tavern prices

[Celebrim]

I agree with most of what you have said, but I will disagree with this. Bread was expensive due to the royal rights (through the Middle Ages relaxing more and more through the Renaissance).

Royal rights? I don't know that it would go up to a royal right. A manorial right certainly, and not one that I would think could be avoided. A person found not taking his grain to the miller would be considered guilty of tax evasion. I'm sure it happened, but I don't think that it was the tax taken by the manorial lord at the mill that would have made bread expensive. My guess is that baking is more expensive in terms of fuel than boiling.

As for porridge, you are quite right about the importance of pease and lentils. They arrive in northern Europe sometime during the Dark Ages and help set off an agricultural revolution that allows northern Europe to begin supporting large populations for the first time.

But I'm not sure that I trust the rhyme to tell us something true. There are alot of myths and invented etymologies regarding nursery rhymes, and I'm inclined to think the story of the nine day old porridge is something of an exaggeration or a misrepresentation if it even has anything to do with porridge at all. Certainly it wouldn't have been unusual to eat nothing but porridge for nine days, but I doubt it was the same batch. For one thing, it would ferment by then and loose much of its nutritional value. The other thing that makes me suspicious is that this rhyme isn't in fact ancient. Much like the other famous rhyme about 'Ring Around the Rosey', its an 18th century rhyme and however intriguing its medieval interpretation may be, its probably not true.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

BTW the above example didn't even take into account that the peasants worked 7 days a week, five of those exclusively for the lord of the land that he lived on.

Ah, no. Six days, no working on the sabbath. (Unless it was absolutely neccessary.) And working on the Lord's land was usually between two and four days.

As for what they actually ate? No one knows. There are a lot of contemporary accounts, but they tend to contradict each other. (The French don't bath and eat gruel, whereas the English bathe regularly and eat much meat. No, no , it's the other way around. Oh no, you're both wrong, and the Germans all eat eels!)

 

[philreed]

If you need some menus to hand out to your players, and a selection of ideas, Ronin Arts has a series of menu PDFshttp://www.roninarts.com/store/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=menu&x=41&y=11. All fairly inexpensive.

 

[GrumpyOldMan]

A manorial right certainly, and not one that I would think could be avoided. A person found not taking his grain to the miller would be considered guilty of tax evasion. I'm sure it happened, but I don't think that it was the tax taken by the manorial lord at the mill that would have made bread expensive.

The tax was probably in kind. A percentage of the grain for the lords own use. There was (IIRC) a Quern tax too, if you really wanted to mill your own flour it took you hours and you had to pay for the privilege

 

[phindar]

I dug up this article on Slate. It compares modern "Medieval-themed" restaurants with historical meals, though it concentrates on what the kings ate rather than the peasants. But it's a good measure of what an expensive meal might entail.

 

[philreed]

I dug up this article on Slate. It compares modern "Medieval-themed" restaurants with historical meals, though it concentrates on what the kings ate rather than the peasants. But it's a good measure of what an expensive meal might entail.

I think that's because none of us want to go out for a fun time and eat what the peasants ate.

 

[GrumpyOldMan]

Peas porridge hot
Peas porridge cold
peas porridge in the pot
nine days old.

Interesting. We always sang pease pudding, when I were a lad. I still like a bit of pease pudding with my ham.

 

[rossik]

..good god!!!!

so many good ideas!!!

thanks guys!!

im on my way getting auroras book (drow swimsuit? ), and im cheking all the links u wrote out.

i didnt know about thw wizards one...

so, that answer all my questions!

Thunderfoot, u are right: i should not go real-world medieval....i dont whant my maidens all toothless and stinky

very nice insights in this post.

 

[Dr Simon]

Interesting. We always sang pease pudding, when I were a lad. I still like a bit of pease pudding with my ham.

It's all the same, peas, pease, pudding, porridge, potage. "Pease" is more accurate, being the plural noun from which "pea" and "peas" derive.

And pease pudding should have ham already in it...

 

[Korgoth]

can you guys suggest me prices for diferent food?

like apple pie, meat with potatoes, beer, wine, soup....

the DMG doesnt have much about. :\

Good topic, good thread.

I don't have much to add, except that a real medieval meal would not include potatoes. They're a "New World" product.