Energy Foods of the Long Ago Past..What did explorers and Vikings and Romans eat?

[Monk]

I was reading the threads here and it reminded me of a question that I have thought about.

Has anyone ever considered what did the people of long ago eat-I am thinking about people who were doing hard strenous labour or physical activities-as distinct from the peasant who had access to a fixed base of domestic animals and crops and supplementary hunting.

People who were engaged in sailing and fighting like the Vikings or the Roman legions marching on foot with heavy gear or the folks building Hadrian's Wall.

Those were the days before chocolate bars and energy drinks.

Would the diet have been a different ratio of protein/carbs or mostly an all-meat diet for people engaged in fighting or hard labour?

 

[rik_uk3]

Wayland is the boy for the Viking diet but the Romans 'rat pack' was grain, bread, high carb and supplemented with what could be found, be it beer/wine/oil/veg fresh meat, fresh/dried veg/fruit.fish etc. No Tesco or buying online, they bought/traded took what they could and needed. At more permanant outposts I believe they grew what they could subject to climate and season, so in short no easy answer to your question other than bread as a basic.

 

[santaman2000]

IIRC Rik, the Roman rations (and the Greeks before them) also were heavy on cheese.

 

[wicca]

For a long time there was a dispute between academics as to whether the Romans or the Normans were responsible for introducing the Rabbit to Britain. A fairly recent discovery (2007) in Norfolk of 2000 year old Rabbit bones at a Roman site, suggests it was correct that Bunny was a Roman imported food and formed a part of the Legions diet as fresh meat or dried as combat rations.

 

[TinkyPete]

Also do not forget honey....lasts a long time and preserves a lot and a lot of Kcal as well.

 

[boatman]

For St Brendan on his voyages the rations seemed heavy on oatmeal and butter which makes sense for calories, food values and keeping qualities. Everybody lived off the land or sea as well if they could while travelling, looting, fishing, hunting and foraging. See Kephart "Camping and Woodcraft" for pemmican, jerky and parched dried corn as travelling rations. In the Middle Ages raiding Scots would apparently carry a small griddle and a bag of oatmeal.

The butter on the Brendan currach immrams would do double duty as food and for waterproofing the leather skin of the boat.

 

[rik_uk3]

IIRC Rik, the Roman rations (and the Greeks before them) also were heavy on cheese.

Without employing my google fu your right. Been a long time since I had an interest in Rome. I think they had a pan issued between so many troops and a base ration of grain. Oil and cheese was certainly important to their basic diet. I remember they introduced a lot of new vegetables like leek and cabbage to the UK and I think apples too but I may be wrong there.

 

[Martti]

According to the toponymy, the interior of Finland was colonised with the mixture of rye flours and butter.

 

[Dave]

Did you see what Neil Oliver was eating in that :viking:Viking restaraunt he visited in Iceland?

 

[wicca]

Did you see what Neil Oliver was eating in that :viking:Viking restaraunt he visited in Iceland?

Now you've done it..Took me weeks to stop having nightmares about watching him eat that meal...

 

[Willowisp]

Honey and grains was something people used to take with them. Good energy for winter or long journeys.

 

[bilmo-p5]

This stuff, too.

 

[MikeLA]

have been along to the Roman wall museums in the summer and if I remember rightly it was mostly grains, porriage type food,oatmeal, bread and a little meat. Whats been said already I guess

 

[sandbender]

"...Would the diet have been a different ratio of protein/carbs or mostly an all-meat diet for people engaged in fighting or hard labour?.."

In the early to mid 1600s there were a substantial number of Scottish soldiers (as many as fifty thousand) fighting in the lands we now know as Germany and Central Europe. I remember reading a letter where a Swedish general commented on the need to keep the Scottish troops well fed, he listed a weekly ration of several pounds of butter and a great deal of beef and mutton (half a cow a week) as being important to ensure that Scots performed at their best.

 

[The Ratcatcher]

Try googling "Cookit! History Cookbook" which has recipes from the different periods of history.

Alan

 

[Tor helge]

In my part of the world the "vikings" would most likely eat porridge (rye,oats,barley) and fish, fresh and dried. This was the main food up to our time (the potato added in the 18th century).

 

[Rod Paradise]

For St Brendan on his voyages the rations seemed heavy on oatmeal and butter which makes sense for calories, food values and keeping qualities. Everybody lived off the land or sea as well if they could while travelling, looting, fishing, hunting and foraging. See Kephart "Camping and Woodcraft" for pemmican, jerky and parched dried corn as travelling rations. In the Middle Ages raiding Scots would apparently carry a small griddle and a bag of oatmeal.

The butter on the Brendan currach immrams would do double duty as food and for waterproofing the leather skin of the boat.

I recall reading that they would bleed a cow (similarly to the Masaii in Africa) and have a blood/oats mix for energy. Haven't seen any corroborating history though.

 

[wicca]

I recall reading that they would bleed a cow (similarly to the Masaii in Africa) and have a blood/oats mix for energy. Haven't seen any corroborating history though.

I think you're getting confused there Rod...It was reported the cabin boy kept moaning.."Oh! not bloody porridge again for dinner"

 

[boatman]

Couldn't carry a cow although they have been transported in currachs on the west coast of Ireland. Dried fish always a delicious option. I am not sure of cheese as an automatic travelling food instead of butter. Would they have had hard, keeping, cheese? As for foods of opportunity there is a hint that the monks aboard the good ship Brendan tried their hands at a bit of sheep stealing at one landfall.

 

[Gailainne]

I believe Vikings also carried goats on board their vessels to seed Islands with, Texa of islay has both goats from the Viking era and Spanish, although I think the Spanish came from sunk ships