Food In The Elizabethan Era

Food was also a crucial part of Elizabethan Era’s daily life. The food in Elizabethan Era was served and consumed in various ways because of the differentiation in social class and wealth. Due to the expedition and adventure to new continents, the Elizabethan discovered many new spices and the sugar, which potentially extended the cuisine recipes. One of the contemporaries of Shakespeare named Elinor Fettiplace left a book contains recipes for many delicacy, such as “mutton with claret and Seville orange juice, spinach tart, cheesecakes, custards and creamy meringues” (qtd in Alchin par. 3). Through this book, modern people can found the dietary variety which appreciated by nobilities still exist in modern life. It’s essential to learn about

The Elizabethan took back many new items from the outside world, including the spices and sugar. Linda Alchin suggested that the earlier Crusaders had brought to England elements of oriental cookery requiring spices, such as pepper, cinnamon, mace, ginger, cloves, raisins, saffron and sugar , which were introduced into Old Medieval recipes and passed down to Elizabethan Recipes. Linda Alchin explains that “Ground sweet aromatic spices such as aniseed, fennel seed, and nutmeg were referred to as 'Sweet Powder' (Pouder Douce). Ground ginger blended with powdered sugar was called White Powder (blanch pouder).” (Elizabethan Food , par 5) The species were so expensive that can only use by upper classes; therefore, it became a symbol of social fashion and social

They tended to use a variety serving methods, colors and various ‘props’. For example, peacocks were reared not only for food but also for its feathers, using to decorate cooked foods. In addition, Linda Alchin depicts the fascinating scene:
“Strange and unusual shapes were used in food presentation. The old English Nursery Rhyme ‘Sing a song of sixpence’ contains the phrase 'four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie'. It was quite probable that a court jester may well have suggested to the court cook to bake a pie pastry crust and place this over some live blackbirds to surprise and amuse the nobility.“ (Alchin par.5)

The cooking method, food purchasing way and cooking utensils. The Elizabethan created several cooking methods such as spit roasting, baking, boiling, smoking, salting, frying. They could purchase general food from small markets and from fairs. But for the large cities like London, there were specific livestock markets for meat, while other food was sold in specific markets. Most of the Elizabethan cooking was conducted over an open flame. Pots, pans, kettles, skillets and cauldrons were widely used for cooking Elizabethan food. Food preparation was made possible with the use of ladles, knives and scissors. Baking trays crafted from hardened pastry was used for