Food Was Mostly Bread

The medieval diet was overwhelmingly bread and pottage — a thick stew of grains, legumes, and whatever vegetables were in season. An adult peasant might eat around 2 pounds of bread a day, which provided most of their calories. Meat was a weekly luxury, and sugar was exotic and expensive.

The monotony could take a toll. In lean winters, famines, or isolated communities, nutritional diseases like scurvy and rickets did occur, mainly among the poor — though the skeletal record suggests they were far from universal, and rickets only became truly widespread in the smoky, sunless cities of the industrial era. Even on noble tables, fresh fruit and vegetables were scarce next to the spiced meat and rich sauces.