Primary Sources Activity
The Food of the Middle Ages
“Hot, Hot! The cook burned himself on
the pot.”
1. Do you think the people of
the Middle Ages ate worse or better than we do
today? Record your thoughts below.
2. Play the song: “Here We Go
A-Wassailing.” This was a song that
originated in the Middle Ages. The Surveyor of Ceremonies would sing it at
the beginning of a festival feast.
People played different roles at medieval feasts. You will be researching these people and the
food served at these feasts
3. Open the following website:
Recreational Medievalism
Look over these scanned pages of actual cookbooks from the Middle Ages. What do
you think about the type of print and the old English language used? Write your answers below.
4. Open this website which is a translated article
from Cariadoc’s Miscellany:
To Prepare a Most Honorable Feast by Maistre Chiquart
(Master Chiquart was chief cook to the Duke of Savoy and in 1420 wrote Du Fait de Cuisine)
Read the first six paragraphs of this primary source and write down at
least two different types and amounts of food below.
Construct a database that records the amounts and types of foods for
the feast.
5. Open the following website:
Medieval Festival Feasts
Look at the six courses
which were presented:
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The Welcoming Ceremony
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The Presenting of the Salt
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Cutting the Upper Crust
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Credence Testing of the Drinks
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Handwashing with the Aquamanile
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The Twelve Course Meal
5. Now open this site:
Food and Cooking in the Middle Ages
Look at:
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Food and Cooking in the home
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Food
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Tools
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Kitchen
Work in teams to summarize each course and the four topics listed
above. Each group will be: 1. making a
description and illustration which will be entered in a class published book,
2. making/gathering props to authentically demonstrate their course, 3. making a banner for classroom display, 4.
making an oral presentation to the class using information and props , and 5.
presenting collectively their information to other classes or parents.