The Middle Ages, this period when we played football with pig’s bladders, when we could cry from a cold or a sore throat, and during which “Guigues” was a normal first name. THE BELLE ÉPOQUE, WHAT! The picture is almost perfect, but it still lacks a big thing: the infamous food. Yum yum the small roast hedgehog main course. Too delicious.
1. Roasted hedgehog
According to the Guardian, a team from the Department of Food Science at the University of Wales Institute in Cardiff (wow, damn it): Hedgehogs have been cooked for even longer… Thousands of years! So that its meat would not burn, our ancestors put them in an envelope of grass and leaves… One, it doesn’t look good. Two, it breaks our hearts. It’s way too cute to end up on a plate, seriously!!
2. Beaver, only on Fridays
Today, that makes no sense. At the time, on the other hand, that is explained! In the Middle Ages, there were many animals that were not very well identified… And suddenly, at that time, in the minds of humans, the beaver was a fish! However, in the Church, on Friday, meat is forbidden. So we’re back to the beaver. Very happy to live in the 21st century, how about you?
3. Frog pies…alive!
Hey hop, right away, the chef’s surprise! To entertain guests during medieval banquets, some cooks liked to hide small live animals in empty pasta crusts. Most often, there were frogs or birds… Hehehe, we knew how to laugh in the Middle Ages, I tell you!
Source : Le Huffpost
4. The “cockentrice”: the top of a suckling pig, sewn to the bottom of a capon or a turkey
A little creativity and originality in the kitchen, to do something LASER (the real ones have the ref). No it is wrong. This dish is absolutely creepy. In detail, a capon (castrated rooster) is boiled, cut in half, and sewn to the back of a small pig. Then it is stuffed, roasted on a spit and browned with egg yolks. Who is still hungry at this stage of the top?
5. Lampreys
A lamprey is an ultra creepy eelfish, with enough teeth to devour your soul. I let you admire the photo below. Courage, it’s just a bad time to pass.
6. Swans…
Don’t get me wrong: it wasn’t for everyone. Only the richest consumed it. At banquets, this type of bird was served unplucked, simply to impress the crowd.
7. …and peacocks
Exactly for the same reasons as for swans. Let us add that it is really a social distinction. For the richest, vegetables from the land such as salads are “poor people’s food”. They favor those who grow tall, considered superior. For the same reason, they prefer large birds, whose body is far from the ground, even when they are not flying. Cranes, storks, pheasants often join the swan and peacock in the pan. Voila.
8. Boiled oak acorns
Well, it wasn’t the dish for having fun, but more for hard times! In times of scarcity, we did what we could, huh.
9. Fast food
Of course, it’s not about burgers/fries yet! On the other hand, it is already fast food, selling hot meals to take away, ready to be eaten. In the street, merchants offer passers-by mashed peas, meat fritters or flans at low prices. Until then, no worries, right? The slightly more off-putting point of the story is that the food was often really mediocre. Like… Diseased, undercooked animal meats or leftovers from previous days. So, well, you shouldn’t be afraid of getting sick. Suddenly it makes you want less.
(Source.)