What did PEASANTS EAT in medieval times? 

A medieval peasant travels in time and comes to 2020, we invite him into a fancy restaurant and serve him salmon and brown bread, so the medieval peasant is like “Oh for f**k’s sake”

Nice to know my diet is worse than a medieval peasant.

"You would probably begin drinking at the age of 5". That explained 90% of all British history!

The next time someone calls me "peasant" I'm gonna reply "I wish!"

medieval peasant: peas, fish, and bread college student: surviving on instant ramen

What was once peasant's food is now a 65 dollar plate at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant.

Ive had salmon, brown bread and mushy peas with sorrel sauce on multiple occasions since seeing this video a year ago.

Many people seem to underestimate how much difference herbs can make. It's true that spices used to be very expensive and as such reserved exclusively for the nobility, but this in no way meant that everyone else just had to make do with bland food - any ordinary peasant with a small garden at their disposal could easily grow herbs like mint, thyme, rosemary, basil and so on, as well as aromatics like garlic, onions, shallots and chives. They would still mostly live off of porridges, potages, soups and stews, but they were certainly capable of making them palatable.

Nice to see the Steward of Gondor out doing better things than setting his son on fire

Salmon is peasant food...cries in student.

*"Bread, Beer, and Bacon"* sounds like a really good pub name with great food and drink

4:38 ''Peasants were eating slob and mud'' Oh man that cracked me up. Reminds me of that scene in Monty Python's holy grail. ''There's some lovely filth over here!''

In the future restaurants will be serving doritos and ramen

this guy looks like he came from the past and couldnt support himself in this brave new world, so he started a channel about a regular day in his time.

My husband grew up poor in Appalachia. No plumbing or climate control. His diet was amazing though! I love that he always saw it this way. Everything homemade, organic, free range or truly wild caught. He’s a very hearty man.

This is literally the most calming video on RU-vid.

Medieval age: peasants eat healthly and were fit while rich ate unhealthly and were fat. Present: peasants eat unhealthly and are fat while rich eat healthly and are fit.

Poor person’s dinner in 1400: Salmon, ale, and artisan bread. Poor person’s dinner in 2019: Ramen Noodles and whatever...

There are number of times in history where the typical diet of the poor was considerably healthier than the diet of many of the rich. The very idea of resorting to eating leaves and roots and organ meats was often regarded as an ignoble contingency.

I'm Scottish (now living in Ireland) and until fairly recently in history, common Scots ate extremely well (unless they were in the Highlands during the Clearances, of course, or the potato famine). In Edinburgh, e.g., street food was oysters, clams, beef pasties, lobsters and more. In fact the upper classes sneered at peasant food. How times have changed...now I can't afford to buy salmon or beef, and if I want good bread I make my own rather than eat the supermarket white mush. I used to be a Viking Age reenactor (domestic history) and viking age peoples ate very well indeed, including onions, garlic, goat and pork and beef as well as mutton, all kinds of vegetables and herbs. In fact they ate better than most people do now. (my fave exhibit food to make...beer and cheese soup. Delicious)

Salmon, brown bread, peas, beer Then: Thats peasant food! Today: That'll be £60 What the frig?!

I need to work my daily budget up to the level of peasant.

I'm at this moment eating my first try of home-made (somewhat brown) bread, salmon and pea pottage right now, and it is amazing. I don't know what it is supposed to taste like, but I like what I ended up with. Sorrel sauce will be tested once sorrel becomes availible. Fairly hard to find in the winter.

The talk about bread reminded me of a great moment in Croatian politics. The people were complaining about the rising prices, bread in particular. So the wife of the prime minister at the time said "Just buy dark bread, it's much denser, so you can slice it thinner, and it will last you longer." No wonder she was dubbed the croatian Marie Antoinette.

When you gave up on Discovery and The History Channel because they only show reality TV and come to RU-vid to actually learn something

*Scientist brings medieval peasant to the future Peasant - I hath obtained the hunger doth thou have any food? Scientist - Sure! Here is one of our finest meals, grilled salmon and peas. Peasant - Nooooooeth!!!!!!

