Eating Medievally

[helwen]

So, I've used my new pewter spoon at a couple of events now, with knife. The forks we've only been using to spear food off the serving platters onto our plates. The one problem I'm having is that if I don't hold the spoon exactly right, I bend the handle while attempting to cut a slice of meat into smaller pieces. It's easy enough to bend it back, but I'm concerned about wearing it out eventually. So, I guess what I need to do is use the fork to cut the meat into small pieces, then I can use my knife or spoon to pick them up. It appears in some pictures that people used their knives to spear things to eat -- not sure I'm coordinated enough to do that safely. But I'd be willing to use my spoon...

It's made me wonder if we're serving meat correctly at feasts though, as I can't imagine nobility wanting to focus on how carefully they hold their pewter or silver spoons while cutting, and forks even as serving utensils weren't around in the early middle ages, as far as I know. Fowl you _could_ ostensibly rip a piece of with your hands, which would probably gross out all your table companions and doesn't seem very gentile. But what about pork or beef? Not very rippable, and I can't visualize someone picking up a slice of meat and eating it in hand, especially if it has a sauce.

Hmm...

Comments

[jdulac.livejournal.com]

t's made me wonder if we're serving meat correctly at feasts though,

No, we're not. The meat would have been cut into bite-sized pieces (or "hands" of several strips attached together at the top, like the letter "E") by your kerver before it was set in front of you. And your kerver would have cut it up using a pair of knives, or possibly a knife and pricker (a long, narrow, stilleto-like object).

You eat the bite-sized bits with your hands, dipping them into the sauce as you will. That's one reason why the hand-washing before dinner is so important, and why napkins and table linens are equally important. It's not just an affectation, you really use that napkin or tablecloth, as the case may be (the under layers of tablecloth are often pleated, which I assumes gives you extra cloth to deal with if needed). There's also a much-needed after-dinner hand laving, which we tend not to do so much in the SCA.

The knife is the basic utensil. You use it to select food from a dish and to get salt from the salt cellar on the tip of it. Bread is your other general utility object. You use it to clean your knife, for example, before putting it in the salt, and to sop up things.

It is considered bad manners to eat the food directly off the end of your knife (one assumes because that knife is going back into the common serving dish). You are expected to put the piece of food on your trencher and eat with your hands, like a civilized person.

The spoon plays no role at the table except for eating soup (which is normally spooned out of a common bowl shared with the others in your mess -- we use messes of 8 in the SCA usually, but a mess is typically no more than 4 people at the lower end of the hall, and a few as two at the higher end).

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I wonder if we can do this at our next feast. Well, at least cutting things into smaller pieces. Kervers might be a bit of a challenge. But what about eating vegetables? I don't mind using my hands for eating utensils for meats and salads, but it could get a bit tedious with peas. I think there have been vegetables at feasts that were sort of mushy or pureed also, which I would be inclined to treat as 'soup'.

You know, I've been enjoying learning about different dishes, utensils, napkins, and such, but I'm feeling rather under-prepared to teach even a basic introductory class in feast ware and how to use it. I'd almost rather not teach it then send people off in odd directions, and I've got a pretty full research and producing schedule as it is. Are there particular articles or books you would recommend I pick up to read?

[jdulac.livejournal.com]

on vegetables - a lot of veggies end up as "potherbs" (i.e. in soup) or sallets. Fresh peas would be highly seasonal, only available for a few weeks and otherwise usually done up as soup from dried pease. I expect that you could sop up small veggies using that other handy utensil-substitute, your bread (perhaps soaked in broth, gravy, or sauce).

as for books, yes I do have a few suggestions. For a quick overview start with:

Feast and Feast, food in Medieval Society by Brigit Ann Henisch

Furnivall's "Babees Book" (which is actually a number of related texts) is a great selection of primary documentary sources.

more soon...

[jdulac.livejournal.com]

I think you'll like this:
http://www.mathildegirlgenius.com/Documentation/KASF2006/TableDocumentation.pdf

BTW The Boke of Keruynge is included in Furnivall's collection, but Brear's edition has a lot of useful explanation.

[amykb.livejournal.com]

The only early evidence I have seen of forks is the "spork" from, if I remember correctly, 9th century England. It is a fork on one end, and a spoon on the other. I am not sure how it was actually used. I got it from Magic Badger (magikbadge@aol.com). He has done the research and can tell you all about it. badger doesn't have a web page as far as I have been able toi find out, but he is always behind the barn at Pennsic, across from the Caravan Merchants.

[jdulac.livejournal.com]

Just for you, I've uploaded some transcriptions of medieval courtesy books to http://www.latourdulac.com/manners.

invaluable sources for how to behave at dinner :)

[helwen.livejournal.com]

My goodness! Thank you so much for all the links and for your time and effort in posting subject matter on this question onto your web site! Today was a rather long day on the road, but I shall definitely take a look tomorrow.

[jdulac.livejournal.com]

you might be interested in this:
http://www.theenglishcutler.co.uk/eatingsets.htm
http://www.todsstuff.co.uk/html/knives.php

because I can't leave well enough alone :)