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Barley grounds and parsnip soup, which is what our Slavic ancestors ate
WIKTOR SZCZEPANIAK | Date of publication: 09/01/2022, 09:49
You can read this text in 6 minutes
Many people think that the Slavic tribes that lived in our lands in the old days, fed mainly on the meat of hunted wild forest animals. Archaeological research and other sources show, however, that the diet of our Slavic ancestors for many centuries before the creation of Poland was based on food products - both animal and plant - mainly from our own breeding and cultivation.
Historical diets arouse curiosity
The diet of the ancient Slavs arouses the interest of more and more scientists, cooks, but also ordinary people. No wonder, since various types of Slavic open-air museums are springing up in Poland like mushrooms, where people try to recreate huts, farms, settlements or settlements from the early Middle Ages or even older ones.
And although no "cookbooks" from those ancient times have survived, with the use of various research and experimental methods (e.g. in the field of archeology, ethnography, ethnobotany or paleoanthropology), as well as thanks to the analysis of all available written sources relating to the period in question, our knowledge of the way of life and nutrition of Slavic ancestors is constantly growing. Nevertheless, despite everything, this knowledge should be approached with a great distance, because for various objective reasons, we will never be able to find out the whole truth about those times.
What did the ancient Slavs living in the lands of today's Poland eat and drink?
The research and analyzes described by Janusz Piontek from the Institute of Anthropology of the University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznań shows that the diet of people living in the Odra and Vistula basins in late antiquity and in the early Middle Ages was distinguished by, among others, a high proportion of millet (from which millet is obtained - "millet") and a high proportion of animal protein (meat, dairy products, eggs and fish).
Other analyzes show that the proportions between the share of plant protein and animal protein in the diet of our ancestors, however, were in practice very differentiated, depending on the specific place of residence of a given population (and related natural conditions), as well as, inter alia, on the level of wealth of a given population. Scientific research, however, quite unanimously indicates that the main source of meat for the ancient Slavs were farm animals, not wild animals . The latter, of course, were also eaten, although in fact they constituted a definite minority in the menu at that time. At that time, meat was consumed not only boiled, fried and baked, but also dried and smoked. However, a large number of researchers suggest thatmeat was actually eaten relatively rarely, that is most often "from holidays".
"The Slavs were primarily farmers, hence their cuisine was based on cereal products - groats and flours. Millet was the main plant grown at the beginning of the Polish Middle Ages , and with time also rye and wheat . they provided the Slavs with the necessary amounts of plant protein in case of animal protein deficiency .. Walnuts were eagerly eaten. The gathering of wild plants, mainly herbs and mushrooms , also played a significant role, "we read on the website of the University of Silesia in Katowice in the article on the diet of the former Slavs.
Gene Spiller and Rowena Hubbard in the book Fri. The "secrets of the cuisine of our ancestors" add that the former Slavs, apart from crops such as wheat, buckwheat, barley , cabbage and beetroot, were also eager to eat honey and large amounts of bread.
The most popular dishes and products of the ancient Slavs
On the basis of the available scientific and culinary literature, it can be concluded that the most popular dishes and food products on the "pro-Polish" table were, among others various types of one-pot dishes, as well as preserves and baked goods , such as:
soups (the equivalent of today's soups), e.g. sour soup made of rye flour, mushroom soup, borscht - but not as we know it today, but made from the shoots of a plant called borscht, a soup made of lebioda leaves ( white quinoa ), nettle soup; they were cooked and served with various ingredients available at a given place and time (vegetables, meat, cream, eggs, flour and spices);
a fatty and filling dish prepared on the basis of mashed and later boiled cereal grains (most often oats or barley), which previously were also often specially soaked and dried or roasted; they were served with various additives enhancing the taste and nutritional value, e.g. bacon or bacon greaves and aromatic herbs;
bryje - mushy dishes prepared on the basis of various, more or less crumbled and overcooked grains of cereals (they were most often made on the basis of milled products of barley, millet, wheat or oats); they were cooked and served with various additives - such as, for example, vegetable oils , butter, cottage cheese, lentils, peas, leaves of wild food plants, herbal spices, poppy seeds , fruit or honey;
groats - they were served with various additions: incl. with mushrooms, legume seeds , vegetables, fat lard, dairy products, meat and herbs
silage (pickling was in the old days the basic way of preserving vegetables): they were prepared, among others, from cucumbers, but also from borscht and sorrel leaves
flatbread (i.e. the simplest form of bread - in the form resembling "pancakes"): to bake them, just take, for example, half a kilo of wholemeal flour, add 1.5 cups of water, a little salt, cumin, black cumin , then knead the dough well and bake it for flat, fat-free surface, e.g. on hot stones or on a baking tray, at the right temperature so that the flatbread sprouts a little but does not burn.