Bro it's cool that the video has aged a bit, but the uploader is still liking and replying to comments. Thanks bro.

I love this series! Not only is it very informative and interesting, but it's just two really lovely people sharing a joy of that interest, which is simply beautiful. Love from Denmark!

My grandfather grew up in the maritimes in the 30's he used to tell me that they ate lobster often because it could be freely caught - and people would laugh at families who ate Lobster because they couldn't afford fish....he used to laugh and say he worked his whole life to afford to eat the foods he ate growing up poor.

When you realize medieval peasants ate better than you

I really find the enthusiasm of both of these people very appealling.

I’m obsessed with medieval food. I wish I could find some Eastern medieval food channel like this

In the year 2486: “Back in the 21st century, people filled their lives with so many things to do each day that they had little time to prepare nutritious food. So they settled for quick food that was prepared earlier. This is called a Whopper and fries. The drink was called a Dr. Pepper.” “Amazing, historian. You’ve managed to remake food from so long ago.” “This is the real deal. The preservatives and chemicals have kept it in stasis for the past 3 centuries. They wouldn’t have noticed the difference.”

So peasants in the middle ages ate salmon with a sorrel pesto crust over wholegrain foccacia with a jus of garden peas

This meal looks very delicious! Peasants may have had less access to many foods and had more simple diets compared to the upper classes, but simplicity does not automatically equate to blandness. I’m a university student working towards a history major, and I want to be a medievalist (someone who specializes in medieval history). This video is very informative and gives me a lot of insight into the lives of the commoners during the medieval times, including their diets.

I keep going back to this video every once in a while. I dont kow why, i just like it. 😋 Come to think of it, this is one of the earliest video of this channel that i watched early last year i think. Look at how big the channel have grown. 😆

"Drinking from the age of 5" I'd love to see the daycare bar fights.

*Salmon in the Middle Ages:* Peasant food *Salmon today:* Worth my entire college tuition

Perfect. This is the difference between the media telling us what to watch and show that IS what we want to watch. Please keep up your good work.

My mother who lived in London's East End in the 1920s related how it was quite common for people to keep a pig or chickens in the gardens. I have also heard, though not been able to confirm, that poor Londoners would eat oysters as they were easily obtainable from the Thames, around Barking and Dagenham, whereas now oysters are, like salmon, expensive foodstuffs.

It's sad that peasants ate healthier than alot of people today.

My mom live by the beach in Mexico. She was poor, she ate poor people food, lobster and abalone almost everyday.

I grew up on a large farm in Ireland. The food was great. We also lived very near the sea. And - my mother was recognised as being a gifted cook. We were so blessed. Wish I could go back.

This gives me the same emotion as when I researched recipes from the great depression....I found out due to the shift in economic tides they were still more expensive to prep than what I eat.

No clickbait, straight forward knowledge and facts about history, actually quiet entertaining and very interesting Thank you for this channel

You are what the History Channel should have become

Growing up on a farm from a long family history of farming, our biggest meal was ALWAYS the mid day meal. And we called it dinner. We never said "lunch" but we many around us did. And we'd have a lighter meal at the end of the day which we called supper.

I love how knowledgable this lady is. Such tasty food.

tfw you realize that this dude is the CEO of Rebellion and you've played his games

Not gonna lie, that looks like a goddamn nice meal.

5:57 The excitement over the mushy peas even changes his accent.

You mentioned that the meal went together relatively quickly, but you forget that someone had to take hours grinding that flour and then kneading and baking the bread. Someone had to catch the fish and skin it and debone and slice it. The peas had to be picked in the garden and then cooked in the pot. The sorrel had to be picked and then as you did, it had to be mashed and turned into a sauce. It was done quickly for the video, but there was a great deal of preparatory work that took place in order to make that "quick" meal for you.

She's great. It's rare to find a guest that's not only knowledgeable and interesting but also approachable in their expertise and great at speaking.

This is so cool. I remember being a peasant back in 1387, I used to make turkey burgers and chips and sell them to the local baron. He was a bastard.

