Norse-food-art - 7/26/94
"What Did Vikings Eat?" by Gunnora Hallakarva.
NOTE: See also the files: fd-Norse-msg, N-drink-trad-art, mead-msg, fd-Iceland-msg, seafood-msg, fish-msg, fd-Celts-msg, beer-msg.
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Mark S. Harris AKA: THL Stefan li Rous
mark.s.harris at motorola.com stefan at florilegium.org
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From: Gunnora.Hallakarva at f555.n387.z1.fidonet.org (Gunnora Hallakarva)
Date: 19 Jul 94 09:45:00 -0500
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Viking Answer Lady on "What Did Vikings Eat?"
Organization: Fidonet: Cygnus I.I.N./San Antonio, TX/HST+V32T+VFC/210-641-2063
[NOTE: The following is an article prepared for The Bear
Necessities, the newsletter of the barony of Bjornsborg, Ansteorra.
The Viking Answer Lady is Lady Gunnora Hallakarva, an
eighth-century Finn who will tell you more than you ever wanted to
know about pigs if you let her. Her alter ego, Christie Ward, is
a historian interested in Iron Age Scandinavia (but still has a day
job as well).]
Dear Viking Answer Lady:
Aside from meat and mead, what did Vikings eat?
--- Just Adopted into A Viking Household & Wondering What to
Expect at Mealtime
Gentle Reader:
As you would expect, the Vikings ate a wide variety of foods.
While Scandinavia is cold, many foods are available there, and what
was not obtainable via agriculture and husbandry was available by
trade with more temperate countries. The following is an
introduction. I shall be compiling a list of period Viking recipes
soon, for your further edification.
Daily Meals - the Vikings customarily ate two meals each day. The
first was eaten in the morning, approximately two hours after the
day's work was started (7 A.M. to 8 A.M. or so), while the second
was consumed at the end of the day's labor (7 P.M. to 8 P.M. or
so). These times would vary seasonally, depending on the hours of
daylight.
Types of Food - the foods listed here were definitely known to the
Vikings, as evidenced by mention in the literary sources, or
documented by archaeological finds (i.e., grave sites, etc.).
Additional foods were probably consumed as well, including but not
limited to wild herbs and fruits known to grow in Scandinavia,
additional game animals not listed below, and any foodstuffs that
may have been imported from other countries.
Protein - (domestic sources) cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, horses,
(hunting/gathering) caribou, bear, boar, elk, red deer, squirrel,
whale meat and blubber, seal, walrus, sea birds and their eggs,
rabbit, herring, cod, trout, salmon, "sausage" made by filling
cleaned intestines with a mixture of lard, blood and meat (Viking
bratwurst), hazelnuts. Preparation methods for meat included
broiling on a spit over an open fire, boiling in cauldrons, pit
roasting, preservation by drying, smoking, salting, and pickling
in either brine or whey. Preparation methods for fish could include
any of the above, and dried fish was eaten (as it still is today)
smeared with butter.
Fruit and Vegetables - angelica, mushrooms, leeks, onions, edible
seaweeds, peas, beans, turnips, moss, apples, crab apples, plums,
cherries, cranberries, elderberries, strawberries, lingonberries,
blackberries, blueberries. Sandwort and acorns were used sometimes
as a starvation food.
Dairy - milk was not usually consumed, but rather used to create
other dairy foods which could be stored for winter consumption,
such as butter, buttermilk, whey, skyr (a cottage-cheese like
dish), and cheese (which was usually heavily salted to help
preserve it).
Bread and Cereals - oats, rye and barley were cultivated, as was
wheat in the areas in which it would grow. Unleavened breads (now
available in your grocery store as "Wasa Bread") were made of rye,
barley and sometimes peas, cooked in large flat "wheels" with a
central hole which was used to store the wheels by threading them
on a pole. Porridge was made from whole grains (the Eddas give one
specific variety, made with oats and herring), and gruel was made
from cracked or ground grains, as well as leftover breads.
Other - the Vikings used several sorts of spices, including juniper
berries, cumin, mustard, horse radish, garlic, and exotic spices
obtained by trading. Alcoholic drinks were heartily consumed, beer
Abeing one way to preserve carbohydrate calories for winter
consumption, and consisted of beer, ale or mead, with fruit wines
being used for sacramental purposes late in the period, and grape
wine imported from the Rhine region by the wealthy. Honey was
cultivated in southern Scandinavia, and imported by those in
regions where bees cannot thrive.
::GUNNORA::
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I am currently preparing a follow-up to this answer that will include
recipes for Viking foods.
Anyone else have questions for the Viking Answer Lady? post them to me!
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