What Was the Diet of a Medieval Peasant?

In today's episode, we take a look at the various food groups and their position within the diet of an average medieval peasant!
0:00 Introduction
04:08 Meat
07:07 Nobility
7:56 Fish
09:14 Christianity
11:19 Bread
13:17 Ale
15:14 Fruits & Vegetables
17:45 Pottage
18:40 Dairy
🎶🎶 Music by CO.AG: / @co.agmusic
Narrated & Edited by: James Wade
Thank you for watching.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement is intended. If you are, or represent the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please email us at [e-mail]
Copyright © 2021 Top5s All rights reserved. In this video, we've compiled information from a variety of sources, including documentaries, books, and websites, all with the aim of providing an engaging viewing experience. While we strive to ensure accuracy, we acknowledge that there may be variations in the authenticity of the content. We encourage viewers to delve deeper and conduct their own research to corroborate the information presented.

[@psychedelictacos9118]

Can you imagine historians 1000 years from now! "The average American diet mainly consisted of McDonalds, Easy Mac and grape soda. Vegetables were rarely consumed only by what was known as vegans! It is also a misconception that Westerners of the 21st century did not drink water, they in fact did on occasion, however water consumed was usually diluted with cordial to mask the bland neutral taste!"

[@Sercer25]

And don't forget, ALL of our food is laced with poisonous substances to make them last longer on the shelf and to make it cheaper than actually adding real ingredients! Oh and, our water is laced with harmful substances because they want us dumb and docile! Thanks government regulations and corporations!

[@MLBlue30]

Cordial?

[@dimerdim8403]

What is water Mr. Teacher?

[@burgertime4994]

The hell is easy mac?

[@donmiller2908]

@@burgertime4994 Kraft macaroni & cheese in a pouch. It's already cooked, just open the pouch and microwave. It's for people too lazy to cook.

[@elchris8788]

I like this guy's humor. This is not sponsored by Hello Fresh

[@sasharae99]

Right?! For a second my mind was like- huh?!

[@sirandrelefaedelinoge]

We all heard the same thing

[@noahcarver6072]

"Pigs could be found just about everywhere in medieval Europe." Cuts to tapestry of to pigs rutting 🤣

[@VeganV5912]

@@noahcarver6072 👈😂🤣 Behavioural ‘omnivores’, is a heart attack and cancer and high blood pressure, fat deposits clog the arteries everywhere, Limp👇🧟‍♂️🦠🍖🔴Diiick eating Cooorpses 🛏💔🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️ .. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gXyap3mImKdros0 .. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jp67qqF6gdCVjrs 😂🤣😂😂. Over a frigging 5 minute burger or chicken etc. CuItfoIIowing !!!! MeatfIake !! Caveman !!! 🙄 Time-Iapse pig carcasses. 6-10 days in your stomach puuutrefying 🤮. Deodorant mask the symptoms but you still smell bad in your feet and shoes and socks 🔴🍖🦠🧟‍♂️🥾🦶🧦, 🧟‍♂️💩🚽🤮🤮🤮. No Fibre. PH 4, hard arteries.. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jKe2i4ejjLepjrs .. Vegans they don’t smell, because lots of fibre if you eat plants and fruit and nuts and berries and tubers and lentiIs beans and potatoes etc. Lots of fibre !! PH 7-10. Smooth arteries. ToiIet ✅❤️💩🚽😉neutral. And you get bigger and stronger and fitter when you go plant based. .. No fat deposits because fat deposits is animals and cheese and fish etc.

[@ginnamin]

😂

[@thesisypheanjournal1271]

Among the scariest words in the English language are “it’s considered a delicacy.”

[@deer563]

For some people im considered a "delicacy"

[@LunarisRuin]

Truly horrifying.

[@annalisamandell3581]

You got that right!!!

[@Wifgargfhaurh]

Some people are just flat out delusional when it comes to 'delicacies'

[@Guy-Usf4]

I laughed hard by this. Thank you.

[@cizia69]

Medieval peasants had places to dispose of their waste on the village's outskirts. They were also very cautious about soiling the water they were using. Some places were very affluent and the food was plentiful, some others were wretchedly poor. Life was very hard compared to today's Western standards, but there were a lot of solidarities, i.e. strong communities and tight-knit families.

[@peterjackson4763]

Many villages still have streams called some variety of Shit Brook.

[@gavhenrad]

@@peterjackson4763 jobby burn

[@lindamerchant4431]

Sound familiar homeless then as now

[@imlaughinq7445]

yeah it all depends on your lord, if he’s kind and doesn’t tax heavily then you’ll live decently but if you have a greedy or cruel lord then he could enforce anything

[@peterjackson4763]

@@imlaughinq7445 Not in England, at least in the later middle ages. Serfs could and did take their lords to court.

[@aidanokeeffe7928]

It's so important to remember how hard and terrible life used to be. It makes modern life much more tolerable

[@scottym3233]

depends on who you are and where u live.

[@aidanokeeffe7928]

@@scottym3233 True, I guess I was talking to Westerners working class and up

[@ziwi402]

We should enjoy it while it can still be enjoyed, the WEF will take it all away from the working people.

