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. ************************************************************************ NOTICE - This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday. This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with seperate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter. The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors. Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the orignator(s). Thank you, Mark S. Harris AKA: THL Stefan li Rous mark.s.harris at motorola.com stefan at florilegium.org ************************************************************************ 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:: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Edited by Mark S. Harris Norse-food-art Page 3 of 3