page_title: Serbia in the Middle Ages
section_title: Agriculture and diet
hierarchical_section_title: Serbia in the Middle Ages / Society / Agriculture and diet
caption_attribution_description: English: Meat dish cooked in a Sač
context_page_description: Serbia in the Middle Ages refers to the medieval period in the history of Serbia. The period begins in the 6th century with the Slavic migrations to Southeastern Europe, and lasts until the Ottoman conquest of Serbian lands in the second half of the 15th century. The period is also extended to 1537, when Pavle Bakić, the last titular Despot of Serbia in Hungarian exile, fell in the Battle of Gorjani.
context_section_description: In one of the oldest Slavic settlement in the region, near Pančevo, archaeologists discovered that the main food were grains and millet, but some meat was prepared, too. However, findings in some other parts (village of Mušići, in the Drina river valley), show much higher share of meat in the diet (cows, game, sheep, goats, poultry). Later, the agriculture barely covered the needs of the total population and while the rich ones enjoyed in luxury, poor ones were constantly on the brink of starvation. Once vast forests were still home of the now extinct aurochs and wisent, which today survived only in Białowieża Forest, on the Poland-Belarus border. As population grew, especially from the 13th century onwards, the forests were massively cut down to clear land for the cultivation, so the natural world looked completely different in Serbia in the 13th than in the 15th century. In time, the agricultural tools were getting more sophisticated and the use of iron plow and fertilizers spread, which, on the other hand, further accelerated the clearing of the forests. Word hrana, meaning food, remained in use today, but some other names for food included pišta (which disappeared from language) and krma (which evolved in krmivo, fodder). Name used for dish in general was jedenie (modern jelo; jedenje means "eating"), lunch was obed which today means a meal in general (lunch itself is ručak), while dinner was called the same as today, večera. The vegetables were called zelje, which is today a name for patience dock. Onions and radishes were called "hot zelje". With the gradual arrival of the Ottomans to the Serbian borders, a cultivation of rice was introduced in border areas. Visiting Serbia in 1433, during the reign of despot Đurađ Branković, Burgundian Bertrandon de la Broquière wrote: "there is a town called Niš, in a very beautiful region, where rice grows a lot".
  Though expansion of agriculture in time brought more food, and on very good years even peasants and stockbreeders enjoyed abundance of food, years of wars, epidemics, hunger and misery were frequent. The law during the reign of despot Stefan Lazarević stipulated that supplies should be distributed to the poor people instead of being sold at the markets and that miners, as important caste, in the years of hunger had the right to get bread for free from bakeries which do not follow distribution laws.
  Red-hot stones were used for cooking and boiling. This technique was especially used during the warfare or among those who spent lots of time alone (shepherds, later also hajduks etc.). Right away after milking (sheep, goats, cows), the milk would be poured in the hollowed pumpkin or a wooden container. The rocks were then heated above the fire and placed in the milk. Good cooks knew how much the stone should be heated for a given amount of milk. Larger pigs and lambs were prepared the same way. The heated stones were placed inside their bellies. When the belly was roasted, the food would be skewered on the spit. The vegetables were cooked in the same way. Heated stones were also used for the preparation of skorup, precursor of the modern kaymak, and rakija (brandy). Additionally, ashes and charcoal were sometimes used instead of the stones. On the other hand, after being killed the poultry was scalded with hot water. In the process of cooking or baking with heated stones, the food was half-dug into the ground and covered with a lid (sač). Filo dough was being made. It was used for numerous pies, like the zeljanica (type of spanakopita). Cicvara was also made. It is a grains porridge cooked with skorup, which is today made from corn and kaymak.
  Commoners
  Bread made from the mix of wheat, rye and barley, with added yeast was a base of the diet in medieval Serbia. It was also made from oats and buckwheat. Bread dough would be wrapped in the leaves of sorrel or great yellow gentian, placed on the live coal and covered with ashes. Porridges were often prepared, made from barley, oats and millet. Broths were prepared with the addition of vegetables, red wine or bread soaked in re
caption: Modern rendering of the ancient cooking "under the sač"
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