There's a widespread myth that medieval people used spices to cover up the taste of rotten meat. The whole story traces back to one book. In 1939, a scientist named J.C. Drummond published The Englishman's Food and suggested that medieval recipes were so heavily spiced because the meat was frequently tainted. No evidence. Just an assumption. One sentence in one book published 85 years ago. And it has been repeated as fact in classrooms and documentaries ever since. Here is the major problem with it. The only people who could afford spices in medieval Europe were the wealthy. Pepper from Asia cost roughly ten times what it costs today and saffron ran about 183 pence per pound in 15th century London. Gold was 240 pence per pound. Saffron was nearly as expensive as gold. The idea that someone wealthy enough to buy saffron was also eating rotten meat makes no logical sense. Professor Paul Freedman of Yale, who wrote the definitive academic study on medieval spices, called the rotten meat theory a compelling but false idea that constitutes something of an urban legend, a story so instinctively attractive that mere fact seems unable to wipe it out. Medieval people did not eat rotten meat because they had no reason to. Livestock was slaughtered when needed, not stockpiled. Fish ponds were kept on estates specifically so fish could be caught and eaten the same day. Salting, smoking, drying, pickling, and potted meats preserved everything else. Medieval cooks were extraordinarily skilled at keeping food safe without refrigeration. They used spices for the same reason we do. Because food tastes better with them. Exotic ingredients from the East signaled wealth and sophistication and because a medieval feast with cinnamon, ginger, and cloves in the sauce was the equivalent of flying in ingredients from another continent, which is exactly what it was. © Eats History #drthehistories
