Food and Feasts in the Middle Ages (Medieval World) (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Crabtree's Medieval World series...feature(s) color illustrations that are photographs of archival medieval book and tapestry illustrations, with some original drawings skillfully done to blend in. There are also some photographs of medieval buildings. All illustrations are captioned, providing supplementary information to the text...(These) books would be appropriate for upper elementary students, particularly where medieval history forms part of the social studies curriculum." --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description

Ages 7 to 14 years. Feasts were a common way of drawing families and communities together in the Middle Ages. They were also used as an opportunity to display a noble family's wealth. This delightful book takes readers inside a medieval kitchen highlighting utensils used in food preparation, the servants who worked there, and how food was prepared. Topics include: farming and livestock; the harvest and how food was preserved; markets and fairs; herbs and spices to flavour salty foods; food in other cultures of the same period; towns and the merchant class; the butcher, baker, brewer and other tradespeople; the medieval kitchen; hunting, hawking and fishing; the extravagance of the noble's feast; feast days, celebrations, and the Church; food shortages and famine.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Crabtree Publishing Company (March 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0778713806
• ISBN-13: 978-0778713807
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.3 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #155,395 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #90 in	Books > Children's Books > People & Places > Social Science > Customs, Traditions, Anthropology

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Food and Feasts in the Middle Ages, November 20, 2007

By	T. Burger (Chicago) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

These books in The Medieval World series (there are 20), published by Crabtree Publishing Company, serve myriad purposes. For the intended reading age, 9-12, they present medieval life--very confusing to our contemporary conventions--in a perfectly understandable fashion. For that age range, I could not recommend these books higher. If I'd had such materials when I was younger, I might have ended up as a medieval scholar.

Yet they also serve a purpose that the publisher may not have intended, and that is for the casual researcher of medieval life.

There are accessible texts for the casual researcher, this is true, but none that I've seen contain simple explanations and diagrams. For example, this book is full of wonderful illustrations that depict: a timeline that begins with the feudal system and importing rice to Spain from the Middle East in 700 ACE to Christopher Columbus and the introduction of new food around 1493 ACE; what different food shops looked like; taverns and inns; and a two-page diagram (with numbers!) of a noble's feast; and many, many more.

Every page in this book (there are 32 pages in every book in the series), is presented in full color, the pages colored to resemble parchment, and the illustrations done to wonderfully evoke the period.

The "chapters" included are:

The Middle Ages
Ideas About Food
Farming
Peasant's Food
Markets and Fairs
The Spice Trade
Eating in Towns
Food Shops
Cooking in the Castle
A Noble's Table
A Noble's Feast
Hunting, Hawking, and Fishing
Feasts and Fasts
Food in Other Cultures
Glossary and Index (wonderful to have!)

If you're a writer, and you're looking for simple information on what medieval life looked like, this series of books can't be beat. To buy the entire series may be prohibitive, but if you have an idea of exactly what you want, this is a great starting point.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Only a small piece of the pie., June 5, 2008

By	R. S. Home - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The series is wonderful for the intended reader (ages 9 - 12) and taken as a whole, gives a very comprehensive look at life in the middle ages. As a stand-alone book, however, it is very narrow in it's scope. It deals exclusively with growing, acquiring, serving and beliefs about food during that time. While it has many lists of the kinds of food found in the area, along with who eats them and when, it does not have any descriptions of prepared dishes, and has only one recipe, which is basically melted cheese on crackers. For a child writing a report on food in the middle ages, this is a perfect book. For a child or adult wishing to host a recreation of a middle ages feast, this book is nearly useless. For a child who has just discovered a love of the middle ages, it is going to be the start of an expensive collection.