You must log in or # to comment.
Today we have highly processed soy and corn in various forms. Progress!
Honestly, in the US, at least, we’ve run into the opposite problem - we eat too much meat for a healthy diet (on average, at least).
Suffering from success.
True. Eat your fruits and veggies raw, kids!
But I crave starches and saturated fats.
Fine, live fast, die young.
Here for a good time, not a long time!
You don’t gotta eat em raw for health sake. Some are better for you cooked even.
But it builds character.
Well, at times and in some places, medieval Europeans ate probably even more. In the 15th century, Barcelonians ate an average of 140 pounds of meat per year, almost triple of today’s consumption.
Post-Plague diets were much improved from pre-Plague diets, and regional variation (especially in areas where pastoralism is strong, like northeastern Spain) was present, but the article also uses later livestock yields for estimating Barcelona’s consumption when livestock of the period were only 50%-75% as heavy before the advent of modern breeding and the four-field system in the 18th century.
I’m actually very interested to read about the households of the Earls of Stafford and Warwick, though, that sent me down a rabbit hole of Renaissance/Late Medieval diet that I suspect I will very much enjoy.
Explanation: Despite the arcadian romanticization of the farmer’s life, historically subsistence farmers had it quite… rough. Not least in the issue of food - processing grain was labor-intensive, and less-labor-intensive porridge (and flatbread, especially ash cakes) was a major source of calories for the poor.
Some people actually like grain water, though. Barbarians!
Humans be like Staple Crop
It’s bad etymology unfortunately. One referred to time and the other to grinding. The closest I got is that a luncheon was original a chunk of a food item. Nuncheon was a “noon-drink” which makes sense when you consider that many workers would consume alcohol as their primary lunchtime calories during certain parts of history.
My favorite part of going to Medivel Times is eating their authentic medieval European food like tomato soup, baked potato, and corn on the Cobb.
Sometimes I think about how dead I’d be in those times as a person with celiac
It’s entirely possible that such diseases are more prominent in modern environments.
I guess it’s also possible that such people may have just died in childhood instead.
There are lots of gluten-free options. Oats, sorghum, barley. It’s not all wheat.
Well actually yeah I’d love some
Agriculture was a trap
Breakfast, lunch, dinner, respectively.
How about rice?
Bulgur, I mean.
Get me some cheese to melt on that baked grain and I’m in.
The Greek philosopher Epicurus, who posited that the path to human happiness was (sustainable, appreciated) pleasure, once supposedly impressed a ruler so much that the ruler offered him vast estates, should he wish it, as a reward for his wisdom.
Epicurus just asked for some bread and a bowl of hot cheese, so he could “feast like a king”.
Gotta appreciate the good things in life!
