Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1889-12-11
FARE OF OUR ANCESTORS
WHAT THEY ATE SOME TWO AND
THREE HUNDRED YEARS AeO.


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The mos interesting part Il history b that
which the historians often emit 10 noesca
Tbs vars and the laws and Vim n,ads tham
vs know. They arc Whist the hisfnrtas
chiefly care. for. but whils thee ass in
portans, scarceiy Less and fas more iptes-
esttng are the social customs, The DIRE. and
food and the every day life of p'ast csusurisa
II In all eras the Eng.iAhmans APOSTLE has
teen famous. be ha. not always hssu sbis 70
employ it upoa the suns material In Anglo
Saxon tinne. and loag After ths staple food of
the multitude wss bread, butter and chss~A
A few Of the coars~r vegetables were added,
and it Wa only nn occsstom that this v0
diversified by ''xaited hacon and pancaksa,
bssf or Asa The mat, when il ws TO b
had, vss usually tsoiled over = tyipod. ''Ihe
kettle 10 WHICH this was done, ays tbs
author Of ''Old Cookery BookS.r was ''ths
universal vessel for boiling parposss add tho
haeun hou4-. or larter. ~as the warshouss
for the winter stock II provisions. In NJ
most all the foots strong condiu,ents like
garlic AMI pepper were freely ussst Phil
oiogy shows that the Saxon food Was bread,
butter and cheese, for beef, veal. mutton,
pork and bacon retain the name given by
the Normanx
THE EVOLUTION o. THE rokk
In the Tenth century eolloquy Of Arch
bishop Alfric, says Mr.. Csrew HAxlett, the
boy il made 10 say that he u too young 70 eat
meat, but sibsists cabbages, eggs, oh.
che.-e, butter and beans" and the drink,
which wus rarely ale, WAS usually water.
The nursery rhyme tells u q King Alfreds
bag pudding Of barley meal, with rsisins
and meat Tn. frying pan, Mr.. Haxlsts
says, preceded the grill. just ~ the fork
Jagged behind the spoon, from which 1t Is .
seeming evolution" For centuries in Eng
land there WAS . prejudice against the fork,
which displaced the fingers, and forks At f1rsa
were the privilege only Of kings When
Coryat employed one after his visit 70 ltsly,
where the instrument originated in the Elsv-
.uth century. he WAS nicknamed Furcifer Il
took six hundred years, or until the Seven
tenth century TO establish it England, and
even then it did not attain general uss. A
country boor .'stili eats his bacon or his her
ring with his fingers just ~ Charles XII Of
Sweden buttered his bread win his royal
thumb"
It IL said that the origin Of washing the
hands before eating arose from the fact that
food at first was eaten wholly-a1l around tho
table dipping into one dish-with the banda
Now, with the finger bowl, an ablution ends
as well as precetlts the meal Carving knives,
like the fork were at first . luxury. and -
late rs the close Of the Fifteenth century were
confined to kings tables and those OF the 20
bility Butter was not much used In England
before the Norman conquest, although the
Englishinan unlike the Italian, had no oil for
a substitute OF the Introduction OF sugar
there is no certain date given. Mr.. Haxlitt
thinks II must have been scarce and dear In
l226, ''when Henry III asked the mayor Of
Winchester ~ procure him three pounds Of
Alexandria sugar, If No much could be got,
and also some rose and violet colored sugar;
nor had It grown more plentiful when the
same prince ordered the sherifs Of London 70
send him four loaves Of sugar to Woodstock"
Before the end Of the Thirteenth century,
however, it gained ground and could gener-
ally be produced 1t WAS then sold by the
loaf or pound at what would be S7lt to rs
cents . pound In American currency.
There we're several Kinds Of bread used 10
the Fifteenth century Palm main was breed
made Of very white -four. In addition 70
this, there WAS to he had coarser wheat
bread, also barley meal bread, bran breed,
,.,a bread ,,at brrad IN, o,t cakes hard bread
and nm leayen.,l bread Ry. lentils and cat
meal were sometimes mixed for bread for tho
ro.or Certain coarse fish wer. once eaten
which bav. not been in modern times much
esteemed Porppiss uie once eaten. was
finally ridiculed in the time OF James ~ "a
dish which not even a dog would eat nj.
tbouoh in ,nr avn times On the Hudson rive
!, ia tho sturveon "verv Ike a porpois,a " that
ussd u, IL. called ALBANY heef, y perhans N
called b.cau.. the early Dutch NAV have
gone IN that c,ty,s u,arle, to get il
coovr,v IN run sxx,xrx,xru crxrr,v
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