My grandma can relate to the pig thing. Here in Spain we oiled parts of the pig in jars to keep it. Also she grew rabbits (wild) and chickens and trade with them. All the things explained here are not very far from how we did things here after civil war. We also boiled rocks to purify water. Misery times.

I really wish they made more of these food segments. I literally keep researching them during meals as it's so calming and oddly visually appealing while I eat lol. This could easily be a popular on going series with Chris

Hail Denethor, son of Ecthelion, Lord and Steward of Gondor.

So this is what the Steward of Gondor is doing now

5:19 - for Central and South European peasants, salami was what they made for winter. We now think of salami as posh food (and it is expensive), but back then it was peasant food.

This guy seems so sweet and kind :)

It had to give you at least +25 to health and stamina.

"The browner the bread, the poorer you were" I'm almost eating black bread

I'm Australian and enjoyed this program so much; I love English humour and the comments section is just so funny. Salmon and lobster, peasant food? Not any more.

That was absolutely wonderful. I had no idea, as I think most people do, that medieval peasants ate so well! You did save me a portion?

when i grow up i wanna be a peasant

Lobster was prison food well into the early 1900s. Like the salmon, if it is abundant, then it is mundane. But when it is rare, then suddenly it is demanded. Humans are so weird that way.

I just tried this Medieval dish myself for the first time. I have to say, the salmon, peas pottage and trencher bread was delicious. The sorrel sauce I had to modify a bit with some butter and white wine vinegar (I know, not very peasanty but it improved the sauce a lot in my opinion) but overall it's a very nice dish. Thanks for the inspiration!

"Today salmons are expensive but back then people can get them freely in the river" Yeah, but back then they got drowners lurking around the river so it's always risky

I never knew I was so interested in medieval history until the algorithm recommended me one video and now I've watched about 2hrs worth...

That was quite an entertaining video, Denethor, Steward of Gondor. Thank you!

The charm and harmony between you two is amazing 😊

My son is studying Anglo-Saxon and Norman England. I can imagine people eating that delicious looking bread.

"Haha I bet those stupid peasants ate some right horrible gruel." *Watches video* "Wow, those clever peasants had a really good diet." *Continues eating Pot Noodle*

I’m going to open a restaurant called Bread, Beer, and Bacon.

I went to a tourist place with reenactments of a colonial village and native village where you could immerse yourself and ask questions about the ways of the past. My dad asked a Native if they eat lobsters and the man said "yes.. but not really, it is considered a lazy person's food." Because back then you could just walk into the water and pick up a HUGE lobster right away. The salmon bit just reminded me of this

I’m a little late to the party , but thanks for this You’ve managed to convince me that there are worthwhile things on RU-vid

Now the peasants eat macaroni and cheese or hotdogs. Sounds like we've gone backwards.