"When it comes to beverages, the most common drinks were water, milk, cheese ( birch sap ) and kvass. The villagers often drank buttermilk or whey. Beer was also eagerly enjoyed, although the then beer is not what we mean by this word today. Beer was the name of beverages made from grains and subjected to the fermentation process. They became more nutritious, more caloric, but had a low alcohol content "- we read on the website of the University of Silesia.
But this is not the end. Maple juice, compotes and various kinds of infusions were also drunk. Meads also appeared on the tables of wealthier Slavs (though rather on holidays). And the aforementioned beer , although very weak in terms of alcohol content (two or three times less than today), according to experts on the subject, was often seasoned with hops by the former Slavs.
Wild-growing edible plants
In recent years, archaeological research has identified a total of nearly 150 species of plants that could be collected and eaten (in various forms) by people living in the lands of former Poland. It is worth mentioning a few examples of such plants, which are not very popular today, but were once eagerly eaten, especially in times of scarcity:
white quinoa (called lebioda),
borscht,
common nettle ,
broadleaf club,
angelica,
sorrel _
knotweed,
couch grass,
orach.
"Borscht is a common plant of fertile meadows, roadsides and roadsides. Borscht is a forgotten vegetable, once very important to the Slavs. The name of the dish comes from this plant. my favorite wild dishes. Raw shoots are also edible, but not everyone's taste. In Poland, Russia and Lithuania, fermented borscht was also eaten. Chopped stalks, leaves and inflorescences were thrown into barrels and poured over with water. a small amount of alcohol, so it was something between beer and sauerkraut ", writes Łukasz Łuczaj, author of books on wild food plants, on his website.
Similar, extremely interesting stories with many historical and culinary as well as medical themes, one could tell about many other, inconspicuous and little-known "weeds" that we pass every day in nearby forests, parks or in meadows. It is also worth remembering about various, not very popular today, but once often used crops and vegetables, such as parsnips , swede, turnips, scorzonera or beans.
Finally, in the context of the diet and lifestyle of our ancestors, let us also recall that the Slavs who lived in Poland over a thousand years ago usually lived in the so-called hen huts, that is, simple one-room houses with thatched roofs, the characteristic feature of which was the lack of a chimney, which made them very smoky due to the primitive hearths located inside (hence the name kurna hut - from "to smoke", meaning to smoke). It is also worth recalling that for cooking and storing food, our ancestors mainly used earthenware, the remains of which can still be found during various earthworks.
Bryja
Barley grounds and parsnip soup, which is what our Slavic ancestors ate
WIKTOR SZCZEPANIAK | Date of publication: 09/01/2022, 09:49
You can read this text in 6 minutes
Many people think that the Slavic tribes that lived in our lands in the old days, fed mainly on the meat of hunted wild forest animals. Archaeological research and other sources show, however, that the diet of our Slavic ancestors for many centuries before the creation of Poland was based on food products - both animal and plant - mainly from our own breeding and cultivation.
Historical diets arouse curiosity
The diet of the ancient Slavs arouses the interest of more and more scientists, cooks, but also ordinary people. No wonder, since various types of Slavic open-air museums are springing up in Poland like mushrooms, where people try to recreate huts, farms, settlements or settlements from the early Middle Ages or even older ones.
And although no "cookbooks" from those ancient times have survived, with the use of various research and experimental methods (e.g. in the field of archeology, ethnography, ethnobotany or paleoanthropology), as well as thanks to the analysis of all available written sources relating to the period in question, our knowledge of the way of life and nutrition of Slavic ancestors is constantly growing. Nevertheless, despite everything, this knowledge should be approached with a great distance, because for various objective reasons, we will never be able to find out the whole truth about those times.
What did the ancient Slavs living in the lands of today's Poland eat and drink?
The research and analyzes described by Janusz Piontek from the Institute of Anthropology of the University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznań shows that the diet of people living in the Odra and Vistula basins in late antiquity and in the early Middle Ages was distinguished by, among others, a high proportion of millet (from which millet is obtained - "millet") and a high proportion of animal protein (meat, dairy products, eggs and fish).
Other analyzes show that the proportions between the share of plant protein and animal protein in the diet of our ancestors, however, were in practice very differentiated, depending on the specific place of residence of a given population (and related natural conditions), as well as, inter alia, on the level of wealth of a given population. Scientific research, however, quite unanimously indicates that the main source of meat for the ancient Slavs were farm animals, not wild animals . The latter, of course, were also eaten, although in fact they constituted a definite minority in the menu at that time. At that time, meat was consumed not only boiled, fried and baked, but also dried and smoked. However, a large number of researchers suggest thatmeat was actually eaten relatively rarely, that is most often "from holidays".