[@SaltySteff]

Also important to remember that those people who lived back the didn't k own any better. In their minds, they had it far better than the ancient peoples who came even before them. It's all about perspective. In the far future people may look at our time and say the exact same thing about us.

[@LetStartWithThis]

these people worked hard only during the summer, then they chilled hard af during the winter and work days ended when the sun was nearing the end of the day... this was more chill than some jobs now

[@AudieHolland]

There were also different 'food fashions' or how do you call it. In England, salmon was seen as ordinary food. There were even rules that stipulated that a landlord could not feed his tenants salmon every day of the week. Lobster, at least in the USA, was seen as ghastly food only fit for paupers (of course not MiddleAges but it does show how nowadays 'luxury food' was once regarded as paupers' food.

[@bosewicht2389]

Are you fond of me lobster?

[@ahnatanha]

Almost all food nowadays is turning into luxury. 😢

[@MK_ULTRA420]

@@ahnatanha No joke there's videos now of "toasted flour soup", AKA gruel. Here's an example: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pWecapeJZ9qmZ9k

[@jeffsmith2022]

Perhaps they would have gone for 'Rocky Mountain oysters'...

[@meelodeshmeeelo2034]

My parents grew up fishing salmon from the Scottish rivers so they never saw it as a luxury food and would not pay the price it became

[@pattskatoey3139]

Imagine if they could see the variety of food available to us nowadays. People get stressed when a ready meal isn’t ready quick enough but those medieval folk had to put in a graft to get those meals prepared.

[@terminator572]

I think it's unjust to compare our lives to theirs. Usually in most Spanish houses at the time, only the men were out in the fields while the women were inside the house cooking or performing other chores, so the this division of labor meant that once the men finished their tasks for the day and returned home, food would already be served. This division of labor just doesn't exist anymore in a lot of places, so we have a less efficient usage of time. Not to mention a lot of people simply live alone or with vastly different schedules, so the age old tradition of eating a large meal with the household is not feasible anymore.

[@bestopinion9257]

Not sure about that. I can make a porridge in 10 minutes. Just a little more if I have to use wood for fire.

[@teutonicterror0365]

@@terminator572 I mean, this division of labour did exist to some extent, but usually, women and children also did a lot of field work, especially during harvesting and sowing seasons. One has to keep in mind, that the life of a medieval peasant was completely determined by the seasons. During sowing and harvesting seasons, peasants had to work all day, and everybody in a household, including women, had to help, because it was crucial that as much of the grains would be sown/harvested in time, so yeah, during that time, women definetly didn´t stay at home. Between these seasons, there wasn´t really that much to do, besides keeping tools, the house and the fields in order, tending to the animals, chopping wood, etc. in between harvesting and sowing seasons and typical workday was usually not longer than maybe 4-6 hours, and yes, during that time, there probably was some division of labour, but generally, as far as I know, women were usually doing a lot of fieldwork as well. It was the industrial age, during which women were banned to the stove and men became bread earners.

[@coreygossman6243]

"Variety of food" by that do you mean different Asian cultures take on sweetened chicken?

[@bucknut6631]

What's a graft? Hard work? I'm American. Is that British slang?

[@noneofyourbizness]

2:32 1 chicken = 1 family meal OR somewhere around 500 eggs (over 2 years)...easy decision.

[@epoh3334]

You have to provide it with food to get the eggs though. Although chickens can eat all the leftovers and non human edible bits.

[@lazysunside]

@@epoh3334 chicken back then were allowed to go outside the yard at day to feed themselves. As long as it’s under 5 chicken, a small yard works. But then there are hawks.

[@GeckoHiker]

@@epoh3334 Chickens are good foragers and will thrive on weeds and bugs outdoor, with supplemental food scraps. I don't feed my chickens anything extra beyond that nine months of the year. Though grit and calcium is always provided. In winter we bring them inside and give them scraps, dried weeds saved at the end of autumn, insect larvae and worms we grow indoors, and some sprouted seeds and grains. Now the indoors is not our living room like it was for European peasants. The winter henhouse is a shed built onto the house that is warmed with a small tent sized woodstove and lit with solar powered LED lights. We don't eat our chickens. We have coffee with them in the morning and a hot toddy or some ale at night.

[@epoh3334]

@@GeckoHiker That sounds lovely

[@davepx1]

Not in those days: you'd be lucky to get 150 with pre-modern yields. But I'd still opt for the eggs. :)

[@nonyabeeznuss304]

There is a family story from my father's side that our ancestor who came to the US from europe was a peasant. He would often remark that in the old country "there was hardly a mouthful of meat per person per year, and it could only be swallowed with the baron's permission." This was passed down, as was a story about the German and irish immigrants greeting him in the US by throwing bricks. He was a slavic serf, so the other immigrants hated him.

[@fredflintstone6315]

Welcome to the new West...seems they're after the peasants' meat again...

