What Foods Sustained Medieval Peasants?

The image of medieval peasants living on nothing but thin porridge and tough meat is a common misconception. This video revisits the surviving records—from tax accounts to aristocratic cookbooks—to uncover what they actually ate: bread, pottage, bacon, salted fish, vegetables from their own gardens, and even the harsh fasting days imposed by Church law. Discover how feudal obligations, religion, and disasters such as the Black Death shaped what a peasant family in medieval Europe could actually put on the table. Sources: Ian Mortimer, The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England (2008) C. M. Woolgar, The Culture of Food in England, 1200–1500 (2016) Bridget Ann Henisch, Fast and Feast: Food in Medieval Society (1976) Barbara A. Hanawalt, The Ties That Bound: Peasant Families in Medieval England (1986) — peasant life and their obligations to lords and the Church. The Forme of Cury (c. 1390, compiled for the court of King Richard II) Jean Froissart, Chronicles (14th century)