What do elizabethans eat

Even children drank ale as it was not very strong. Strong ale was reserved for times they wanted to make merry! The rich drank ale too, but also wine, which was very expensive. Popular wines were claret, malmsey, and sack a type of sherry. Milk was sometimes drank, sheep's aswell as cow's, but was mostly used to make butter, cream, and cheese. Wiki Commons. Over the course of the Tudor period, more and more foods were introduced into society as they were discovered in the New World, such as tomatoes or love apples as they were known from Mexico; turkey from Mexico and Central America; kidney beans from Peru, and of course the potato famously brought to England by Sir Walter Raleigh in the later years of Elizabeth's reign.

However, the Elizabethans did not know quite how to use or cook these foods to their optimum, so they were not as tasty as they could have been and tended to be kept as special delicacies.

As well as a good meal, the Tudors were fond of desserts. They enjoyed pastries, tarts, cakes, cream, custard, and crystallized fruit and syrup. The rich, who could afford to buy sugar, were very fond of sugary desserts, so much so that their teeth turned black! In fact, having black teeth became such a status symbol that people would deliberately blacken their teeth so it looked like they were rich enough to buy sugar!

Marzipan, known as marchpane, was also popular. For special feasts, or banquets, the rich would have all kinds of novelties made out of sugar and marzipan, such as animals, birds, fruits and baskets.

The punishment for pickpockets is to be tied to postsat the side of the stage for people to jeer at and pelt with food.

However, they rubbed shoulders with death more frequently than we do today. The main reasons for this were the following: First, infant mortality rates were extremely high. This meant that something we could now cure easily, such as syphilis or even measles, might result in death. In the Elizabethan era, views on death and suicide were mainly formulated from a Christian perspective, as set out in the Bible. Queen Elizabeth I was a moderate Protestant. Weekly church attendance was compulsory, and only licensed clergy were allowed to conduct services.

As many as one-half of the children born never lived beyond fifteen years and, thus, never reached adulthood. Also, the average lifespan of an adult was only thirty years.

Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Press ESC to cancel. Skip to content Home Assignment What did Elizabethans eat for dinner? Ben Davis February 21, The smoking of the meat was popular and was intended in order to preserve the food. Though there are a number of cooking variations that were employed during those times, the people of Elizabethan England mostly preferred cooking that was conducted over an open flame.

Elizabethan England food and dishes are usually prepared with the use of a number of different kitchen utensils. Pots, pans, skillets, and cauldrons are examples of utensils used in the kitchen. Food preparation was made possible with the use of ladles, knives, and scissors. Baking trays crafted from hardened pastry was used for baking. To complete their meal, Elizabethans also had their own versions of drinks. People of this era were known to patronize wine and ale as they were easy to preserve.

People in this era did not consider water as clean and sterile and hence they preferred alcohol more than water. And the choices of drinks also revealed the social status and the standing of the person. For example, the person of higher class drank wine, while the other person of the lower class drank ale, Rhenish, brandy wine, and brandy.

Nevertheless, some ale and bread were enough for those in a hurry to eat. What was Shakespeare's Favourite food? Other foods popular at the time bread, butter, beer, stew of mutton or beef or veal, rabbit and chicken, fresh and salt water fish, oysters, vegetables and fruits, strawberries, hens, geese, deer with sauces of musk, saffron, and ambergis.

He only really liked marzipan fruits, jelly and spiced fruit cake. However, he loved pears, apples, plums and damsons. He was also fond of cherries and strawberries. What did the middle class wear in the Elizabethan era?

Middle CLass. The middle class in Elizabethan times were mainly made of lower class rich people. People normaly wore one or two accessories such as keys, pouch, jewel, handkerchief. What types of entertainment were popular in Elizabethan England? Dances were popular, whether you lived in London or in a small town, and so was getting together at the local pub for sing-alongs.

Games like chess, checkers, and tennis were extremely popular; Miranda plays chess in The Tempest and Queen Elizabeth herself was known to love the game. What did Romeo and Juliet eat? In the s people would be eating, beef, lamb, and pork for meat, beans, turnips, greens, and carrots for vegetables, and oranges, apples, and strawberries for fruit.