By Sam

Rich Tudor people ate this for meat: Oxen Deer Calves Pigs Badger wild boar

Birds were eaten too, such as: Chicken Pigeons Sparrows Heron Pheasant Partridge Blackbirds peacocks

Poor people ate a herb-flavoured soup called pottage which would be served with bread. It was made of peas, milk, egg yolks, breadcrumbs and parsley and flavoured with saffron and ginger. The meat for the poor was sheep which they sometimes put in pottage

They ate the food that was underground

Beer was the main drink in the times. Because the water was not clean in those times, even the kids drank beer!

Although there was a big difference between the diet of the rich and the poor, neither diet was healthy.The rich diet lacked fibre and was high in fat and sugars. The poor diet was healthier as it included vegetables and low fat meats such as lamb and chicken, but there was never enough food, causing starvation

Only kings and queen of Tudor England were allowed to hunt deer, hares and rabbits!

The punishment for poaching (illegal hunting) in Tudor England could result in death or having their hands cut off.

In the Tudor times they ate with knives and spoons but no forks

Looking for a shortcut to the spice rich lands of Asia to help cut out the expensive middle-man of the overland trade route, Christopher Columbus set off with the financing of Isabella of Spain.

Of course, we know now that if you sail west from Europe, you'll hit the Americas, not Asia. Columbus landed in the "Indies" on his first voyage and Haiti on his second where he discovered the other type of pepper we know today.

Many new foods came to Europe from the newly discovered lands in the west: potatoes, chocolate, peanuts, vanilla, tomatoes, pineapples, sweet and chili peppers, tapioca and the turkey.

The turkey arrived in Europe in 1524 and in England shortly after that. The potato reached England at some point in the late 1500s. Most likely, Sir Francis Drake brought them from Cartegena when he picked up supplies there

Since you usually had several people digging into a common dish with their fingers, having clean hands was important. People were advised by the “bad manners" of the day to wash their hands out in the open where everyone could see and then be assured your hands were clean.

Of course, it was another matter to keep your hands clean during the meal. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, manuals for manners gave a list of things people should refrain from during a meal, such as:

- don't put your fingers in your ears- don't put your hands on your heads- don't blow your nose with your hands- men were told to refrain from "scratching"

Other bad manners advised against were: people blowing their noses or wiping off sweat with their napkins; people poking around on a plate (probably looking for the better piece of food) and putting bones back on a platter after eating the meat off. We would consider their "proper" place for bones - the floor- pretty crude today! The "release of wind" was also frowned upon.

Fish was eaten by people living near rivers and the sea. The fresh water fish included eels, pike, perch, trout, sturgeon, roach, and salmon.

Some fruits were preserved in syrup to make them last longer through the winter months.

The Tudor people ate a lot of fresh food because there was no way of storing food to be eaten later. There was no such thing as freezers or fridges in the Tudor times. Some meat was preserved by rubbing salt into it.

starters: potagemains: roasted goose , pork, leg of beef,

chicken breast, veal tongue and baked venison tart

desserts: marzipan sweet rice pudding