[@xotleti]

I was thinking about something similar while watching the video. This is the history of my dad's side of the family too - also Slavic. They were peasants from Ruthenia. Turns out most of the world dislike slavs 😅

[@sebastianvanhoffen1404]

Just checking in, cause im so sleepy. You're doing great things

[@bermudav3348]

@@xotleti I fuck wit y'all slav niggas

[@Multiroester]

just like today

[@janinenavin2867]

I found this extremely interesting, as it dispelled many myths regarding food from the middle ages and also provided factual Information giving a glimpse into medieval life, especially where it was related to food.

[@PongoXBongo]

Sitting here eating a fresh salad...what have I done?! My humors!

[@jimx45]

Whatever they put on salads was whatever they can get from the crops and it didn't always taste the same

[@stacyg585]

what I really want to know is what they talked about these large dinners. like, what kinds of conversations were these people having? what did they sound like?

[@jimx45]

Probably about work, harvest, locations to find berries stuff like that

[@eh1702]

Looking at town records of late Medieval Aberdeen and Inverness, it’s quite clear that people did not routinely dump their slop buckets in the same pool they took water from. There are numerous references to “the foul pool”, which was also the receptacle for industrial waste like dyer’s byproducts.

[@kuroshthegreat8073]

yeah I thought this guy was pretty uncharitable in general when it came to discussing peasants living conditions. I dont think it was as rough as he describes.

[@eh1702]

@@kuroshthegreat8073 Medieval people took great pride in keeping their “linen” (big linen shirts) clean and white. (Linen whitens in the sun. And the UV helps sterilise it further.) The shift ir sark that was their underwear was a full-body barrier between them and the (usually woollen, in the UK) outer clothes. They also often unstitched their clothes before laundering (much of it was only sewed with a running stitch) to make sure the nooks and crannies were washed free of any skin parasites.

[@berilsevvalbekret772]

@@kuroshthegreat8073 It's less bias more acknowledging the hardship these peasant class had. Depending on the time and country the cities could be much cleaner or absolutely filfhy.

[@ShadowNinetales]

That makes sense, I was a little sceptical at the idea of people thriving on such a horrendously polluted water source, even if they mostly drank it as alcohol

[@LynxSouth]

By the 1200s for sure in England, towns had ordinances requiring tanneries to be located at the furthest downstream edge of town. Dyers were usually one step nearer.

[@KingFluffs]

5:59 Which is where we get the term "Go whole hog!". If you were caught poaching, you'd likely be killed. So why kill some hare or pheasant and die for it, when you can kill a big, fat, juicy scrumptious boar and feed them a whole lot longer.

[@kathrynkildow3743]

Oh my. That’s a sad origin of going whole hog but it sounds reasonable.

[@RichWoods23]

The fatal consequences of theft also gave rise to the aphorism, "May as well hang for a sheep as a lamb".

[@jimx45]

Life of a poacher bandit.

[@daintybeigli]

My mom saw traditional pig butchery and nose to tail use when she was a kid in rural Hungary in the 1960s. She also used to go foraging for mushrooms and berries with her grandmother. Makes me wonder how else the people then could relate to the medieval life.

[@loganstroganoff1284]

Probably very much so. Look up footage of remote villages in places like the caucusus mountains and elsewhere in Eastern Europe. Even today these ppl aren't much more advanced than ppl from the middle ages. They might have a radio and lantern and maybe can barter for cigarettes and second hand modern clothing but precious few modern luxuries like these they're pretty much still in the 1100s.

[@adrianaslund8605]

Medieval food wasn't that bad. Just alot of porridge. Sometimes fresh salmon, mushy peas and sorrel sauce on a whole grain bread. Also alot of spices that we've forgotten about nowadays. And sweet and sour sauces.

[@rosequartz4102]

What exactly is porridge? I've always thought of it as a style of oatmeal? (I hate oatmeal.)

[@adrianaslund8605]

@@rosequartz4102 Its just that but with random edible grains like barley and rye instead of oatmeal. Like oatmeal but not necessarily with oats. Oatmeal is a type of porridge. Porridge is not a type of oatmeal.

[@marelicainavokado]

It was healthy, but probably barely enough calorie content to provide energy needed for hard work.

[@rosequartz4102]

@@adrianaslund8605 Eeek. I don't think I could handle that.

[@tiahnarodriguez3809]

@@marelicainavokado Tbf, it wasn’t meant to give you energy, but to fill you up, so that you weren’t hungry and could make it to lunch or supper.

[@themasqueradefiles]

I loved your humor coming through in this video Jam!!! I’m super happy that you decided to do the narration for this channel!!! I’m really loving the channel!!! Keep up the great work!!!!

[@LadyCoyKoi]

You forgot to mention that what the Medieval people thought were consider fish we would categorize as birds and mammals. For example, they thought geese were fish due to scaly feet and being born in the water and beavers because of their scaly tails and webbed feet. 🤔

[@jctoad]

I don't think it was until much later that beaver was considered fish. When the Europeans came to North America to trap, the Pope decreed that beavers were fish so that the trappers could eat them during lent.

[@jonwolynies7465]

Same with the large and gentle rodents capybara in Latin America. Because they spend much of their life in and around water.

