York Castle Museum

Food Through the Ages

We got together with our partner museums and archives to present a Time Travellers touring cookery demonstration looking at Food Through the Ages, which was held at three locations around Yorkshire. (Unfortunately one had to be postponed due to flooding, watch this space for details of when it’s rescheduled.)

Medieval sweetmeats

Craven Museum and Gallery started the ball rolling with a look at yummy Mesolithic food, giving examples of what people would have eaten in prehistoric times around 10,000 years ago. On the menu would have been meats like beaver, boar and hare or fish including eel, trout and mackerel all cooked over an open fire, together with plants like acorns and rose-hips.

Then it was over to York Museums Trust and the Yorkshire Museum’s Roman Cookery project, with the chance to taste the bread and stews that helped the Roman legionnaires conquer Britain.

Victorian Workhouse gruel

Taking visitors on to Medieval times was Wakefield Museums Service, who demonstrated a range of sweetmeats and banqueting foods, including the original wedding cake. Medieval feasts ended with the host and important guests socialising with a range of sweet and spiced wines and items made from sugar, spice and fruits.

Finally, North Yorkshire County Record Office gave visitors a taste of a Victorian workhouse diet. Workhouses provided for the poor and meals were basic and strictly rationed, following the same weekly menu of bread, cheese, gruel, soup, potatoes and the occasional scrap of meat.