A Good Meal–Food in the Middle Ages
Diana Wynne Jones’ book Tough Guide to Fantasy Land (recommended for any fantasy/historical fantasy writer) is a hilarious riff on the fantasy genre. At one point, she mocks fantasy authors’ tendency for their adventurers to eat ‘stew’ in great quantity, which travelers would for the most part never do. The classic example of this is when Sam, in Lord of the Rings, hauls those pots all the way to Mordor. A much more likely scenario would for him to have stashed a couple of sticks in his backpack to poke through those poor rabbits he takes from Gollum in order to roast them over the fire. Stew is far too much work. So if not stew, then what? Roasted meat over a spit, when possible. Stale bread. Berries or root vegetables gathered from the surrounding area. Salted, smoked, and dried meat that keeps for weeks Read more…