[@jctoad]

Alligator is also on the Lenten menu

[@justtime6736]

And not a citation was shared by OP but by god idiots took it hook & line.

[@jctoad]

@@justtime6736 If a hook and line was used, then idiots must be fish. However, there's no such thing as a 🐟

[@jaaps772]

It is hard to imagine how horrible living conditions were back then. Life really was miserable back then. We truly live in paradise now.

[@carpediem6431]

The sad reality is that is the history of humanity. Doesn’t matter that this is medieval England, the same would be true for peasants/surfs in India, China, Russia etc.

[@MrRdt1970]

A paradise of taxes, cold homes, food banks, etc etc paradise yeh right

[@islandpersuasion4690]

It's going back to how it was then

[@teet1337]

Funny I was thinking the opposite! Life today is so fake and plastic

[@rejectionistmanifesto8836]

The Gre,at,Re,SET being pushed now is to go back and is called Neo-Feudalism

[@GeraldM_inNC]

Scholars consider the pandemic a great blessing, considering its longterm impact on society. It put an end to the most abusive aspects of feudalism, and the lot of the lower classes improved immensely. They enjoyed far more legal rights, and were started being able to save enough money to ascend into yeomanry.

[@stefangeschke7604]

@@lunaxquinn Well, this needs to be seen. I would assume that the lower classes suffered most from the black death, simply because they were malnourished. Only after there were simply less of them, there lives improved slowly.

[@user-md3wm7vu1f]

@@stefangeschke7604 probably improved rather quickly as soon as there were less of them because they finally had more leverage over the feudal lords who now desperately needed the work to get done

[@user-md3wm7vu1f]

@@lunaxquinn it had some similarities and positive effects though (at least in the short term, probably not so much long term)

[@bristoled93]

@@lunaxquinn Hardy anyone died in this covid pandemic in comparison to the black death.

[@NathanTowles]

@@bristoled93 as bad as COVID’s been, true

[@lk4543]

This is brilliant, the detailed pictures, so many of them and never repeated, the dramatic and atmospheric music. I feel like I'm in a time machine looking through the window at my past life.

[@TucsonDude]

Do you think they were real pictures from way back when or just fabrications?

[@user-ev4ie2wx7k]

So naïf.

[@user-ev4ie2wx7k]

@@TucsonDudegenuine.

[@deannaweir1906]

Loving your channel, glad I stumbled across it . Really refreshing to come across something different on the tube , love you’re voice too, 👍🏻👍🏻up.

[@swedneck]

i'm surprised that lent didn't turn into a rich man's thing, it seems kind of insane that workers had to participate in fasting when you kinda need them to work for society to function.. It would make more sense for lent fasting to be like lawns, something you do as much as you can to show how rich you are that you don't need to work.

[@perfectallycromulent]

rich people have, historically speaking, prefered being fat and pale skinned as evidence of not needing to work, as well as wearing clothing unsuitable for such dirty activity, and being surrounded by servants and/or slaves. these people ain't gonna engage in an anorexia contest. that is for nuns and monks who hate their corporeal forms.

[@legocontrollerjr]

Mostly because Lent fasting was moved to Fridays only, seeing as how such a drop in nutrition would be harmful to the body.

[@voyaristika5673]

That's an interesting thought, Lent being show of wealth. I guess religion dictated, and it applied to all who wanted to see Heaven. Teachers like students like you.

[@baboon_92]

Where there's a will, there's a way.

[@wufongtanwufong5579]

The rules of lent is such. Children and the elderly are "allowed" to eat red meat during lent. If you was sick or weak from recent illness. You were "allowed" to eat red meat. If you had nothing to eat at all then eating meat was also allowed. Lent is an obligation. If you fail at lent it was not and still is not considered a sin. Neither was fasting. The reason you're not allowed to eat red meat during lent, Because meat was a very rare treat. So a peasant would not go under go any extra stress.

[@realitywins6457]

Learned on a tour of a castle in England that when the potato was first introduced to the English nobles the cooks didn’t know to remove the roots. When cooked with the root it made everyone sick and vomit. The queen banned potatoes and it took a couple decades for them to be accepted.

[@mikethebike2456]

🏍️ There were no 🍯 potatoes until Columbus. No coffee, no cocoa, and no horses in all the Americas, until Columbus.

[@smrtnz5995]

@@mikethebike2456 Columbus brought 3 things, Diseases that the Indigenous peoples had no immunity from, yes Horses and control in the form of christianity to break down cultural, familial and political ties. Potatoes, tomatoes, chiles, beans, corn, chocolate were all New World gifts from the Americas to Europe. Coffee was from Africa particularly Ethiopia.

[@MrThedonhead]

​@@smrtnz5995potatoes came from Ireland and they invented them along with shoes!

[@sigrunjosepsdottir6894]

I almost spit out my tea when you said "this video is not sponsored by Hello Fresh". I love your channel, thank you and please keep doing this.

