This food would delight anyone on a diet
Today, little remains of it – an inconspicuous earthen mound with traces of burnt wood, quadrangular outlines of darker sand hidden underground, and oval fireplaces lined with granite pebbles. – The houses, probably a dozen or more, were quite large by medieval standards. They were four by five meters, sunk less than a meter into the sandy soil – say Hanna and Paweł Lis, authors of the book “Kuchnia Słowian”. The village, where probably 60-70 people lived, was located next to a small fortress surrounded by a defensive wall. Trunks of young oak trees were used for its construction. One of them was beheaded in 888, which was established on the basis of dendrochronological research.
– When I arrived there, I wondered how our ancestors lived more than a thousand years ago. What did they eat, given that there were swamps and peat bogs all around? – Paweł recalls. Today we know that their diet would delight modern health food experts. It was diverse, rich in plant proteins, vegetables and herbs, as well as minerals and vitamins. It was dominated by sour taste, because pickling was one of the most popular methods of preserving food. However, few sweet products were consumed. Only honey and fruits were available, fresh in summer and dried in winter. – The cuisine was simple, based on one-pot dishes. There were no three courses for a meal like we have today, and certainly not complicated, like our pâtés, says Hanna Lis.
What did the Slavs eat?
How do we know all this, since no cookbooks were written at that time? This is the result of a thorough analysis of the remains found in the ancient habitat and the work of experimental archaeologists who research ancient customs using reconstructed objects and craft techniques. Paweł Lis emphasizes that experimental archaeology is invaluable in researching methods of producing utilitarian equipment, firing pottery, building houses and processing food. It provides a true picture of the life of ancient people and allows us to better understand the past.
However, recreating the menu of the Slavs who lived in the early Middle Ages was not easy. After all, there are no vessels with preserved remains of dishes, as is the case in China or Egypt, where the tombs of ancient rulers are filled with everything a person needs to live. Nor have they found such an interesting discovery as the one that archaeologists from Great Britain could be proud of. They discovered the well-preserved body of a man who fell into a swamp hundreds of years ago. Shortly before his death, he ate bread because his partially digested remains were found in his stomach.
There are also few written sources. Some information about the culinary customs of the ancient Slavs was left by Ibrahim Ibn Jakub, who traveled through Europe in the 10th century. In the “Report of Ibrahim Ibn Jakub of his journey to the Slavic countries, translated by Al-Bekri” we read that the country of Mieszko “is abundant in food, meat, honey and arable land”. The people “sow in two seasons, in late summer and in spring, and reap two harvests. […] They are the ones who sow the most corn.” “Most of the trees are apple, pear and peach trees” and “they eat beef and goose because it is good for them” and “their wines and intoxicating drinks are honey.”
– We started by examining objects, fragments of which we found in the habitat, that the Slavs used to prepare dishes. Based on them, we created replicas of clay pots, says Paweł Lis. They then analysed the plant remains found in the stronghold. They determined that the Slavs ate mainly what they grew themselves. – However, they grew not only millet, as Ibrahim Ibn Jakub mentioned, but also wheat, barley, oats and rye – says Paweł Lis.
“Tastes are in our genes”
These cereals were used to prepare groats and flour for bread, which was confirmed by a unique discovery. A few years ago, iron bowls, which were probably used for baking bread, and a piece of charred bread were found in Giecz near Poznań. So it was possible to know what kind of flour was made from, but the recipe was impossible. Experimental archaeology helped in this. – We assume that tastes are in our genes. Because if we still like sourdough bread, bigos or pea soup, our distant ancestors must have liked them too. We take a pot and products, light the fire and try to make bread the way the Slavs might have done a thousand years ago, says Hanna Lis.
First, they prepared the flour. They ground rye grains in a trough-shaped stone and then made a dough from flour and water. “The Slavs probably baked bread from sourdough with yeast. They obtained yeast during the production of beer, which we have proven in experiments,” says Hanna Lis. It was not easy to come to this conclusion. Mrs. Hanna baked dozens of different breads. Some were sourdough, others were sourdough and yeast. “It turned out that the one made with sourdough and yeast rose faster. It also became fatter and baked faster. Therefore, it can be assumed that because it required less labor, it was baked more often,” says Hanna Lis.
This bread not only satisfied hunger, but also provided the body with the necessary nutrients. – We were surprised by the analysis of scientists from the Department and Department of Food Science at the Medical University of Warsaw. It turned out that our bread had more nutritional value than whole-grain bread bought in a health food store – adds Hanna. Baked in the ancient Slavic way, it contained mainly more folates, which are necessary for the growth and division of all cells in the body.
