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The Middle Ages
The following section was copied from Food history and needs to be moved elsewhere because it is not representative of the entire subject.

EUROPEAN MIDDLE AGES (BREAKFAST) TRANSFER TO ANOTHER SECTION OR ARTICLE:

In the European Middle Ages, breakfast. (need to reconstruct starting here) was not usually considered a necessary and important meal, and was practically nonexistent during the earlier medieval period. Monarchs and their entourages would spend lots of time around a table for meals. Only two formal meals were eaten per day—one at mid-day and one in the evening. The exact times varied by period and region, but this two-meal system remained consistent throughout the Middle Ages.

In some places breakfast was taken only by children, the elderly, the sick, and working men. Anyone else did not speak of or partake in eating in the morning. Eating breakfast meant that one was poor, such as a low-status farmer or laborer who really needed the energy to sustain his morning’s labor, or was too weak to wait for the large, midday dinner. Because medieval people saw gluttony as a sin and a sign of weakness, men were often ashamed of eating breakfast.

Noble travelers were an exception, as they were permitted to eat breakfast while they were away from home. For instance, in March 1255 about 1512 gallons of wine were delivered to the English King Henry III at the abbey church at St. Albans for his court's breakfasts during their stay there. If a king were on religious pilgrimage, the ban on breakfast was completely lifted and the breakfasts were intended to compensate for the erratic quality of meals at the local cook shops during the trip.

In the 13th century, breakfast sometimes consisted of a piece of rye bread and a piece of cheese. Morning meals would not include any meat, and would likely include a quart (1.1 L; 0.30 US gal) of low alcohol-content beers. Uncertain quantities of bread and ale could have been consumed in between meals.

By the 15th century breakfast often included meat. By then, noblemen were seen to indulge in breakfast, making it more of a common practice, and by the early 16th century, recorded expenses for breakfast became customary. The 16th-century introduction of caffeinated beverages into the European diet was part of the consideration to allow breakfast. It was believed that coffee and tea aid the body in "evacuation of superfluities", and they were consumed in the morning.

Copied from: Food history

NEW DRAFTED MIDDLE AGES SECTION :

The Middle Ages, also referred to as the Dark Ages, began in Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire and lasted for almost a thousand years, leading up to the Renaissance. During this time, the food people ate was controlled by the seasons, geography, and the Church. Most food was homegrown and lacked the elegance seen in later European foods as well– this is because society was primitive and violent, not always focusing on the foods they consumed.

Food in the Middle Ages was entirely limited to whatever the land could provide. Poor families primarily consumed vegetables in the form of stew, soup, or pottage, and anything grown on their own small plots of land. They were unable to afford luxury items, like spices, and were not allowed to hunt deer, boar, or rabbits like members of the noble class could. The staple items of a lower class diet included rye or barely bread, stews, local dairy products, cheaper meats like beef, pork or lamb, fish if there was access to freshwater, vegetables and herbs grown at home, fruit from local trees and bushes, nuts, and honey. The reason that poor families were unable to obtain nutritious foods, or even a great variety of food for that matter, is due to the fact that this was the Dark Ages. It was a period of wars, raids, poverty, and isolation, meaning that most struggled to survive. However, those born into the upper class and into noble families did not struggle as much.

In terms of the upper class and nobility, their food and diet were definitely better than that of the lower classes, but food was eaten in small portions. This was because a new era emerged, in which people were influenced by other cultures and dining traditions after the Crusades. It began a time period of extensive food preparation and presentation, where meals were laid out with many different colors and flavors– a very different experience from those in the lower class. Smaller portion sizes developed around this time due to various cultural influences, and these large, table-long meals were essentially picked at by the nobility. Additionally, the foods were highly spiced, and many of these were expensively imported, or bought back from outside of Europe. The Middle Ages diet of the upper class and nobility included manchet bread, a variety of meats like venison, pork, and lamb, fish and shellfish, spices, cheese, fruits, and a limited number of vegetables. While there were no great centers for learning, or very prosperous towns, there were many people looking to build a life with less struggle. Grains were grown for bread, beer and oats, root vegetables were grown for stews, and animals were raised for both meat and other entities, including wool, leather, etc. Families made due with what they could, primarily cooking over an open fire, in a cauldron or on spit. Their ovens were typically outside of the home, and made on top of clay or turf. As food consumption was controlled by geography and availability, it was also governed by the Church. There were many fasts that occurred throughout the year, and the longest was that of Lent. There were designated days in which people could not eat meat or fish, but this did not affect the poor very much because of their already lacking food options. The Church also influenced people to have feasts throughout the year, including one on Christmas, and ones to celebrate lesser holidays. The noble and upper classes participated in these extravagant feasts, as they often followed a fasting period.