Medieval Feast dishes up a wealth of information and tempting treats
THERE was a great opportunity for members of the public to sample the kind of dishes that would have been served up around tables in Ferns back in the times of Strongbow recently as the Ferns Heritage Project hosted a Medieval Feast as part of Heritage Week.
Cooking up a storm and providing some fascinating insights was Food and Culinary Historian Regina Sexton of University College Cork who described the event as being a wonderful addition to Heritage Week and praised the Heritage Group for the imaginative idea.
Regina gave a wonderful talk on food and the recipes of the late medieval period, focusing on foods associated with the wealthy classes and the dishes demonstrated were more commonly used for special occasions and festive events.
They were laden with spices, dried fruits, sugar and honey; all of which would have been exotic ingredients that demonstrated the wealth of the household.
Regina also showed an example of a dish eaten by most people, a type of pottage, bulked out with leeks, beans, grains and maybe a small amount of meat.
Chairperson of the Ferns Heritage Project Catherine MacPartlin was delighted with the feedback the evening re- ceived and said it provided a fascinating insight into medieval life.
‘Using food as a tool enabled us also to learn about trade and the availability of ingredients such as spices, sourced from the Arabians, who controlled the spice trade,’ she said.
‘It was a surprise to see such exotic ingredients available in the medieval period, particularly when you compare it with the more restricted diet in the last century.’
She thanked everyone who came to the mevieval feast and also those who sponsored local ingredients including O’Neill Dry Cured Bacon, Joe Kelly, Ferns Castle Honey, Broadfield Farm and Cullens Fruit & Veg.