Meet Maggi

If you have been reading my previous articles you will be aware that I have a Spirit guide who is called Margaret Simpson (not connected to Royalty). She likes to be called Maggi.

I was asked by the Editor of FamouslyFit.com to try to communicate with Maggi to see what the diet was like in the 17th Century.

Maggi comes from an upper class family so was very familiar with the sorts of foods that people from this social background would eat. However, she also gave lots of information about the diets followed by poorer people.

The aristocrats!

Back in the 17th Century, people ate mainly what they had immediate access to. The aristocrats had access to a wider variety of foods due to their wealth. They ate meat, fish, fruit, grains and vegetables. Most of this was grown in the UK, but of course they could afford to buy some of the foods that were starting to be imported from other parts of the world.

It was during the 17th Century that tea and coffee was introduced, and more exotic fruits like bananas and pineapples were starting to be imported.

More particularly, this century saw a huge increase in access to things like spices – such as cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, pepper, salt, cardamom, saffron and sugar cane.

Their gardens were always full of herbs such as mint, parsley, coriander, and sage. This was all used to enhance the flavour of their food.

They did not have refrigerators in those days. Big blocks of ice were brought to be stored in “ice houses” to keep meat fresh for longer. This became more difficult in hotter weather, and they would use lots of spices to cover the rancid flavour of the meat.

Hygiene

Unfortunately due to bad hygiene and not been able to keep their meat fresh for long, many people became ill and suffered with diarrhoea, bacterial infections and in some cases death would occur. This was especially the case with the poorer people. People were so concerned about disease that they cooked all of their fruit and vegetables.

During feasts and festivals, the aristocracy had access to whale, peacocks, grouse and other more “exotic” types of meat. Maggi's favourite meal was pheasant and Jelly for desert.

All In One Go!

Unlike today, where we have a separate starter, main course and desert, food was the prepared all at once and laid out on the table as one meal. Everyone would help themselves and the wine flowed freely!

No Waste!

Very little went to waste back then. One thing that made my stomach turn was that the elders of the family would eat the eyes of the animals which were considered to be a delicacy. All of the innards were used for something.

Interestingly enough potatoes were actually a rich person’s food as was white bread because this was hand milled.

The Poorer Folks

Food for the poorer people was much plainer and more monotonous. The poorer people favoured pork because they reared pigs which were easy to keep. They would drink fresh milk straight from the cow, and would make cheese. It was only the aristocracy, however, that had access to things like parmesan. Eggs were a part of everyone’s diet, and babies were fed on stews or soups with a little whole bread dipped in. They ate vegetables and fruit only if they could afford it.

A favourite of both classes (but especially the poorer classes) was 'Pottage' which was a kind of soup with meat, vegetables and herbs. This would be eaten with freshly baked bread, especially in the winter.

I have a question

Given that their diets were probably not fantastic, and their choices much more limited, why is it that we now suffer from so much more obesity and heart disease in modern times? For sure we are not as active and I do think they ate less cereal based foods – keeping more to meat, fish, vegetables and fruit – and certainly did not have the variety of dairy based products that we have today. I guess it is just a reflection of the times we live in.

Just imagine if we could bring some of these people into our local supermarket…..what would they think?

A final piece of information – they did clean their teeth – with twigs!

( www.paradoctor.co.uk)