[@salkoharper2908]

The feudal system to a large extent existed right up until the late 1700's, even into the 1800s. France 1789, Scotland 1799, Prussia (German state)1807, Russia 1886. My mother who was born in Yugoslavia, had a great grandmother who was an aristocrat in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. She owned land in what is modern day Bosnia and Serbia. She still owned serfs who worked the silver mines and cloth mills up until 1848.

[@sailorv8067]

And what happened in Russia in 1886? 🤔

[@teutonicterror0365]

@@sailorv8067 The Tsar abolished the feudal system. At least he did de-jure, de-facto, most of the peasants owed a bunch of money to their overlords, and thus in reality, they still had to perform unpaid labour, weren´t allowed to leave, etc. In reality, a kind of semi-feudal system remained in rural russia until the great october revolution.

[@loganstroganoff1284]

Looks like you owe some reparations sir

[@sailorv8067]

@@teutonicterror0365 you mean 1861 then?

[@teutonicterror0365]

@@sailorv8067 Bruh. My bad, of course you´re right

[@sk.n.9302]

This was really informative! Answered many questions I had wondered for a long time.

[@vintage1950]

Who would of thought fruit, veg and salad would be almost as expensive as meat these days.

[@cheshirecat3978]

Brethren, I love LOVE the content! Please continue and I will continue to like every time!

[@cheshirecat3978]

I legit get excited when I see new vids . Not an easy feat my friend , damnit !

[@staceyroberts9561]

Kkk,kj,,.?L.? All lj,,m m L,

[@deloreswilson1798]

Things have improved...food wise that is.🤔

[@olgagaming5544]

His voice is a bit history-channel like and the video has sometimes the vibe of these sensational videos.. he doesnt share anything about himself, where he was reading such things etc. just an anonymous person telling things? it leaves a pretty weird vibe

[@olgagaming5544]

Copyright © 2021 Top5s All rights reserved. - its propably just another channel in these sensational style of TOP 5 THINGS, you dont even know who is saying this and owning this channel etc.

[@sebastianventer2420]

This channel is excellent, keep at it guys!

[@reformedstoic1581]

Cozy and informative, great channel! God bless.

[@eliwahuhi]

Irish Hazelnut Mead sounds amazing.

[@username.not.known2473]

Sounds like Frangelico

[@cellinimedusa4679]

Superb presentation, nice narration voice, lots of interesting content and really well illustrated. Subscribed, thank you!

[@Snipehunter08]

I would love to have more of a conclusion 🤗 makes it easier to understand ! Thanks for the nice vids man !

[@vincentpeer5188]

My new favorite channel. Thanx for the entertaining education.

[@noneofyourbizness]

4:40 pigs* are to this day the HIGHEST form of currency in Highland region of Papua New Guinea. Garoka, in the east, is where i saw them most often. Walked proudly around on leads made of repurposed, plastic shopping bags by those seeking to 'flex' their wealth/status. *a far smaller breed than we see in 'the west'.

[@angel8fingers]

Great content man! I dig y’all’s work!

[@alexandersupertramp151]

Love this channel, great commentary and very thorough! Thanks! =)

[@Truckngirl]

Your narration is delightful, and I love learning new shit. So I subbed. The algorithm brought me.

[@hellekimery9537]

Amazing anyone actually survived the brutal conditions people lived in back then ! Makes me grateful I var born in a time, of great hygiene,plenty of food, and not having to work 24/7 just to live on scraps.

[@coh2conscript851]

It wasn't as dirty or awful as people make it out to be. Yeah you wanna be born now but most of the awful stuff is made up by Victorians to make Medieval people seem barbaric and dirty.

[@hellekimery9537]

Well, it certainly was pretty rough. Today we have pain meds if we are in pain, infections can get under control, you don’t get ripped apart on a wheel, or put in stocks. Allthough that might still be a worthwhile punishment for certain criminals :) I’ve always had a facination for that time period, but always marvelled at how much people could survive! Like going to the dentist.lol

[@kevinsysyn4487]

Life expectancy was 29 years.

[@coh2conscript851]

@@kevinsysyn4487 Only due to babies dying at childbirth.

[@coh2conscript851]

@@hellekimery9537 Aw yeah of course, anything before our current time is always tough. Punishments like those are rare though, unless you just go around committing crimes. You had to be your own dentist though yeah, not pleasant brushing your teeth with sticks but its better than nothing, though the stones from bread will hurt, a lot.

[@mikaila6187]

Love the art work content in this video! Really shows more about the history

[@angeloiodice9304]

Thanks. It was a great informative video with marvelous art images.

[@ModernPlumbingFan]

Thank you for sharing your craft through these stories! Found this channel via Weird History ❤

[@DaveTexas]

I would’ve made a good medieval peasant. I love pickled herring and jellied eel! Salted cod isn’t too bad if some moisture can be reintroduced. I guess I would have needed to live near the sea or an estuary...

[@babyshambler]

I found your channel yesterday. I'm already addicted and have recommended it to two others already =D

[@STR82DVD]

Brilliant content. In my capacity as a teacher,, I may use this in my Grade 7 History class. Thanks for sharing!

[@stonibalonie]

such an amazing channel.. thank you again sir!

