Medieval cookery is a fascinating subject, encompassing the foods, eating habits and cooking methods from various ways of life during the Middle Ages. Medieval history spans several centuries and it was a time in which diets and cookery changed across many countries, laying the foundations of modern eating habits.
Food is a defining part of any culture, in any period of history. The ingredients available to people for cooking, the prevailing climate in which they live and the social hierarchy at their particular time in history all combine to produce a unique style of cookery and how food is regarded and enjoyed.
Looking back through history, the food of any era offers us a greater understanding of how people lived - from Roman times to Renaissance Europe. However, there is perhaps no more fascinating a time in history than medieval times. So it is that medieval recipes have prevailed, passing down through generations and offering us an insight into the lives of our ancestors. The cookery of medieval England forms the core foundation of our research into medieval recipes and medieval cookery, with the majority of recipes dating from 1300 to 1485 (the advent of the Tudor dynasty in England). Over time we will also take a look at medieval cookery in other countries such as France, Italy, Spain and Germany.
This website is intended as a resource for anyone interested in medieval cookery. You might be a student of medieval history interested in learning more as part of medieval life studies, you might be someone who loves to cook looking to experiment with new recipe ideas or you might own your own restaurant, hotel or pub and be looking to expand your menu for special occasions. Whoever you are, hopefully you will find something of interest here at medieval-recipes.com.