miffa14+Food+From+the+Renaissance

During the Renaissance period, food was made to appeal to the five senses; especially sight, taste, and smell. Because of this, people would usually serve what we would either call gourmet food or rich, full delicacies. But, many times the people would cook certain foods differently than they would now; like they would roast meat with sweet herbs and made very strong soups. Here is a list of many of the foods on a common menu during the Renaissance:
 * Common Food from the Renaissance**

Pasta: In this time period, pasta was being made in different forms to either be appealing to the eye or to hold different meats and vegetables in them. Some kinds include: macaroni, semolina, vermicelli, ravioli, noodles, and green spinach lasagna. Although tomato sauce is a major pasta sauce today, in the Renaissance period tomatoes were not eaten; even thought of as evil. But, instead pastas were covered with different sauces, such as: pesto, which had an olive oil base, and panna , which had a butter and cream base.

Cheese: Compared to the other food items eaten in this time, cheese was not as important as most of the others. One reason it was less popular was because cheese was not the same variety as it is today; most of the cheese made then was watery in the center and crunchy outside. This is called curd, or the crunchy part, and whey, the watery part. Although most people ate and made curds and whey, because it was cheaper and easier to make, there was more consistent cheese to be found. Usually the nobles would dine on cheese for an appetizer or on a salad; sometimes even for dessert.



Soups: The soups made during this time period were made to please all the senses; including sight, smell, and taste. Sweet herbs were added to heighten the sense of smell; like marjoram, mustard, hemp-seed, millet, verjuice, sage, thyme, sweet basil, and savoury (old English spelling). Colors were swirled in to please the sense of sight, and the bowls were usually extremely ornate.



Pastries: The pastries made in France were rival to none in the Renaissance period. Many were filled with sweets and sugar, but others had meat, vegetables, or even fish baked into them. A some were called tarts, which had a blend of sweet sugar and a sour tartness from other spices; and another were hot pies, which were starchy pies filled with meat and herbs.



Roasts and Broils: To cook meat, people generally roasted or broiled it, and herbs and spices were added. Meat was cooked with very sweet spices and vegetables were added when the meat was cooked.  Here is a list of foods **unavailable** or not eaten during the Renaissance period: Coffee,  Tea, Molasses, Potatoes, Tomatoes, Corn, Peppers, Beans, Peanuts, Squash, Pumpkin, Vanilla, Cocoa, Turkeys, Bananas, Pineapple, and Coconut. 



Here is a list of foods that were **commonly** eaten in the Renaissance period: Beef, Veal, Pork, Mutton, Lamb, Chicken, Goose, Duck, Game Birds, Eggs, Turnips, Carrots, Onions, Cabbage, Lettuce, Borage, Sorrel, Savory, Thyme, Endive, Cinnamon, Cloves and Mace, and many kinds of Fruits.