[@wozja]

This was very interesting and well presented video. Much enjoyed and subscribed

[@purpurina5663]

Great video! The channel ModernHistoryTV has some excellent videos about medieval food for different orders of society (and they cook a couple of dishes). The peasants ate much healthier food than the nobles!

[@claredyj2015]

Just found your channel and subscribed, medieval times were fascinating!

[@elizabethhayward570]

This is so interesting I often wondered what life was like in medieval times. Looking forward to watching more vids.

[@LindaMerchant-pm8vn]

I love medieval times in history such beautiful images murals

[@Voirreydirector]

Amusing and well done. There are many specific books and programs on the topic, but this provides a fairly balanced over-view.

[@nymerianan4short314]

I just found your channel and ❤ING it ! I'm binge watching all your videos so much I might need a fast myself 😂

[@zodiaccgh741b]

Our family bucket was in use until 1957. The contents were thrown onto the midden heap. In a year or two the heap was spread on the veg garden. Recycling before it became fashionable.

[@pinwheel8723]

The intro had me dying. How have i only just found this channel?? Decent history without the annoying narratives most channels do

[@thomp5347]

Small correction: bears were extinct in Britain by no later than the 6th century CE.

[@mxp5525]

Very interesting and enjoyable. Thank you so much!

[@annhitchcock3093]

Wow. This makes Vienna Sausages sound good. Thanks for the post. It’s really good. I can’t stop watching.

[@michaelmccarthy8749]

I love the video! I feel like your videos about daily life could have some more upbeat medieval music though. It’s always nice to be reminded that the people of medieval times had fun and felt the same joy and love that we do today.

[@apogeus2]

do more! i like your videos a lot. something to compare our current lifestyle to. very sobering and refreshing info

[@piccalillipit9211]

A lot of it is incorrect - for example, they did NOT throw their shit into the water they drank from. They would be severely punished for this. Sadly this mostly trots out the stereotypes of the terribly harsh "short and brutal" life of peasants.

[@fishpoem1433]

One of the most carefully researched, and certainly one of the most thought-provoking, series on youtube. Fascinating and cleverly illustrated throughout.🦉

[@bobling98]

Awesome video, super informative!

[@colinmainwaring9471]

really good advice when facing what we face. thank you.

[@funnyyylock]

Super underrated channel.

[@kimberlyperrotis8962]

You’re videos are always historically accurate, and often funny, I just subscribed. Keep up the great work.

[@stevenschnepp576]

He indulges in quite a bit of pop history. It's... not spectacularly accurate.

[@jayleigh4642]

Now subscriber, absolutely loving this channel

[@StrattCaster]

Very informative and interesting! Thanks

[@vintage1950]

Salted cod fish, also known as salt fish in Jamaica.

[@dogeymon83]

The ancient writings of squire Baldrick suggest dung was often consumed with a small turnip for dessert.

[@margueritemazzeo2904]

😱🤢🤮

[@juliamarple3785]

There is so much info here, I might watch it twice.

[@necosupr]

These are so well made

[@nonameneededd]

I love your sense of humour “this video is not sponsored by hello fresh” 🤣🤣🤣🤣 yeah a far cry of vast diets on opposite scales!! Also 7:53 I know you didn’t just kiss your thumb, then index and middle finger 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@stephenmartinez1]

Fun fact, people ate pigeons instead of chicken. Pigeons were in fact domesticated for meat, and city pigeons in the US are actually these same domesticated meat birds that used to be eaten instead of chickens.

[@RichWoods23]

This is also why dovecotes were commonplace in farms and manor houses across Europe. The birds were a source of eggs as well as meat, and their manure was useful as a fertiliser.

[@ems901]

Wow didn’t know that. Thanks for sharing.

[@dianawatton7570]

Pigeons are still eaten but referred to as roast SQUAB!

[@fortheearth]

Thanks for creating this informative video.

[@kellyharrison5184]

Fascinating, and very informative!

[@jujumulligan43]

Very interesting. Intriguing to me how diets and food fads change so much over time. It does make you wonder, in the span of a life time, that we should simply eat foods that we really enjoy and NOT worry so much about long term nutrition. I do think strongly however, that generally the meat processing system is very cruel and perhaps not sanitary. But that is my choice. Thank you for a very knowledgeable video! I hope to see More!!!😊😊😊

[@stevenschnepp576]

Sounds like an excellent way to die of diabetes at thirty.

[@brianedwards7142]

Bring us in good ale, and bring us in good ale; For our Blessed Lady's sake, bring us in good ale. 1. Bring us in no brown bread, for that is made of bran, Nor bring us in no white bread, there therein is no game; But bring us in good ale. 2. Bring us in no beef, for there is many bones, But bring us in good ale, for that goes down at once; And bring us in good ale. 3. Bring us in no bacon, for that is passing fat, But bring us in good ale, and give us enough of that; And bring us in good ale. 4. Bring us in no mutton, for that is often lean, Nor bring us in no tripes, for they be seldom clean; And bring us in good ale. 5. Bring us in no eggs, for there are many shells, But bring us in good ale, and give us nothing else; And bring us in good ale. 6. Bring us in no butter, for therein are many hairs; Nor bring us in no pig's flesh, for that will make us boars; And bring us in good ale. 7. Bring us in no puddings, for therein is all God's good; Nor bring us in no venison, for that is not for our blood; And bring us in good ale. 8. Bring us in no capon's flesh, for that is often dear; Nor bring us in no duck's flesh, for they slobber in the mere; And bring us in good ale. Traditional

[@GeraldM_inNC]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/iWW9ZWt5dtB-aqs

[@motorbreathblake]

Great channel, keep up the good work!

