Historic Cookery

The other day, I heard a supposed “expert” proclaim
that people in earlier centuries never drank any water
because it was polluted, that if they did they’d get
sick and/or die, and so they drank beer instead.

Well, I was miffed, to say the least. I squirmed
in my seat, struggling not to leap up and shout,
“No! You can’t make blanket, general statements
like that! There are so many other factors you
have to consider. It’s just not that simple!”

This rather frustrating incident reminded me
of the following passage that I recently read
in The Taste of the Fire, The Story of the Tudor
Kitchens at Hampton Court Palace:

We have an image of the past
where people avoided drinking
water in favor of ale or beer.
This was true to a certain degree,
especially when travelling. Beer
and ale use water that has been
boiled and in effect sterilized,
making them safer to drink
than water from an unknown
source. This still holds true
today, when on holiday abroad
we are advised to only drink
bottled water to avoid unpleasant
side effects! This doesn’t mean
that people didn’t drink water
and local inhabitants built up
their own resistance to many
waterborne microbes.

So yes, people in past centuries drank the water.
Even here in America! Most likely, people employed
common sense. If it looked or smelled bad, they
didn’t drink it. Otherwise, no problem. Remember,
too, modern-day germ theories weren’t developed,
or believed, fully until the late 19th Century or so.

Besides, there wasn’t much else available. Most
beverages that we consume daily today were
nonexistent. Sodas, fruit juices, coffee, tea, cocoa,
and the like were unknown until later (in some
cases, much later). Milk, when not considered
a drink only for the young and the sick, was made
into one of the preserved versions of itself, namely
either butter or cheese.

Of course, there was also ale. Beer, however,
didn’t arrive in England from Europe until the Tudor
years. It proved to be a big hit! But before you think
that everyone ran around
drunk all the time, consider
this: the ingredients of ale
and beer could be adjusted,
their proportional amounts
manipulated, thus making it
strong, weak, or somewhere
in between. Nearly everyone,
including children, drank “small beer,” which had a low
alcoholic content. Beer was often made at home,
particularly in this country.

Other drinks available in England during the Tudor
period included perry, cider, and assorted alcoholic
spirits. It’s possible, however, that some of these
may have been used for medicinal purposes only;
no one really knows for sure. Wines were imported
to both Britain and America, and therefore expensive,
so they were typically consumed only by royalty or
the wealthy.

In any event, here’s hoping we can put a stop
to these wild and broad claims that no one ever
drank any water during previous centuries.

beer making at Colonial Williamsburg