The Slavs probably baked bread directly on the fire, covered with a clay pot or a special ceramic lampshade, resistant to high temperatures. The hearth was located in the corner of the hut, usually on the north side, and coals were kept in it all the time.
– Fire had a magical meaning in ancient times. It was lit ritually. So it was not allowed to go outside. Thanks to this, in the morning it was possible to quickly light the coals and reheat them or even quickly prepare soup. Preparing a nutritious breakfast did not take long, says Paweł Lis. Where did this conclusion come from? – This is where ethnography came to the rescue. It indicates the continuity of culture. The agricultural tools from the early 19th century and the early Middle Ages are almost the same, says Lis. The Lis family also used descriptions of ancient customs and spoke to people who remembered the times before the Second World War. – It turns out that this is exactly what they did. They looked for coals in the stove, lit them and quickly prepared a hot breakfast, says Hanna.
What animals did the Slavs eat?
Valuable information about what the Slavs ate a thousand years ago has been provided by chemical analysis of food remains recovered from the porous walls of four clay pots found in Chodlik. Using a method called gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, experts from the Institute of General and Ecological Chemistry of the Faculty of Chemistry of the Technical University of Lodz determined that mammalian meat was kept in one vessel, remains of vegetable fats were found in the second, and traces of roots and tubers and berries were found in the third. – All these products were processed by heating. However, in the fourth vessel, the Slavs could have stored some dairy products – says the archaeologist.
However, he was surprised that none of these pots contained traces of cereal grains, considered the basis of our ancestors’ cuisine.
– Experimental archaeology has also helped us explain this contradiction. I cooked the barley in a clay pot and set it aside. After five years, it turned out that the fatty acids typical of barley had almost completely disappeared, says Paweł. The tiny traces of organic matter found were so vague that it was impossible to clearly determine where they came from. The same must have happened with the groats dishes prepared by our ancestors.
The remains found made it possible to determine which animals the Slavs ate, and the appearance of the bones and traces of sharp tools determined how the meat was prepared. “In the fossil material, raw bones look different, cooked bones look different, and burnt bones look different still,” argues Lis. It was thus established that cattle were mainly the workforce and provided milk, sheep provided wool, and horses were used for transport and were the object of trade. Chickens were raised to produce eggs. Only pigs were raised exclusively for meat. “Everything of them was eaten, except for the now popular pork legs. At least that is what it seems from the traces of processing – cuts on the bones found,” says Paweł.
“The meals were not bland”
From time to time, probably in winter and pre-harvest times when food was especially scarce, pieces of wild animals ended up in the cooking pots of early medieval Slavs.
– They were not hunted, but traps were set, because it required less effort and was safer – explains Lis.
The Slavs also ate fish, but today it is difficult to determine what type and in what quantities. Sturgeon remains are found most often. In Piotrawina, in the Chodel Valley, their bone parts make up 12% of the fish remains found there. – However, statistical tests can be misleading – the bony discs on the back of the sturgeon are hard and well preserved, unlike the delicate scales and bones of other fish, which quickly decompose in the soil – explains Paweł Lis.
The diet of our ancestors was not only diverse, but also undoubtedly healthy. They ate legumes – broad beans, peas and lentils. They planted vegetables in their gardens – carrots, cucumbers, turnips, cabbage, celery and parsley, rich in vitamins and microelements. From the analysis of Prof. Andrzej Tokarz and Dr. Agnieszka Białek from the Department and Department of Bromatology of the Medical University of Warsaw, it was shown that the source of protein was not only meat, which was consumed occasionally, but also soups, for example, sourdough soup. In turn, vitamin C was mainly provided by pickled vegetables.
Contrary to popular belief, Slavic food was anything but bland. Our ancestors may have used up to 150 different herbs and aromatic plants. They found horseradish, larkspur, common garlic, anise-like angelica, and thyme in the meadows or sowed them in their home gardens.
– Perhaps the richest people also knew the taste of spices. In his account of his trip to the Slavic countries, Ibrahim Ibn Jakub mentions his stay at an inn, where he ate fish. He wrote that the cost of spices exceeded the cost of fish. Therefore, these could not be spices collected close to home. They had to be brought from far away, says Hanna Lis. However, archaeologists have not found any traces of such rarities. But who knows what else they will be able to extract from the remains found.
