14. The Church influenced much of the medieval diet
The most powerful legal authority in medieval Europe was the Roman Church, and its liturgical calendar had much to say regarding medieval food and diet. Fasting during medieval times meant abstention from animal products, which included cheese, eggs, and anything containing either. Fish was allowed. Fasting occurred throughout Lent and Advent, all Fridays, the eves of most Holy Days, all Wednesdays, and in many parts of Europe Saturdays as well. On certain days, such as Good Friday, fasting meant consuming just one meal throughout the course of the day. Interestingly, fasting did not extend to beer or wine, nor were there restrictions, for the most part, on snacking on fruits or breadstuffs.
During days when food intake was not restricted by fasting, there were other influences exerted by the church and its teachings. It was considered immoral to eat breakfast too soon after arising, an edict that was more easily followed by the idle rich (and the clergy) than by the working class. Throughout the medieval period the sick and young children were exempt from the restrictions of fasting, but other than infants most children were forced by the circumstances to follow them anyway, since meals weren’t prepared for the rest of the family in poor and working-class homes. At all times of the year the church preached against the sin of gluttony, though some of the most sumptuous banquets of the period were served by popes, princes of the church, and bishops.
