It is April 23 – National Cherry Cheesecake Day. Do we really need to expound on the glories of cheesecake? Don’t we all know it already. Instead, let us turn our culinary attention to Shakespeare. Yes, you heard me right. Shakespeare.
Today is the day of Shakespeare birth in 1564 (at best estimate) and his death in 1616. And on both those occasions, I bet food was prepared, served, eaten and shared. But which foods?
Pottage and bread, of course. Meats were roasted and boiled. There was poultry and fish. Drinks were primarily like ale, wine – watered down or not. Water in an of itself was considered fairly unsafe so it’s wasn’t generally served on it’s own. And at that time, fruits and vegetables weren’t considered a high priority on people’s must east list. They had them of course – apples, pears, turnips, carrots, onions, leeks (not just for hats, you know) and radishes. But by and large, people were encouraged to avoid raw veggies since they were considered the cause of evil humors. Dried fruits – raisins, prunes, figs and dates were considered luxury items and were imported for those who could afford them.
And what about the foods in Shakespeare’s work? The plays have a sizable population and they do not live on words alone (ok, they do because they aren’t real but they are portrayed discussing and partaking of foods so it’s still a valid point.). So what food takes center stage courtesy of the Bard?
Ophelia, though not necessarily thinking of what was for dinner at this point, touches on a few items of culinary interest in Hamlet when she says
There’s fennel for you, and columbines: there’s rue for you; and here’s some for me: we may call it herb-grace o’ Sundays: O you must wear your rue with a difference.
Menu planning in the Winter’s Tale includes preparation for a sheep-shearing feast:
Three pound of sugar, five pound of currants, rice…I must have saffron to color the warden [winter pear] pies; mace; dates none–that’s out of my note; nutmegs, seven; a race or two of ginger, but that I may beg; four pounds of pruins, and as many of raisins o’th’ sun.”
Bottom’s advice to the actors (still valid today) in Midsummer Night’s Dream might still be worth remembering
And, most dear actors, eat no onions nor garlic, for we are to utter sweet breath
Juliet’s Nurse, a woman who enjoys her food, notes that:
They call for dates and quinces in the pastry.
And of course, Kate (who I personally adore), gets to feeling a wee bit peckish at one point, claiming to be:
starved for meat, giddy for lack of sleep, With oath kept waking and with brawling fed: And that which spites me more than all these wants, He does it under name of perfect love; As who should say, if I should sleep or eat, ‘Twere deadly sickness or else present death. I prithee go and get me some repast; I care not what, so it be wholesome food.
I know that feeling. In fact, I should dash out and find something soon myself before I start eating the keyboard. Besides, there are so many more mentions of food, I can hardly list them all. But here are some sites you might want to check out to pursue the idea:
- Fooles and Fricassees: Food in Shakespeare’s England courtesy of the Folger Library.
- The Food Timeline’s Shakespeare section.
- Life in Elizabethan England has a lovely food section.
Oh and before I forget, today is also the anniversary of the death of Miguel de Cervantes. I don’t know what Don Quixote packed in his rucksack whilst on the road but much of it would be the same. OK, possibly it was a tad spicier and racier – thanks to the Moorish influence – than the food tucked into by the English but still I imagine it would be easily recognized by his literary cousins above.
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