Medieval cuisine includes the foods, diets, and cooking methods of various European cultures from the 5th to the 15th century. Cereals were the most important staple during the Early Middle Ages: barley, oats, and rye were eaten by the poor while wheat was generally more expensive. These were consumed as bread, porridge, gruel, and pasta by people of all classes. Cheese, fruits, and vegetables were important supplements. Meat, including pork, chicken, and other domestic fowl, was more expensive, and game was common only on the nobility's tables. Many freshwater and saltwater fish were also eaten; in the north, cod and herring were mainstays. In contrast to the exotic spices and expensive imported food of the nobility, working-class food was less refined, as mandated by decrees and social norms. A highly spiced sweet-sour food repertory developed among the upper classes in the Late Middle Ages.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_cuisine

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1386:

The Wonderful Parliament met at Westminster Abbey to address King Richard II's need for money, but soon changed focus to the reform of his administration. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonderful_Parliament

1890:

At the encouragement of preservationist John Muir and writer Robert Underwood Johnson, the U.S. Congress established Yosemite National Park in California. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosemite_National_Park

1918:

First World War: British and Arab troops captured Damascus from the Ottoman Empire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Damascus

2003:

A levy was imposed on the hiring of foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong, who numbered in the hundreds of thousands at the time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_domestic_helpers_in_Hong_Kong

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

antediluvian: 1. (biblical) Belonging or pertaining to, or existing in, the time prior to the great flood described in Genesis, or (by extension) to a great or destructive flood or deluge described in other mythologies. 2. (by extension) Of animals and plants: long extinct; prehistoric. 3. (figurative, hyperbolic, chiefly humorous) 4. Of a person or thing: very old; ancient. 5. Of attitudes, ideas, etc.: extremely old-fashioned, especially to a laughable extent; antiquated. 6. (biblical) A person who lived in the time prior to the great flood described in Genesis, especially one of the biblical patriarchs. 7. (figurative, hyperbolic, chiefly humorous) 8. A very old person. 9. A person with extremely old-fashioned attitudes, ideas, etc., especially to a laughable extent; a fogey or old fogey. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/antediluvian

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

There is a remarkable trend toward fundamentalism in all religions — including the different denominations of Christianity as well as Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam. Increasingly, true believers are inclined to begin a process of deciding: "Since I am aligned with God, I am superior and my beliefs should prevail, and anyone who disagrees with me is inherently wrong," and the next step is "inherently inferior." The ultimate step is "subhuman," and then their lives are not significant. That tendency has created, throughout the world, intense religious conflicts. Those Christians who resist the inclination toward fundamentalism and who truly follow the nature, actions, and words of Jesus Christ should encompass people who are different from us with our care, generosity, forgiveness, compassion, and unselfish love. It is not easy to do this. It is a natural human inclination to encapsulate ourselves in a superior fashion with people who are just like us — and to assume that we are fulfilling the mandate of our lives if we just confine our love to our own family or to people who are similar and compatible. Breaking through this barrier and reaching out to others is what personifies a Christian and what emulates the perfect example that Christ set for us.   --Jimmy Carter https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter