Served to eat: what the Vikings ate, and why all of Europe envied them

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

All over the world, the image of the Vikings has developed, celebrating their glorious victories with feasts at which alcohol poured like a river, and it was always seized with meat. We decided to figure out how the diet of these brave warriors was in fact.

They actually had a varied and rich diet of wild and domestic animals, fruits, grains, poultry, fish, and some other food that they could grow, harvest, or hunt. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that their diet was much better and more varied than in other parts of medieval Europe. However, studies of the contents of ancient gutters and cesspools showed that the Vikings often suffered from intestinal worms and other parasites, and also that sometimes weeds were found in their stomachs, which were somewhat toxic to humans.

The meat and fat of stranded whales made up a significant part of the Viking diet. Scientists examined ancient fossilized trash heaps to determine the bones of what animals they contained, examined the bottom of lakes and marshes to see what types of plants they ate, and also carefully re-read the sagas and Edda to determine the culinary habits of this people. It turned out that the Vikings did not fry meat, but boiled it. In the lower latitudes, they ate the meat of domesticated pigs, goats, sheep, horses and other cattle. Most often, cows were bred for meat and milk.

The wooden remains of ancient animal pens show that some farms housed 80 to 100 animals. The Vikings also bred chickens, geese and ducks. In the northern lands, the Vikings relied more on hunting rather than breeding animals and hunted for wild boars and elk. They loved the Vikings and fish. In the Baltic Sea and Atlantic Ocean, they fished for mackerel, haddock and cod, and in rivers for shellfish and salmon. The northern fishermen did not disdain to hunt for seals and porpoises, but they usually dried and smoked their meat (and in the far north they froze it).

But the formidable warriors did not eat meat alone. Fruits, vegetables, dairy products and sunflower oil made up a fairly significant part of their diet. The Vikings ate various types of plums, thorns and apples, drying the fruit for longer storage. They grew vegetables in their gardens and harvested wild vegetables such as radishes, peas, beans, cabbage, celery, spinach, parsnips, turnips and carrots. They also ate onions, mushrooms, and seaweed, and the crops were used to bake tortillas and brew beer. In Dublin, evidence was found that Vikings used dill, mustard, and poppy seeds to flavor food. In the graves of Oseberg, traces of horseradish, mustard, caraway and watercress were found.

Archaeologists have repeatedly found evidence that the Vikings used garlic, juniper berries, wild cumin, marjoram, thyme, mint, parsley, and lovage in their food. Exotic spices also got to Scandinavia in the Middle Ages thanks to trade. The Vikings enjoyed buying bay leaves, anise seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, ginger, saffron, cumin and pepper. The harsh northern warriors drank, in addition to beer, ordinary water, milk and mead.