Thread: Balanced diet?
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Kate Dicey
 
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Clifford Payne wrote:

> You mentioned "The records of places like Knole, Hampton Court Palace, and
> some of the great religious houses will tell you this."
>
> I"m new to this. Could you tell me how I can find the records you cited, or
> similar records?


Google for the historic places, then ring them up and ask them! I do
that all the time... I've talked to various folk at Hampton Court about
Henry's feasts, textile dates and preservation (The Royal School of
Needlework is also there), sewers, and all sorts! The British Library
and The British Museum are also excellent places to look. Ring them up
or email them and ask... It is, after all, what they are there fore -
the preservation and dissemination of knowledge! Some records are only
available to bona fide historians as they are too old to be handled by
all and sundry, but they will soon tell you what research facilities are
available and how to use them.

I have to book a day to go and see the collection of 17th & 18th C
clothing not fit for display in the V&A soon: I need details of how
things were actually sewn together.
>
> cliff, from pgh
>
> "Kate Dicey" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>Cookie Cutter wrote:
>>
>>>>The poor
>>>>may have fared better nutritionally by foraging for field greens to
>>>>add to grain than the rich with abundant supplies of meat and little
>>>>else.
>>>
>>>Why would the rich not have anything other than meat? They would
>>>have had a house full of servants who would have kept the house
>>>well-supplied from a kitchen garden.
>>>

>>
>>Hieatt and Butler have a nice theory: there are many warnings in
>>mediaeval and later writings against the dangers of eating salads, and
>>their argument is that were it not a great habit of former times to eat
>>such things, there would be no need to warn against them. There are
>>also plenty of quite elaborate vegetable dishes and dishes containing
>>vegetables and meat or fish in Roman and mediaeval cookery writings,
>>dishes that would have been hard for peasants and poor townsfolk to
>>afford or have the resources and equipment to make (never mind the
>>time!), so they must have been eaten in middle class and merchant
>>households, or in the houses of the rich and nobility. Another good
>>argument in favour of this is that the peasants couldn't write: these
>>recipes came from a stratum of society where writing things down was a
>>well established habit, places such as religious establishments and the
>>houses of great and wealthy.
>>
>>Kitchen gardens and the still room were often the preserve of the lady
>>of the house, and were places where not only herbs and medicinal plants
>>were grown, used and stored, but also places where fruits were bottled
>>and preserved for use throughout the year. I think it's a great mistake
>>to assume from the few surviving menus of mediaeval feasts that the
>>upper classes dines exclusively on meat and white bread, especially when
>>you look at the methods of preparation of the dishes, and see how many
>>had vegetables as a part of their make up, one of the expected
>>accompaniments. If you stop looking at menus and look at household
>>accounts, you can see that a lot more went into feeding the household
>>than meat for the master and pottage for his servant. The records of
>>places like Knole, Hampton Court Palace, and some of the great religious
>>houses will tell you this. Also take a look at the religious calendar:
>>there were days (nay, weeks!) when meat was off limits, and fish had to
>>be eaten, and times when BOTH were forbidden.
>>
>>In addition, and at the other end of society, meat was eaten by the
>>peasantry: pigs were kept, and slaughtered and preserved as bacon, for
>>example. Pigs could be kept close to the house (they didn't mind the
>>smell!), and made a good waste disposal unit that could be eaten later.
>>Peasants also had grazing rights for sheep and goats, and while many of
>>the ewes were kept for wool and reproduction, the ram lambs would mostly
>>be slaughtered for meat. They may not have eaten anything like as much
>>meat as the upper and middle classes, but they did get some. More at
>>some times of the year, and more in some areas, but pigs, goats, and
>>chickens are all kaleyard keepers. Certainly in England it was part of
>>a serf's right to have enough time NOT tilling his master's land and
>>animals to grow food for his family, and tend his own animals.
>>--
>>Kate XXXXXX
>>Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
>>http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk
>>Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

>
>
>



--
Kate XXXXXX
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!