As I mentioned previously, I’ve been reading up
on the role of food during Hampton Court’s Tudor
years in The Taste of the Fire. I’ve discovered
a treasure trove of fascinating information. For
instance, Hampton Court’s multi-room kitchen
complex was built in 1530. Its staff, numbering
at more than two hundred, worked tirelessly
to prepare twice-daily meals for more than
six hundred people. There were cooks and
Master cooks, Porters, Clerks of the kitchens,
Clerks of the Spicery, and so on.
Of course, every food item imaginable was
prepared, cooked, served, and consumed.
These included vegetables and fruits, the
latest exotic spice from the Far East and
the newest food from the Americas, meat
and fish, and confections and pastries.
The quantities of any and everything were
simply staggering. Consider:
The annual provision of meat
for the Tudor court stood
at 1,240 oxen, 8,200 sheep,
2,330 deer, 760 calves,
1,870 pigs and 53 wild boar.
And of course,
This was all washed down
with 600,00 gallons of beer.
Ahhh, the life of a king!
[...] As happens quite frequently, the other day I was searching for one thing and found something else. I came upon this delightful series of videos that delve into British foodways at the time of King Richard II. Yep, I’ve gone off my usual beaten path, again, and gotten sidetracked to yet another earlier time period. A time even further back than Hampton Court Palace’s King Henry VIII. [...]