with the most nutrients.
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Wheat and barley respectively were the preferred grains, but Anglo Saxons also grew oats rye as a backup crop. Cereals were key due to their versatility and availability. Cereals could be made into a wide variety of products, most importantly bread and beer. So long as enough grains were harvested in the summer, Anglo-Saxons would have access to them all year round, due to their storability (Banham, 2004).
Bread was extremely important for a proper Anglo-Saxon meal. It was the staple product of the people. Bread was enjoyed by people in all classes of society, however, those in the nobility also had access to cereals in other forms. Bread was very important for many reasons, one being that it flour keeps well. Whenever more bread was desired, all a family had to do mas mix the dough and bake it. Bread was so essential to society that words in Old English like lord and lady, hlaford and hlafidge, were derived from words that involved bread.
Society could therefore be categorized in terms of the bread keeper(lord), bread kneader(lady), and bread eater(commoner). Bread was very hard to make in Anglo-Saxon England because the grains had to be pulverized by hand. Women were classically in charge of baking bread. The strenuous demands of the job disadvantaged women from poorer social classes as they also had to care for their children, spin wool, cook, care for the animals, and perform a myriad of other tasks. Due to the time-consuming nature of cooking bread, it became a symbol of power and wealth (Banham, 2004).
Bread was often too expensive for the common family to have daily. In this case, a dish called pottage was made. Pottage consisted of a cereal or pulse base that was boiled for most of the day. Other ingredients included in pottage were often herbs for flavoring, sometimes leeks or vegetables of the onion family, a type of cabbage, and either dried or salted fish or meat. Pottage had a wide variety of consistencies and could be anywhere from soup to that of stew to one of porridge (Banham, 2004).
The other important source of cereals in Anglo-Saxon England was beer. Beer provided a large source of calories and sugars to the Anglo-Saxon diet. Most beer that the Anglo-Saxons consumed was fermented from barley, which accounts for the large volume of barley grown. Wine and mead were often too expensive to drink daily, and the water was deemed unsafe to drink. The only other beverage Anglo-Saxons had access to was milk, but they could only get it sparingly while it was in season (Banham, 2004).
In Anglo-Saxon England, one of the most important foods was meat. The Anglo-Saxon’s kept tamed animals and hunted wild game, but the main source of their meat came from their domesticated herds. Herding animals was very important to sustain the Germanic people. Tribes often formed along fields that were good for their animals to graze on. Not only did the Anglo-Saxon’s raise animals for the slaughter, but other products derived from animals were also prized. Dairy products and clothing made wool and fur were also invaluable (Grube, 1935).
Of the domesticated animals that the Anglo Saxon’s kept, sheep and swine were particularly plentiful. Not only were sheep very important for meat, but they also provided milk and wool for clothing. Because Sheep were also important for the wool and milk, despite their plentiful numbers, they were not eaten as much as pigs. On the other hand, pigs were kept exclusively for meat, and the meat on one pig could easily exceed twice that of meat on a sheep. Goats were not as plentiful as either sheep or swine, however the Anglo-Saxons did have access to their meat and milk. Cattle were another major domesticated animal that sustained the Anglo-Saxons and was raised for the specific functions of either milking or for meat (Grube, 1935).
In addition to the domestication of these larger animals, the Anglo-Saxons also raised domesticated fowl. Chicken and geese were the most commonly domesticated, however, there is also evidence of ducks being domesticated as well. Other lesser domesticated animals included peacocks and pidgins. These domesticated animals provided the bulk of the diet of meats in Anglo-Saxon England, however, the Anglo Saxons also enjoyed hunting and would often eat the meat that the sport provided (Grube, 1935).
Among the Germanic people, hunting was a popular pastime, and as such, land was set aside for the sole purpose of hunting. The Aristocracy was better equipped to handle the hunt of larger animals due to their increased wealth and better weapons. Due to these advantages, the larger game like wild boar, bears, and deer were reserved for their capture (Grube, 1935).
The townspeople also enjoyed hunting, however they very rarely were able to kill those larger game animals. Instead, they might have come across the occasional squirrel, rabbit, badger, or hedgehog. Birds such as cranes, pheasants, quail, and bitterns were hunted for food. Smaller birds like thrush, sand martin, starlings, larks, and blackbirds were also eaten. Storks were also seen in Anglo Saxon England, but were not eaten due to superstitions (Grube, 1935).
One common practice during this time period was to supply monasteries with meat as part of a person’s will. Often this meat would consist of swine, cattle, chicken, and geese. Pregnant women were warned not to eat the meat of any male animal during their pregnancy. Despite raising all of these animals, some were determined more suitable than others. Written records share that the meat of certain animals were tough (Grube, 1935).