[@bellsandspices]

Lol, "this is not sponsored by Hello Fresh"!! This is my new binging channel! Love your content!

[@beatlesrgear]

When I lived in Iceland, I regularly ate the Hardfiskur, which is a type of fish jerky preserved by salt and dried. I love it a lot and really miss having it. I wish it was available in the UK, Canada, and US.

[@kjetilhansen5363]

We have that over here in Norway as well, but we call it 'tørrfisk' (dry fish.) It's actually a genuine type of Viking food, and can be dated to as early as the 9th century.

[@VeganV5912]

@@kjetilhansen5363 👈🤣 Behavioural ‘omnivores’, is a heart attack and cancer and high blood pressure, fat deposits clog the arteries everywhere, Limp👇🧟‍♂️🦠🍖🔴Diiick eating Cooorpses 🛏💔🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️ .. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gXyap3mImKdros0 .. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jp67qqF6gdCVjrs 😂🤣😂😂. Over a frigging 5 minute burger or chicken etc. CuItfoIIowing !!!! MeatfIake !! Caveman !!! 🙄 Time-Iapse pig carcasses. 6-10 days in your stomach puuutrefying 🤮. Deodorant mask the symptoms but you still smell bad in your feet and shoes and socks 🔴🍖🦠🧟‍♂️🥾🦶🧦, 🧟‍♂️💩🚽🤮🤮🤮. No Fibre. PH 4, hard arteries.. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jKe2i4ejjLepjrs .. Vegans they don’t smell, because lots of fibre if you eat plants and fruit and nuts and berries and tubers and lentiIs beans and potatoes etc. Lots of fibre !! PH 7-10. Smooth arteries. ToiIet ✅❤️💩🚽😉neutral. And you get bigger and stronger and fitter when you go plant based. No fat deposits because fat deposits is animals and cheese and fish etc.....

[@sarahfearon1675]

Don't know where you live now, but there's a small shop in Portland Maine called "Simply Scandinavian " and they sell it! They have so many different foods from Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland and Sweden. It's my go to when I'm missing my home

[@SuperMcbonez]

We had similar when I lived in Portugal they called it baccalau and it was not bad tbh

[@ajboyd9389]

They sell it in the uk

[@howardsmith9342]

Notice how, no matter how poor they might be, the serfs did not (intentionally) eat insects. Thanks, Klaus, for wanting us to be worse off than medieval peasants.

[@jimx45]

Humans are still Great Apes. Other Great Apes eat insects

[@JR-_-2010]

Great video. Thanks for posting.

[@sheebathefunnyrescuedog692]

Just found your channel, really enjoying it 😀

[@directorphase]

Makes me thankful for our modern advances in food

[@peterm1826]

Where I live the food is still. Like this.

[@KarlMarxFanClub]

GMOs have definitely been a blessing. Even then, American corporations destroy 30% of its food. Corporations get billions of subsidizes if they destroy there groceries at the day of expiration. Instead, it should go to the poor, but that’s capitalism! 🤡

[@ClickClack_Bam]

@@KarlMarxFanClub Why should it go to the poor? Your small-mindedness & blessing heart liberal ideology is fatally flawed & you haven't even thought about your positions in life for even 30 seconds or the side to be on would've come to you! Typical liberal though... When they've tested your theory they found that eventually when people realized they could get food for doing NOTHING, too many people resulted to doing NOTHING to be fed. The idea being "Why work when they're feeding you to do nothing whatsoever?". Sound familiar? Remind you of the welfare state in America? Many poc's won't even marry because they take into account both incomes then! So don't tell me "it's only a theory" when it's been in direct testing for decades now in America. So NO they shouldn't just give away food without ANY sacrifice. The people do NOT attach any value to the food just like they don't attach any value to selling their food stamps for 50 cents on the dollar. Hopefully one day you've not rotted away your brain & you too can think on the side of truth.

[@bubbleshughes6169]

Salt cod is also still very popular and made in Newfoundland, Canada. Salt cod fish cakes are amazing! We also have something called fish & brewis; salt fish mixed with dried hard bread cakes soaked in water then mixed together. Now you know!

