What did the Tudors eat?

Question from Kevin Watson

Tudor England was generally selfsufficient, not needing to rely on imports. People ate a lot of fresh food because storing food was difficult. Even peasants had small pieces of land, so the wealthy and poor kept animals, from chickens, pigs and cows, to ox, venison and wild boar. However, fish was always eaten on Fridays. 

Fruit and vegetables were plentiful, such as beans, carrots, peas, onions, apples, plums, pears, strawberries and cherries. Everyone ate bread and cheese, but the type of bread and cheese determined the class of a person. Expensive bread was made of white wheat flour, whereas cheap bread was a mixture of rye and wheat.


Answered by Sarah Bankes for Brain Dump in How It Works issue 97.

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