Random food related curiosa

 

* If you write European set Epic fantasy, it is more likely that the food your heroes eat is flavored using herbs rather than spices, since spices were expensive, and had to be imported.

* In Sweden,  mushrooms were viewed to be cattle food, until the 20th century.  Which meant that they did not eat them ,even if it was a famine.

* The eggs used in baking during the winter was conserved (!), which was unsuitable to eating, but fine in baking.

*   It is easy to forget but all the farm animals were much smaller before 1900’s, than they are today.   So if you describe a cow based on modern day cows? They wouldn’t have fit inside the barn.

*  If you want a colder climate growing sugar? Use sugar beets, not sugar canes.   Or honey, since Sugar beets wasn’t in use until the 1700’s.

*  Beer get’s the taste from hops, which wasn’t in use in Sweden until the 12th century.

*  Hop growing etc was covered buy the law.  And theft was punished severly.