Social Class And Health During the Renaissance and Medieval Times

THE BASIS OF PRIVILEGE

The Diet of the Rich and the Poor

What the rich and the poor ate in those times was vastly distinct (Cheng et al., 1999). The nobles and the wealthy could well afford and were served a wide variety of foods by cooks. Poor peasants, on the other hand, subsisted on a few and affordable types of meat and vegetables. Even the dishes they ate in common were nonetheless prepared differently. Those served to the rich and nobles were made from the best selected ingredients and carefully prepared, served fresh and more palatable. They were more varied than the ordinary, often with expensive spices from the Orient. The dishes prepared by peasants, on the other hand, had only little meat, which was also stored for long duration and served in the simplest manner. If spices were...
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