The Middle Ages were a festival for gastronomy enthusiasts of that period. These were the years in which exotic spices from the East were discovered, especially salt, pepper, saffron, nutmeg, cinnamon, sherry wine and mustard. Urban legends said that pepper grew in fields near the Garden of Eden, ginger and cinnamon rose in Egyptian fishermen's nets from the waters of the Nile, and arrived there via a stream of a heavenly river that intersects with the Nile. Some believed that the spices arrived in the physical world with a breath from the Garden of Eden. The rich and privileged began using spices such as salt and pepper as early as the dawn of time. At that time, meat was preserved for a long time using salt, but also small mounds of pepper placed on gold plates and passed from hand to hand during a meal indicated the status of the owner of the house. There were periods when pepper was traded instead of gold.
Medieval French Cuisine – Main Characteristics
Meals were served around a long table and the service was called “Service de confusion.” Dishes were not served to the table in the order we know today (first, main, and last), so everything was served together. The waiters placed gastronomic bells on the dishes and lifted them at the same time, so that the meal actually became a show. The guests tore the meat with their hands because there was no cutlery. There were no personal plates and the guests ate from the central plate closest to them. This is how the custom was assimilated that the French are careful to follow in terms of table manners, and when you are served a central plate, you are supposed to reach out to the place closest to you.
Kings, after conquests, used to clink glasses of wine with each other while looking into each other's eyes. Anyone who looked away even for a moment and did not look into their friend's eyes was immediately suspected of plotting to poison the other. Hence the custom of looking into each other's eyes while clinking glasses, and despite popular belief, it has nothing to do with sex.
What did they eat? The meat was boiled and then preserved for hygiene reasons, the food was baked over an open fire and in bread ovens, the sauces were rich and heavy and based mainly on mustard. For a long time, green sauce was in fashion. It was made from bread, parsley, ginger and vinegar. Strong flavors such as sweet-sour and salty were the most popular. In short, people were not considered particularly gourmet at the time and the food was very basic and mainly seasonal according to the liturgical calendar - something the French are proud of even today. Every dish is served fresh and in season. Oysters should not be served in a month that does not have the letter R (or R') and rhubarb desserts only appear on French tables like mushrooms after the rain in May.
Some of the foods came from the monasteries, for example the strong-flavored Maruel cheese from the Calais region in northern France. The cheese originally comes from the Maruel Abbey, in whose region it has been produced since 962 AD. It is a rectangular orange-red cheese measuring 13x6 cm and weighing 700 grams. Kings who particularly loved it were Philip II, Louis IX, Charles VI and François I. This cheese became especially famous in 2008 when it became the unofficial star of the French comedy “Welcome to the North.”
Why do the French eat frog legs?
The custom of eating frogs' legs also came from the monasteries of the Middle Ages. In the past, the popes sat in the "Papal Palace" in the city of Avignon. One of them believed that the monks were too fat and decided that they should go on a diet. He estimated that the source of the fat was the fact that they were eating too much meat. Therefore, he forbade them from eating meat. The starving monks who were standing at the entrance to the monastery saw frogs jumping in the swamps. "This is not meat," they said to themselves, "Therefore, we will not disobey the Pope's order. It is not fish either," they decided resolutely. "So let's try to eat it," said one of them. The local peasants who saw that God's representatives were eating frogs did the same. Since then, the French have been eating frogs. However, they do not eat the whole frog, but only the thighs (which have a taste similar to chicken). Today, frogs that jump in swamps are no longer eaten, but are raised in a supervised manner, on special farms. Frog legs are considered a delicacy, sold as luxury dishes in 3-Michelin-starred restaurants.
Who cooked in the Middle Ages? For example, Guillaume Tyrrel, who is commonly called Taillevent, is considered the first French cook. He was born in 1310 in Normandy and served in the courts of the kings of France. As a child, he was a kitchen boy (enfant de cuisine) and over the years he advanced. The “Book of Meats,” which is probably the first cookbook, is usually attributed to him. Rumor has it that he was quite a good cook. In fact, one of the kings granted him a title of nobility.
Starting in the 17th century, spice importers, the nobility, the rich, and the cooks began to relax. Exotic spices were no longer as exotic as they once were, and the rich and less so became accustomed to them. French cuisine took on a new form—the one we know today.
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