[@VeganV5912]

.. 🤣 Behavioural ‘omnivores’, is a heart attack and cancer and high blood pressure, fat deposits clog the arteries everywhere, Limp👇🧟‍♂️🦠🍖🔴Diiick eating Cooorpses 🛏💔🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️ .. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gXyap3mImKdros0 .. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jp67qqF6gdCVjrs 😂🤣😂😂. Over a frigging 5 minute burger or chicken etc. CuItfoIIowing !!!! MeatfIake !! Caveman !!! 🙄 Time-Iapse pig carcasses. 6-10 days in your stomach puuutrefying 🤮. Deodorant mask the symptoms but you still smell bad in your feet and shoes and socks 🔴🍖🦠🧟‍♂️🥾🦶🧦, 🧟‍♂️💩🚽🤮🤮🤮. No Fibre. PH 4, hard arteries.. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jKe2i4ejjLepjrs .. Vegans they don’t smell, because lots of fibre if you eat plants and fruit and nuts and berries and tubers and lentiIs beans and potatoes etc. Lots of fibre !! PH 7-10. Smooth arteries. ToiIet ✅❤️💩🚽😉neutral. And you get bigger and stronger and fitter when you go plant based. No fat deposits because fat deposits is animals and cheese and fish etc.. !!!!!

[@petemullen842]

Love all your videos so informative.👍🇬🇧👍

[@mclaincj1630]

Stock fish is a major part in west african cooking also !

[@cw4608]

Great images to accompany an excellently narrated and well done content

[@GeraldM_inNC]

I've given three medieval lectures to the genealogical society, and I've used many of those same pictures!

[@cw4608]

@@GeraldM_inNC great job pairing visuals with content. I am certain your audience appreciated them. Good to know you cared enough about your audience to take the time selecting and editing your presentation. Hope you have many more good experiences with your presentations. Have an excellent day sir.

[@robertwhite2449]

Very interesting video! How much dairy on average would a peasant consume? Was it a main part of meals, or more of a condiment? Also interested in the same question regarding vegetables.

[@davepx1]

It was a significant but not huge element of rural output: milk obviously couldn't be kept for long, so cheese was the only way to make it last. Another limitation is that in this period oxen were far more important than dairy cows: Domesday indicates barely a quarter of a million non-draught cattle (against more than twice as many ploughbeasts), which may be an under-estimate but even if most were cows, they were still fewer relative to population than half a millennium later. Vegetables would be a common element of peasant dishes, livening up an otherwise humdrum gruel or complementing more special fare when it was available, but we've even less idea of the quantities consumed even into modern times: our first estimate of intake comes from Gregory King who puts "fruits, roots and garden produce" at just under 6% of the value of food in 1695, a proportion that may not be far removed from that of the later middle ages.

[@markmacey6527]

Fascinating look at history that still reverberates today.

[@malevich92]

This is my new favourite channel

[@jimmylight4866]

Never thought about the dark cloud of the Plaugue having a silver lining. The Church only took 10%? Wish my taxes were only 10%! These Peasants could have had it worse, they could be eating McDonalds. Great video.

[@Knuckles2868]

My aunt is VERY religious and still abides by the rule of tithing and gives 10% of her income to her church.

[@Knuckles2868]

That is on top of taxes not the only thing they paid

[@softlystolen1208]

They also died of a lot of fecal/oral diseases…

[@jimmylight4866]

@@softlystolen1208 eeeekkkkk yuk

[@softlystolen1208]

@@jimmylight4866 cholera ain’t a pretty way to go 😅

[@winterwraith1934]

Surprised about that quote about harvesting corn in 1395, as maize was unknown in Europe before 1492 or so…maybe the quote has been miss-translated?

[@swayback7375]

Maybe he meant barley corns ?

[@peterjackson4763]

Corn is the collective noun for cereal crops, such as wheat, barley, oats and rye. Settlers in the Americas saw the natives growing maize and called it Indian Corn, which has been shortened in the US to just corn.

[@moy_moy85]

God I love tuckin' into one of thee blokes stories before bed

[@MauricioJaguan]

I love this channel!

[@Nyctophora]

Considering that fields were fertlised by all kinds of manure (and that's just the start), eating raw vegetables would indeed make you sick. And possibly give you worms if you didn't already have them. As for raw fruit. all it takes is one fly to go from the dungheap to your nice shiny apple. Washing your food? In the same water people drank ale and small beer to avoid drinking? Not much help there! Even today there are pretty frequent recalls of lettuce, for example, due to bacterial or even faecal contamination. Salads. Not even once. Also please wash your hands and your veggies!

[@noneofyourbizness]

natural springs are common in england (at least). i imagine/guess they would have been highly valued/prized, albeit likely sited far too low in the land for any defendable castle to be built around.

[@zharziss]

@to be deleted Exactly, they had plenty of fresh water. Just for brewing the beer alone it was needed.

[@jaws8090]

@to be deleted They're probably mistaking it for another period like in London, they did drink alcohol because it was safer than the water.

[@GeraldM_inNC]

Thank you, that was very helpful

[@annabelgrace1267]

And cook them.

[@mastrxl]

Fun fact, the people were highly afraid of a "rabbit uprising" as a result of the way they were hunted and kept

[@Voirreydirector]

Yup, hare seemed quite violent and rapacious, some weird folk tales about them were around. Male hare especially can fight a trapper in the last moments, and their mating seemed nonconcentual.

[@daniels.9446]

Somehow made my day, fine documentary

[@susanw9475]

Very good. Complete, enjoyable.