What Was on Table in Wawel Castle?
And How and Why It Was Served !
By Marija Kotok
MKA Marilyn Kinyon
We have about thirty years of recordst describing the eating habits of medieval Wawel Castle
in Krakow, Poland. These records, from the reign of King Jagiello and Queen Jadwiga, have
allowed us to form a very good picture of what foods they used. And we have learned that
they had access to a much greater variety of foods than we might have expected. Medieval
Pole=s felt that the quantity of food served and eaten was much more important than its
quality. They felt quantity was all that was required and that type mattered not! We also know
that on some days no meat was served due to the many (meatless) Holy Days which they
observed. In addition poultry was served only to persons with some sort of rank! Wild meats
were felt by the church to be unclean and not fit to be eaten so they were not commonly
served at court! Also, generally the King and Queen ate separately with their own men or
ladies respectively. In fact two identical kitchens were run within the castle to serve the two
groups.
Their two main daily meals were the prandium (a late breakfast) and coena (eaten between 5
and 7 p.m.), they were remarkably similar in content. Below are a couple of specific purchase
lists for banquets within the castle.
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On August 21, 1394 the following were purchased for a dinner from the Queens= kitchen.
Fish Lamprey Crayfish Pears
Green Peas Dried Peas Walnuts Plums
Cucumbers Parsley
360 loaves of Rye Bread
It is believed that Rye Bread was used to make the trenchers.
60 loaves of White Bread
---an average of one liter of beer per person 4 achtels in total
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On May 10th, 1389 a purchase list for a meal from the Kings= kitchen called for the following
meats. This meal was for 53 persons.
1 Boiled Calves Head 2 Hams 54 pieces of Poultry 1 Mutton 4 Piglets
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In general food was eaten mostly with the fingers. Spoons were only used for soups or
things which absolutely required them. There was also a difference in how the food was
cooked depending on rank of the person. When the high table would get plump roasted
chickens, the lower court tables would be getting boiled and tough old birds. As is usual the
extra was passed down to the castle underlings so it hard to get any idea of exact
consumption per person.
Unfortunately, even though they had enough to eat we know that the quality was so bad that it
led too many problems. Their diets are known to have been extremely deficient in both iron
and sugar. And we know they believed in over cooking almost everything they ate. All
vegetables were cooked before being served; even lettuce was served hot with a dressing.
Only fruits, a dessert food of the rich, were occasionally eaten raw! The bad nutrition this all
caused led to much disease among the people.
Below are some generalities about period Polish cooking which you may find useful.
Common Meat Seasonings Pepper, Saffron, Parsley, Mustard (with the whole seeds)
Pork Lard was the primary cooking fat.
The primary cooking oil was a combination of Hemp and Poppy Seed oils.
Great quantities of eggs were consumed by the Wawel court in many forms. They used
approx. 730 eggs per day!
Sweet Flag was used as a substitute for Bay Leaves.
Fish and meat were not often served at the same meal.
The majority of the diet was made up of grains in one form or another.
Millet was the primary grain dish either as groats or flour.
Oats were not served until the 11th century.
Barleys not until the 15th.
Locally Grown items included the following.
Alexanders Beets Cabbages Cucumbers Dill Field Peas Garlic Kale Leeks
Lentils Onions Parsley Parsnips Poppyseed Radishes (many varieties) Rutabaga
Mushrooms Mustard White and yellow Carrots
And now here is a list of the resources I used so you can explore if you crave more details!
Domostroi, Carolyn Johnston Pouncy, editor and translator, 1994, Cornell University Press.
Food and Drink in Medieval Poland, Maria Dembinska, 1999, University of Pennsylvania Press.
Food in Russian History and Culture. Musya Glants and Joyce Toomre, eds. Indiana
University Press, 1997.
Old Polish Traditions in the Kitchen and at the Table, by Maria Lemnis, Henryk Vitry, and
Davidovic Mladen. (Hippocrene Books, 1996)
Herbs of Eastern Europe(known in Medieval and Renaissance periods)
http://www.lehigh.edu/~jahb/herbs/easterneuropeherbs.html
Medieval Poland Food and Drink
http://mail.browser.net/~jenne/poland/food.html