One problem I saw with this is pretty minor in the overall production, but should have been noted. "Beer" as it was known in medieval Europe was mostly unrecognizable to modern people. First of all, the use of hops as a flavoring and preservative wasn't very common in the middle ages. While hops were known and used in beer, the average cup of ale you'd find at an inn would have been brown or black in color and bittered with locally available herbs like yarrow, heather, mugwort and juniper. The quality and flavor profile could vary wildly (just like modern homebrewers with various levels of skill and talent). It was also usually somewhat sour, as it was open fermented with wild yeast carried across the wind. (if you want to try something as close to medieval beer in the modern era, try a Flemish Red Ale, Belgian Lambic or Scottish Gruit) The other major difference is that the alcohol content was very, very low. Of course strong ales existed for the wealthy (though not posh like imported grape wine from the continent), but the average household was drinking 1% abv beer brewed by the matron of the house morning, noon and night unless they were lucky enough to live next to a natural spring. By comparison, you'd have to chug five medieval beers packaged in a modern 12oz (375ml) beer bottle in under an hour to get the same effect as one bottle of any modern pale lager (Carlsberg, Becks, Red Stripe, Budweiser, Fosters, Molson, etc). It was probably lightly carbonated at best. The idea that everyone was completely drunk in the 12th century is a myth. If you tried to get drunk off medieval peasant beer, you're likely to get sick due to a distended stomach first. One modern beer's alcohol content would require you to drink 60oz of slightly sour, carb loaded medieval brew that likely tasted similar to liquid pumpernickel bread to get the effect of one bottle of the average pale lager. (you might only have to chug 48oz of sourdough breadwater an hour to approximate one lite beer) I'm guessing that alcoholism wasn't even on the radar of the average peasant in the 12th century. You just had to deal with your terrible life by trusting that there was a heaven after all that suffering. Fermentation and microbial life (yeast and harmful bacteria alike) was unknown to science and thought of in a more spiritual manner. They didn't know why beer was safe to drink and river water wasn't, so the process of making beer was considered mildly holy. Monks took up the process, as beer was a good fit for fasting, and largely perfected and developed the process and regional style of beers across Europe. To this day, only certain Trappist monasteries in Belgium (possibly the Netherlands as well) are allowed to brand themselves as "Trappist Beers" brewed on site by actual monks, and their styles of beer are completely different from what the average person thinks of when they imagine beer. Chimay is easily the most widely available, and it's darker than the average pale lager, much sweeter, and has strong fruity overtones of peach, banana and currant, and almost no hop bitterness. The finish can be quite spicy by way of clove or anise, with a bit of an alcoholic bite and a touch of fruity sourness. Monks in Germany developed similar flavors with the local wheat that's still popular today as weissbier. The British brewing tradition still favors low-strength amber to black ales averaging around 4% abv, even though slightly stronger international pale lagers have become very popular with young people since the late 1970's. Our modern perception of a golden, crisp, bubbly beer wasn't invented until the mid 19th century in Bohemia. I'm not poo-pooing modern beer. I love a good pilsner at a cook-out in the summer, or even just a couple cans of Miller High Life with friends. When winter comes, the ideal night for me is a seat outdoors next to a campfire with a quality cigar and a bottle or three of imperial stout or barleywine.

This is the first video I've seen of this channel, and I must say, these videos and people seem absolutely delightful

I have a garden that I grow veggies in and a small river that has plenty of fish in it. I've eaten things like this meal many a times :)

I can see a London restaurant being opened quite soon: Ye Royal Peasant.

Peasant 1: “ah poor Timmy he is starving* Peasant 2: “what did thou eat? Peasant 1: “Ah the terrible, fried salmon, ale, and bread” 🤮

i was born in northern finland by kemi river. my father used to tell that when he was a child and there were no power plants to prevent salmon rising the house masters were forbidden by law not to serve more than thrice a week salmon for workers... without the law it would have been on every meal.

I am always interested to know what those living in poverty in cities ate - I think people living in rural areas have probably always had better diets! :D But this was so interesting, thank you so much ^_^ I've never had mushy peas (I live in NZ) but definitely want to try making the medieval peasant version now

I like how enthusiastically he looks at the food. You can see he really digs this

you: stew me, an intellectual: *p o t t a g e*

Your genuine excitement in this video is contagious and heartwarming :) Great video as always!

This is just lovely.

So considering the reversal of food value... in 1000 years will Ramen, Mac and Cheese, and PB&J be considered a delicacy?

If the accent didn't give him away: I don't know if there is anything more British than being that excited about mushy peas.

I’m having the salmon, potted peas and sourdough toast for dinner tomorrow, it been a staple of my weekly dinners since discovered this episode a few years ago, cheers!

I am a medieval reenactor and I do a campsite and cooking demonstration in my local area. I love your videos. It helps me teach people and spread the knowledge of the past and of the Ancestors. Tha k you.

That actually looks like a damn good meal

Just as brown bread and salmon were once the food of peasants, here in America lobster was once considered "junk" and fed to prison inmates.

This is my favourite video on the channel. Makes me hungry whenever I watch it.

All of history seems that much brighter to me now. Thank you.

The food that was once common, peasant food like salmon, oysters, and lobster became overfished and that's why they're luxury expensive items today.

This guy looks like Denethor in the LOTR.

Stumbled across this video and was delighted with what i learned. Nicely put together, kudos.

beer, nice hearty bread, seared salmon and peas, that's a pretty damn solid meal