Throughout Anglo-Saxon England vegetables and herbs provided a flavorful addition to the meals of grain and meat. Vegetables alone did not serve as a meal, instead, it provided extra flavors to the pottage and other dishes. Pulses are high in carbs and protein and are easy to store, making them one of the most popular vegetables available in Anglo-Saxon England. Peas and Beans were the most popular pulses with no evidence for chickpeas, lentils, or other legumes available to the people. Peas were considered more delicate and were more difficult to grow in Anglo-Saxon England. The extra effort needed to tend to peas, made it so mostly the aristocracy had access to peas. Beans were more basic, and most people had access to them. In times of need, commoners would add beans to the available corn flour to create bread, however, this was not a common occurrence (Banham, 2004).
Leeks, cabbages, and other Brassicas were also available to Anglo-Saxons. Usually grown in gardens, leeks, garlic, and onions may have been grown together. These vegetables were popular due to their intense flavor. Only a little bit of these products were added to different foods, and they were available all year long. Cabbages and other similar vegetables were the second most important vegetables in the Anglo-Saxon diet. Anglo-Saxons had access to a variety of cabbages that were often tough to cook and took a long time before they were able to be eaten. Turnips and rapes were also common, but Anglo-Saxons mostly utilized their seeds and leaves for flavoring. Other rarer roots that can be seen in Anglo-Saxon England included carrots, beets, parsnip, cumin, and ginger, which again were mostly grown for their leaves (Banham, 2004).
Fruits were the only source sweet solid food in Anglo-Saxon England. Fruit didn’t keep well and was quite restricted due to seasonal limitations. Available fruits included apples, pears, plums, cherries, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries. Apples were one of the most popular fruits and were one of two, including pears, that were available into the winter. The sweetest apples were mostly available to the aristocracy because their cultivation required sophisticated grafting technology. Wild crab apples were often too sour to eat, but hybrid crosses between sweeter apple trees and crabapple trees were sometimes available to the lower classes. Wild strawberries were available and mentioned in medical texts, and raspberries and blackberries were also obtained. Some more exotic fruits that may have been available were peaches and mulberries (Banham, 2004).
Many drinks were fruit based as well, but the most important was wine. Wine made from grapes very popular, but not as plentiful as the Anglo-Saxon’s would have liked. Wine was important for many different religious practices, as was it for intellectual and social life. Due to their lack of sweets, wine was commonly enjoyed on the sweeter side. It is also possible that Anglo-Saxons had access to ciders, but it is debated that the introduction of cider didn’t come until after the Norman conquest (Banham, 2004).
The Anglo-Saxons had access to various spices that were imported over land and by sea. Pepper, the most important spice, was imported over land from India to the Mediterranean and then sent to Britain. Due to the extensive route for pepper to reach the Anglo-Saxons, it was usually reserved for the wealthy aristocrats. Most spices imported to Anglo-Saxon England were transported in dry form which allowed them to be used all year round. Cumin was popular for flavoring foods, and other spices such as the seeds of dill, fennel, celery were used for flavoring on occasion. The only traceable spice that was actually grown in Anglo-Saxon England was mustard. Perhaps the most important flavoring that the Anglo Saxons possessed was salt. Not only was salt a good medium for flavor, but it was one of the best ways to preserve meat. Salt was an essential part of nutrition but could not be found everywhere in nature, making it a highly valued commodity for trade. Most families who could get by with substituting more expensive products for cheaper ones, could not do so with salt, causing it to be an essential product in most homes (Banham, 2004).
In Anglo-Saxon England, honey was the only source of sweetening. The only other sweet foods available were fruits which were only available seasonally. When people had access to honey, only a small amount was eaten, the rest was fermented and turned into mead. The Anglo-Saxons had beekeepers and also gathered wild honey (Banham, 2004). Honey and mead were mostly available to the aristocracy, as it was hard to come by. The wealthy often used mead to welcome guests, cheer on warriors, and during times of sadness or duress. Anglo-Saxon literature enlightens the role of women and mead, with women typically served mead to the men during gatherings (Osborn, 2006).
Food is a very important aspect of many cultures and ways of life. Many Anglo-Saxons settled in the specific locations that they did due to food needs. Fertile soil is essential to the production of crops, which feeds humans, and in turn domesticated animals. Technological advancements were also important for the production of foods and pushed Anglo-Saxons to come up with new inventions like the flour mill. Early social structures were also, in part, settled by food. Food was a very valuable commodity in Anglo-Saxon England, with many of the commoners paying food rents in order to farm on noble’s lands. The concentration of power emerged around those who controlled access to foods, effectively creating different social classes.
Foods also pave the way to new innovations. Due to demand for preservation of perishable goods and increased desire for new flavors, the Anglo-Saxons had to create armies to travel looking for trading routes and new lands. This allowed them to assert their dominance over other people. Eventually, this desire for new foods lead to colonization and the acquisition of wealth. The search for new and exotic foods also led to more harmful effects such as the spread of diseases and slavery of indigenous people in African countries. Food especially played a big impact on the health of a nation overall. When food was plentiful Anglo-Saxons could trade the surplus of foods for other needs they could not attain in England. Conversely, the lack of food could lead to devastating famines and losses in land and influence that Anglo-Saxons maintained over others.
Food and Drink in Anglo Saxon England. (2021, Dec 13). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/food-and-drink-in-anglo-saxon-england-essay
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