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When the Black Plague struck Europe in the 14th century, people didn't have much time to worry about their diets. Still, doctors warned that the most popular food and drinks in medieval England, such as fresh fruit and vegetables, could make people sick. Deemed healthy were items like meats, vinegar, and cooked fruit. For roughly three centuries afterward, millions of Europeans succumbed to sickness. The effects of the Black Plague influenced medieval food culture and directly shaped the way we live now.
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When the Black Plague struck Europe in the 14th century
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doctors came to believe that some foods spread illness while others promoted health
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They were not always right. But those beliefs heavily influenced medieval food
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culture and directly shaped the way many parts of the world still live and eat now
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So today, we're going to take a look at some things you won't believe Europeans ate during the plague
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OK, I hope you brought your appetite, because it's time to tuck into some weird history
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More than possibly the best flavor of potato chip, Europeans believed vinegar was a panacea
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to prevent symptoms of the plague. Doctors used it as a medicine or potion
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and it was often recommended as an additive to other foods or drinks
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Vinegar was used in a wide variety of foods. When cooking watery vegetables, fruits, soups, and dairy
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the addition of substantial amounts of spice and vinegar was recommended. People also believed adding vinegar into water and wine
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would provide medicinal benefits. Lastly, to eliminate the bad humors that supposedly caused the illness
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doctors recommended a syrup made from honey and vinegar. Yeah, that will drain the humor out of most people
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Medieval doctors also believed a vital part of promoting good health involved purifying the air
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With a tractate written by a 14th century physician, John of Burgundy
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it's evident that vinegar served as a general disinfectant as well as a medicine
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Along with juniper branches and other deodorizers, vinegar cleared the air of harmful miasmas, which regular Weird History viewers will remember are
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bad smells once believed to cause disease. Quite often, people were encouraged to wash their hands
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and faces in vinegar and rosewater. The smell of ether was thought to clean the air, you know
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in addition to clearing the room. So what does modern medicine have to say about all this
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Well, when it comes to health benefits, some research indicates that consuming a few tablespoons
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of vinegar might slightly reduce post-meal levels of blood glucose and insulin in people
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with diabetes. But otherwise, there's no conclusive evidence from clinical research to support the idea it functions
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as a medication of any kind. On the disinfectant front, white vinegar's acidic nature
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makes it fairly useful and effective as a household cleaning agent. That's a far cry from ridding the air itself of disease
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but there might be a kernel of truth in this belief. So-called four thieves vinegar, a concoction of herbs
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and vinegar which, in medieval times, was believed to protect people from catching the plague
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might have contained natural flea repellents. And since the plague was spread by fleas
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it is at least plausible that splashing vinegar around like cheap cologne really did help some people
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avoid catching the plague. Most medieval peasants owned a cow, sheep, or goat
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It would often milk their livestock to produce dairy products. You'd think that would mean they would be swimming
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in fresh milk like a bunch of Lucky Charms marshmallows. But that wasn't the case
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In fact medieval Europeans in general didn drink fresh milk It would often spoil too quickly So the milk that didn turn was reserved for the sick while peasants drank soured milk or buttermilk in way mixed with water
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Among the wealthy, there was a different substitute for fresh milk, almond milk, which is still a fairly popular milk alternative today
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Almond milk was also used to treat the sick, as doctors believed it was easier to digest than whole almonds
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and could provide essential nutrients for the ill. Almonds, however, were expensive
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So these kinds of treatments were reserved only for the wealthiest individuals
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The nut had heavy associations with Greek and Arabic cooking, and though it was prevalent
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in northern European recipes, it was not generally accessible to the majority of the population
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During plague outbreaks, eating fresh fruits was highly discouraged because the food was
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thought to carry disease. Today, it's suspected that those diseases had more to do with the lead content of the
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plates the aristocracy tended to use to serve those fruits, but nobody understood that back then
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This association became so prevalent that during a period in 1569, English authorities forbade the sale of fresh fruit
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That, however, doesn't mean medieval Europeans didn't eat fruit at all, just not fresh fruit
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The most popular fruits were pears, apples, plums, damsons, cherries, and strawberries
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And they were often used in pies, preserved with sugar, or dried for later consumption
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Honestly, we get it. Fruit is best in pie form. And sugar makes everything taste better
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Just like with fresh fruit, medieval Europeans feared uncooked vegetables
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believing they caused diseases. Weird that they didn't take issue with cooked vegetables
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Have you smelled a pot of Brussels sprouts? In 1500, a cookbook entitled The Book of Carvinia warned cooks to beware of green salads and raw fruits
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for they will make your master sick. And if your master was someone you were worried about, it was good advice
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Ironically, it was probably wise for medieval Europeans to cook their vegetables because it
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did affect public health, even if they got the specific details wrong. Historians have found
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records of vendors cleaning produce with saliva before selling them, a practice which persisted
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until the late 18th century. Maybe that guy spitting on a Big Mac was just trying to wash
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the lettuce. Just like with everything else on this list, an item's association with particular
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social classes generally determined accessibility to vegetables. Medieval farmers grew many common
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and vegetables, including carrots, cabbage, and peas. But some, specifically carrots and cabbage
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were associated with poverty. The saying, to live on carrots, meant not having anything else
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to eat, although carrots have reclaimed some of their reputation since the invention of ranch dip