"The Slavs were primarily farmers, hence their cuisine was based on cereal products - groats and flours. Millet was the main plant grown at the beginning of the Polish Middle Ages , and with time also rye and wheat . they provided the Slavs with the necessary amounts of plant protein in case of animal protein deficiency .. Walnuts were eagerly eaten. The gathering of wild plants, mainly herbs and mushrooms , also played a significant role, "we read on the website of the University of Silesia in Katowice in the article on the diet of the former Slavs.
Gene Spiller and Rowena Hubbard in the book Fri. The "secrets of the cuisine of our ancestors" add that the former Slavs, apart from crops such as wheat, buckwheat, barley , cabbage and beetroot, were also eager to eat honey and large amounts of bread.
The most popular dishes and products of the ancient Slavs
On the basis of the available scientific and culinary literature, it can be concluded that the most popular dishes and food products on the "pro-Polish" table were, among others various types of one-pot dishes, as well as preserves and baked goods , such as:
soups (the equivalent of today's soups), e.g. sour soup made of rye flour, mushroom soup, borscht - but not as we know it today, but made from the shoots of a plant called borscht, a soup made of lebioda leaves ( white quinoa ), nettle soup; they were cooked and served with various ingredients available at a given place and time (vegetables, meat, cream, eggs, flour and spices);
a fatty and filling dish prepared on the basis of mashed and later boiled cereal grains (most often oats or barley), which previously were also often specially soaked and dried or roasted; they were served with various additives enhancing the taste and nutritional value, e.g. bacon or bacon greaves and aromatic herbs;
bryje - mushy dishes prepared on the basis of various, more or less crumbled and overcooked grains of cereals (they were most often made on the basis of milled products of barley, millet, wheat or oats); they were cooked and served with various additives - such as, for example, vegetable oils , butter, cottage cheese, lentils, peas, leaves of wild food plants, herbal spices, poppy seeds , fruit or honey;
groats - they were served with various additions: incl. with mushrooms, legume seeds , vegetables, fat lard, dairy products, meat and herbs
silage (pickling was in the old days the basic way of preserving vegetables): they were prepared, among others, from cucumbers, but also from borscht and sorrel leaves
flatbread (i.e. the simplest form of bread - in the form resembling "pancakes"): to bake them, just take, for example, half a kilo of wholemeal flour, add 1.5 cups of water, a little salt, cumin, black cumin , then knead the dough well and bake it for flat, fat-free surface, e.g. on hot stones or on a baking tray, at the right temperature so that the flatbread sprouts a little but does not burn.
"When it comes to beverages, the most common drinks were water, milk, cheese ( birch sap ) and kvass. The villagers often drank buttermilk or whey. Beer was also eagerly enjoyed, although the then beer is not what we mean by this word today. Beer was the name of beverages made from grains and subjected to the fermentation process. They became more nutritious, more caloric, but had a low alcohol content "- we read on the website of the University of Silesia.
But this is not the end. Maple juice, compotes and various kinds of infusions were also drunk. Meads also appeared on the tables of wealthier Slavs (though rather on holidays). And the aforementioned beer , although very weak in terms of alcohol content (two or three times less than today), according to experts on the subject, was often seasoned with hops by the former Slavs.
Wild-growing edible plants
In recent years, archaeological research has identified a total of nearly 150 species of plants that could be collected and eaten (in various forms) by people living in the lands of former Poland. It is worth mentioning a few examples of such plants, which are not very popular today, but were once eagerly eaten, especially in times of scarcity:
white quinoa (called lebioda),
borscht,
common nettle ,
broadleaf club,
angelica,
sorrel _
knotweed,
couch grass,
orach.
"Borscht is a common plant of fertile meadows, roadsides and roadsides. Borscht is a forgotten vegetable, once very important to the Slavs. The name of the dish comes from this plant. my favorite wild dishes. Raw shoots are also edible, but not everyone's taste. In Poland, Russia and Lithuania, fermented borscht was also eaten. Chopped stalks, leaves and inflorescences were thrown into barrels and poured over with water. a small amount of alcohol, so it was something between beer and sauerkraut ", writes Łukasz Łuczaj, author of books on wild food plants, on his website.
Similar, extremely interesting stories with many historical and culinary as well as medical themes, one could tell about many other, inconspicuous and little-known "weeds" that we pass every day in nearby forests, parks or in meadows. It is also worth remembering about various, not very popular today, but once often used crops and vegetables, such as parsnips , swede, turnips, scorzonera or beans.
Finally, in the context of the diet and lifestyle of our ancestors, let us also recall that the Slavs who lived in Poland over a thousand years ago usually lived in the so-called hen huts, that is, simple one-room houses with thatched roofs, the characteristic feature of which was the lack of a chimney, which made them very smoky due to the primitive hearths located inside (hence the name kurna hut - from "to smoke", meaning to smoke). It is also worth recalling that for cooking and storing food, our ancestors mainly used earthenware, the remains of which can still be found during various earthworks.
Bryja