Many major Western foods have not yet been introduced to Europe in medieval times, such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, tomatoes, etc. In ancient times, there were not even beans. Except for the staple food of wheat and barley, there were basically no changes (but cooking

The methods are very different between modern and ancient times), and the dietary structure of Europeans is very different between modern and ancient times.

During the Hundred Years' War, people ate bread, cheese, cured fat meat, stews, poultry, and eggs. The feudal lords also had wild boar, deer and other game to eat, as well as sweets and baked dough in the shape of a castle.

, use batter, honey and fruit to make off-white pig intestine-shaped desserts, etc.

The bread at that time~~~ wouldn’t taste very good.

In ancient Europe, because there was not enough feed, livestock that were not kept as breeding stock were often killed to make bacon during the winter.

Without cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, pepper and other spices, the taste of bacon is also terrible. One of the great advantages of bacon is that you don’t need to carry salt when you go out. You can just cut off a small piece and cook it with other vegetables when eating. This also shows that

The reason why bacon is so unbearably salty.

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So the Portuguese, the Spanish, the Dutch, the British... were all exploring the Spice Route.

Spices, gold, and silk were the things that Western countries in the Middle Ages coveted.

The former occupies an even more important position.

The huge profits gained from every ship loaded with spices from the East drove people to brave the stormy seas and travel across the oceans. The unlucky ones became ghosts in foreign countries, but the lucky ones got rich overnight.

The resulting unscrupulous and profit-seeking plundering, the blood and fire of the colonial era... A pound of cardamom can be exchanged for a flock of sheep, and a pound of cloves is equivalent to three times the weight of gold. Such a trade, even if it is beheading, there will be people rushing to do it.

!

"The spices used by a poor native in Southeast Asia for every meal are a luxury that even the kings in Europe can't imagine..." Also, I read a description of the diet of a poor child in Southeast Asia, saying that he can only eat and pound every day.

Rice mixed with crushed spices (I don’t know what kind of spices it is)... I think the value of the spices he eats for each meal is enough to enjoy a Manchu banquet in Europe^-^! The smell of bacon is the same as that of smoked meat.

Wood has a lot to do with it. In the past, rural areas in Germany used branches of cypress and other trees to smoke smoke like we do here. It will have a very good aroma. In fact, the real aroma of bacon does not lie in the spices, but in the aroma released after the interaction between meat and smoke.

It is the most natural thing in medieval Europe. In fact, where ordinary people could eat meat every day, most of them would be good with some bread. They were busy working all day long and had little time to pay attention to cooking. Only noble lords were so particular about it (but compared to modern people, Louis XIV and Philippe Philippe

The Great Emperor is nothing more than that, hehe) There are some staple breads here that many people may not be used to. For example, the bread here is often made from raw wheat grains, and sometimes sunflower seeds (unfried) are added to taste, which tastes sour.

, but it is said that the nutritionally rich Europeans in the Middle Ages were actually quite poor in nutrition. The average height of the Germans in the 19th century was only a little over 1.6 meters tall. This can be seen from those castles and knight armors. Nowadays, many places in the real ancient castles are very narrow.

, those short knights’ armors are extremely narrow, and even I can’t put on a knight. With this, ordinary people can imagine that class differences and regional differences must exist at the same time, and cannot be absolute. (By the way, there is another characteristic of southern European cuisine.

I like to use wine to flavor the alcohol. The alcohol in the wine can react with the fatty acids in animal tissues to form esters with a strong aroma and can remove the fishy smell from fish. It is very useful for Southern Europe with a maritime culture.) But there are indeed regional differences.

Poor people in some places may have to cook something. It is said that Gypsies often use dead dogs, cats and sewage thrown away by Europeans to make delicacies. The rapid growth of Europeans can be seen from their facilities.

The facilities of more than ten or twenty years ago, such as trams, have become very difficult for today's people. I have always wondered why they don't make things bigger and save materials?

The staple food of Westerners is of course bread, but the main ingredient of bread is not necessarily wheat. Throughout the Middle Ages, Western Europe was often in periodic food crises. The causes of the crisis came from various aspects. One of the main aspects was low yield-know a little agricultural knowledge.

Everyone knows that the unit yield of wheat is the lowest among the three major food crops (wheat, rice, corn). Coupled with the low level of agriculture, the climate in Europe was much colder than now, so throughout the Middle Ages (can

It is said that this era of scarcity lasted almost until the 17th century) Wheat production was in short supply.

So a variety of substitute grains including barley, rye, emmer and other grains were used to make bread, and even chestnuts and beans were ground to make bread.