Medieval cuisine was the variety of foods eaten by the various
European cultures during the
Middle Ages. During this period, diets and cooking changed across Europe, and many of these changes laid the foundations for contemporary
regional and folk
cuisines. Transportation and communication were slow and prevented the export of many foods, especially fresh fruit and meat, which today are commonplace in all industrialized nations. Imported ingredients such as spices were expensive and mainly the preserve of the wealthy
nobility, making their foods more prone to foreign influence than the foods of lower strata of society. The single most important foodstuff was
bread, and to a lesser extent other foods made from
cereals such as
porridge and
pasta.
Meat was more prestigious but more expensive and therefore less cost-efficient than
grain or
vegetables. The most common dishes were potages and stews, and common ingredients used in cooking were
verjuice,
wine and
vinegar. These, combined with the widespread usage of sugar (among those who could afford it), gave many dishes a distinctly sweet-sour flavor. The most popular types of meat were
pork and
chicken, while
beef required greater investment in land and grazing and therefore was less common. (
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