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While vegetables and fresh fruit were under heavy suspicion of causing disease, nobody really
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seemed to have a problem with meat. It was commonly eaten throughout medieval Europe
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And though different meats were served, their abundance and variety were determined by socioeconomic status like pretty much everything else and still continues to be Due to how cheap and accessible the animals were beef and mutton tended to be the most common meats
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Many peasants owned cows and sheep, so when the animals were unable to produce milk
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or had reached a certain age, they were slaughtered for food. The aristocracy, of course, had much more varied menus
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Peacocks, seals, and porpoises were served at banquets along with boar and other wild game
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The more exotic the animal, the better. It's as though the medieval elite designed their menus around what would upset the most children
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During the medieval era, many spices like clove, cinnamon, and nutmeg were considered exotic and
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luxurious due to an Arab monopoly on the spice trade. They were imported into Europe from the
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East Indies, inaccessible in large quantities and expensive for most individuals. Many fresh herbs
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however, were accessible to a broader European population. Herbs, the most common of which were
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sage, parsley, mint, and dill were used to enhance the flavor of certain dishes. They were also
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important ingredients in medicines. In addition, they served as a treatment for every kind of
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ailment. Coriander was used to quell fevers. Annis was meant to cure flatulence. And rosemary
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would supposedly stop nightmares. Modern science does not really back up most of these associations
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But hey, you got to try something to cure that flatulence. A dietary regimen that emerged somewhere between the 12th and 13th century, known as the Regimen
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Sanitatus Salernitatum, placed a heavy emphasis on drinking wine and ale, which has to make you
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wonder if it was dreamed up by medieval frat boys. Many amateur nutritionists still follow
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this regimen today, particularly during sporting events and holidays. It also placed great
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importance on teaching people how to choose the best wines and brews with the goal of maintaining
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a healthy lifestyle. People often drank ale with breakfast and washed down dinner with spiced wine
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If a person had too much wine the night before, the best cure was to have a drink in the morning
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Though most alcoholic drinks were watered down, Europeans still turned to wine and beer instead
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of water throughout the era. People did drink water in the medieval era, as long as it came
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from good sources. They just tended to prefer the alternatives. To be honest, that hasn't changed
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much. There were specifications on finding the best wines and beers, however, because the wrong
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ones were considered a health risk. A good beer needed to be clear, not sour, and brewed from
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healthy grain, then properly fermented and aged. White wine was recommended as the most wholesome
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type of wine because red wine caused constipation and raucousness of the voice. Those two make
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sense together. It's tough to keep the raucousness out of your voice when you're constipated. Peasants during the era often ate three pounds of grain each day, which sounds like a lot
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but it makes more sense when you realize they consumed it in various forms Those forms included things like bread thick porridge and beer In fact when eating porridge peasants sometimes used hallowed slices of bread as bowls sort of like ye olde Panera
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Physicians even used bread to protect against plague. Writer Bengt Knutson reported that he carried bread or sponge sopped in vinegar when he
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visited those affected. Knutson held the bread in front of his nose to block supposedly contagious vapors
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It was kind of the medieval equivalent of a surgical mask, except the mask was a wet
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piece of bread that really didn't do anything. Other than that, they're the same. Everybody loves the taste of sugar, and it was an especially valuable commodity during the late
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medieval period. Sugar was transported to Europe from the East and West Indies, as well as from
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North Africa. Due to the high labor needed for cultivation, processing, and transportation
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sugar was expensive, but it was popular in the upper strata of European society
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especially in England. It was used when cooking vegetables and preserving fruit
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And people prescribed it as a medicine. Because when medical science doesn't really exist yet
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medicine can pretty much be whatever you want it to be. Sugar was so abundant among the upper crust of the era
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that tooth decay became a distinguishing feature of English aristocracy. Sort of like a members-only jacket
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Not sure which is worse. During the plague, Europeans ate a thickened grain
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made in the form of gruel or porridge, sometimes served with vegetables
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Gruel and porridge was a food staple primarily for economically disadvantaged Europeans
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because it lasted a long time and people could mix it into any available food. It was like a nutrient delivery system
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Not tasty or fun to eat, but it got the job done. The dish inspired the old rhyme, peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold
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peas porridge in the pot nine days old. Fans of Dickensian literature may also remember gruel as the meager dish of which Oliver Twist
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wanted a second helping. Pottage was another common variation, a thick soup of grains, vegetables, and meat
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People sometimes ate it off a thick slice of bread, called a trencher. When you're a peasant, you need a carb load
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like you just got cast in a superhero movie. The plague extended beyond the 14th century
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There were periods where it reemerged in Europe and altered food culture
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For example, in the 1600s, the popularity of lemonade may have prevented the spread of the plague in Paris
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How so? Well, food writer Tom Nealon speculates that lemon peels may explain the mystery
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Chemicals in lemon peels eliminated the fleas that had historically spread the affliction
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When rats on the streets of Paris chewed on discarded peels, it may have also helped ward off the fleas
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When a new wave spread in the 1670s, Paris was spared once again, which
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lends more credence to the lemon peel theory. Ironically, while Europeans thought just about every other food
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had medicinal value, they did not intentionally drink lemonade for its health benefits
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The new beverage was merely a fad that may have accidentally protected an entire city
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Go figure
#Public Health