Fertile food Before the introduction of the potato, those in Ireland, England and continental Europe lived mostly off grain, which grew inconsistently in regions with a wet, cold climate or rocky soil. Potatoes grew in some conditions where grain could not, and the effect on the population was overwhelming.
While the potato was becoming a part of European cooking ever since the Spaniards brought them to the continent in the mid-1500s, the French were not so hot on the potato. They refused to accept the vegetable, referring to it as “hog feed” and believing that these tubers caused leprosy.
Viking farmers cultivated cabbages, beans, peas and endive, and wild apples and berries were also available to Middle Age diners. A wide range of herbs and seasonings helped flavor Viking food, with spices like coriander, cumin, mustard and wild horseradish making an appearance at the table.
European ate many of the foods they still eat today before the Columbian Exchange. For example, they ate wheat and other grains, such as oats; meats like pork, beef, and chicken; and fruits and vegetables, like carrots, onions, apples, peaches, and cherries.
"Europe had a much richer variety of food than the Americas. We already had plenty of grains like wheat, rice, millet, rye and barley, so corn did not have that much impact, except to the poor. We also had domesticated animals, which we introduced to the Americas, plus plenty of fruits and vegetables."
Fertile food
Before the introduction of the potato, those in Ireland, England and continental Europe lived mostly off grain, which grew inconsistently in regions with a wet, cold climate or rocky soil. Potatoes grew in some conditions where grain could not, and the effect on the population was overwhelming.
Turnip: 4,523 Years Old
In Southern European countries, the shoots, leaves, and tubers of turnip plants are consumed. Turnips were cultivated at least 4,523 years ago in Europe though their wild counterparts were eaten much earlier than that.
Nobles Courtyards and gardens grew vegetables such as cabbage, kohlrabi, beets, onions, peas, beans, garlic, carrots and turnips. To diversify its grain foods, vegetables were commonly eaten in their growing seasons. Turnip was considered one of the most important vegetable because of its long shelf life.
Barley, oats, and rye were eaten by the poor while wheat was generally more expensive. These were consumed as bread, porridge, gruel, and pasta by people of all classes. Cheese, fruits, and vegetables were important supplements for the lower orders while meat was more expensive and generally more prestigious.
Many foods commonly consumed today were unknown, such as corn (maize), potatoes, and sugar; the only available sweetener was wild honey. To these foods would be added whatever could be hunted, captured, or gathered. Along coastal regions, and near rivers and lakes, fish were a staple part of the diet.
Meat, fish, vegetables, cereals and milk products were all an important part of their diet. Sweet food was consumed in the form of berries, fruit and honey. In England the Vikings were often described as gluttonous. They ate and drank too much according to the English.
Until the arrival of the potato in the 16th century, grains such as oats, wheat and barley, cooked either as porridge or bread, formed the staple of the Irish diet.
In 1748 France had actually forbidden the cultivation of the potato (on the grounds that it was thought to cause leprosy among other things), and this law remained on the books in Parmentier's time, until 1772.
Parmentier—and the potato—was an unlikely winner. More than 150 years after its introduction in Europe, the tuber had not found much favour. Clergymen banned their parishioners from planting the potato, saying it was unfit for human consumption because it was not mentioned in the Bible.
Their fruits and vegetables were more of the wild variety rather than what we see today and included carrots, cabbage, beans, peas, herbs and spices, which would add flavor to their skause. Their farming skills extended to orchards, so Norse food also included apples, pears and cherries.
Because the Church of England preached against the sins of gluttony, eating breakfast was considered a sign of weakness. In medieval times kings ate bread, fruits and oats. Grain provided 65-70% of calories in the early 14th century.
Aristocratic estates provided the wealthy with freshly killed meat and river fish, as well as fresh fruit and vegetables. Cooked dishes were heavily flavoured with valuable spices such as caraway, nutmeg, cardamom, ginger and pepper.
THE date-palm fruit, called simply 'date' is also known as 'heavenly fruit” because of its mention in religious scriptures. Even otherwise, the fruit in known since ancient days.
Bananas are believed to have originated up to 10,000 years ago and some scientists believe they may have been the world's first fruit. The first bananas are thought to have grown in the region that includes the Malaya Peninsula, Indonesia, the Philippines and New Guinea.
Native to the eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor, sprouting broccoli was cultivated in Italy in ancient Roman times and was introduced to England and America in the 1700s.
The early settlers relied on fish, oysters and native animals and fruits to supplement their diet. They also traded with the local aboriginal people for game, especially kangaroo.
Eating Meat and Marrow
The diet of the earliest hominins was probably somewhat similar to the diet of modern chimpanzees: omnivorous, including large quantities of fruit, leaves, flowers, bark, insects and meat (e.g., Andrews & Martin 1991; Milton 1999; Watts 2008).
Food historian Lois Ellen Frank calls potatoes, tomatoes, corn, beans, squash, chili, cacao, and vanilla the "magic eight" ingredients that were found and used only in the Americas before 1492 and were taken via the Columbian Exchange back to the Old World, dramatically transforming the cuisine there.