What did the Vikings eat before? Scandinavian cuisine: what did the Vikings eat?

Scandinavian cuisine. What did the ancient Vikings eat?

The earliest Scandinavian cookbooks date from around 1300-1350. Archaeological research provides information about what the Vikings ate, some data can be gleaned from the Scandinavian sagas and Edda, although, of course, there are very few of them and more often Viking food is mentioned only in passing.

Climate, lifestyle, isolation have largely shaped Scandinavian cuisine. There has always been a long, dark and cold winter. Survival in the winter primarily depended on food supplies saved during the short growing season.

Beef, lamb, lamb, goat and pork were eaten everywhere in the territories where the Vikings lived. Horse meat was also consumed, but this practice ceased in Christian times.

The remains of farms dating back to Viking times indicate that they kept up to 80-100 animals. There is evidence that many cows lived to a very respectable age, which suggests that they were used as dairy animals. In Western Jutland, oxen were famous for their delicious, high-quality meat, which were also raised for sale. The Vikings kept poultry, which provided fresh eggs and fresh meat throughout the year.

The meat was preserved by various methods, including drying, smoking, salting, fermentation, salting in whey, freezing (in the north of Scandinavia). Drying was considered the most common technique, as dried meat could be preserved for many years.

Fermenting meat may seem like a strange method, but for some traditional Scandinavian products, the technology invented by the Vikings is still used in modern times. In Iceland, these are hakarl (fermented shark) and surströmming (fermented herring) in northern Sweden.

Hakarl is considered terrible food by the uninitiated in the secrets of Norwegian gourmet food. The shark itself is venomous and can only be eaten after elaborate processing. The shark is placed in a small hole covered with sand and gravel. Stones are placed on top, which are pressed so that liquid comes out of the shark. It is fermented, thus, from six to twelve weeks. The meat is then cut into strips and hung to dry for several months. The resulting crust is removed before serving the shark meat.

In the far, cold north of Norway, drying and smoking were considered the best ways to preserve meat. In the southern regions of Scandinavia, meat was sometimes salted. The meat of wild animals (deer, elk, hare) also played an important role in the diet of the Vikings, but mainly in the northern regions of Scandinavia. Sometimes they hunted bear, wild boar and squirrel.

If men were responsible for preparing meat products, slaughtering livestock or hunting animals, then women were responsible for the rest of the process - preparing and storing food for the winter, as well as cooking. The sagas mention that often women could not go to bed at bedtime until they had finished preparing meat for storage for the winter after slaughtering. For cooking, a hearth was used, the fire in which was called the "fire of food."

They cooked food on an open fire over the hearth or in closed ovens. It is known from the sagas that they dug a hole in the ground and laid out its walls with boards or stones and laid meat or fish there. Then they heated large stones on the fire and threw them on the meat, while the pit itself was covered with boards and sprinkled with earth to keep warm longer.

The Vikings loved dairy food and in some areas it even had a higher prestige than meat. Milk in its pure form was often not drunk, rather, dairy products were prepared from it, which were stored for the winter: butter, buttermilk, whey, cottage cheese, cheese and skyr, a product resembling yogurt, but more condensed. Skyr is sold in Iceland to this day. It is traditionally served cold with sugar. Whey has been used as a drink and as a preservative for meat, fish or butter. Salted butter could be stored for several years. Lactic acid slowed or stopped the growth of bacteria.

Fish was an important part of the Viking diet. Fish resources from the Atlantic waters washing the western coast of Scandinavia have always been rich, providing cod, haddock, silver saithe, herring, shrimp. On the east coast, they ate both freshwater and estuary fish, eels, clams, mussels, oysters, and coastal snails. Salmon, a great source of protein, was the main freshwater fish. Even the Norwegians, who lived in the interior, far from the sea, enjoyed the fish, exchanging it for wood and other necessary goods. The fish was dried and smoked. In the north of Scandinavia, dry and cold weather conditions allowed fish, mainly cod, to dry. The hard dried fish was beaten well to break up the fibers and served with butter. Dried fish (cod) has become an important component in the legendary Scandinavian dish (already after the "completion" of the Viking Age) - lutefisk (fish in alkali).

The sagas often mention the complex conflicts that arose from disputes over the legal rights to whale meat, whale oil and the skeletons of mammals washed ashore. It was extremely rare that ships went out to sea and harpooned whales. Harpoons were used only in Iceland and the Faroe Islands. Whales were driven into traps in narrow sea bays and killed with poisoned harpoons.

They also hunted seals. The most important product was the fat of marine animals, which was eaten instead of butter and cooked on it.

Norwegians still eat pre-marinated, fried whale meat steak today. But the largest number of Viking food traditions are, of course, preserved in Iceland.

Among the berries and fruits can be called blackthorn, plums, apples, blackberries, blueberries. In addition, raspberries, elderberries, hawthorn, cherries, strawberries, mountain ash. They were eaten fresh, dried, preserved in honey.

The Vikings knew a lot of mushrooms and vegetables that were collected in the wild and grown in vegetable gardens. Carrots, parsnips, turnips, celery, spinach, cabbage, radishes, fava beans and peas. Beets, leeks, onions, mushrooms and edible seaweed. Vegetable oils were produced: linseed oil, hemp oil, sunflower oil. Grains include barley, oats and rye. The grain was taken to the granaries and threshed there, then they ground the flour (an exclusive occupation of the servants) and dried the germinated grain for malt. From flour they boiled porridge and baked bread, from malt they prepared beer and, with the addition of honeycombs, they made honey, a foamy drink that was especially respected at feasts. A kind of honey flavored with various herbs is mentioned in the sagas: it was called herbal honey, it was very intoxicated and strong.

Hazelnuts - the only nuts found in Scandinavia - were a source of protein. But already in the time of the Vikings, walnuts were imported from the southern countries. Later in medieval times, chestnuts and almonds were known.

Among the goods brought to the North, although wine is sometimes found, and from the biography of St. Ansgar it is clear that it was available in Birka, but its use was limited.

The Scandinavians dined and dined at noon and in the evening. Being late or not coming to a common meal at all was considered a big offense.

At dinner they drank little, at dinner - immoderately.

Women and men ate at different tables, with the exception of weddings.

The Scandinavians washed their hands before and after eating - after all, they ate with their fingers. Forks in those days were still unknown, only fried meat was pricked with a kind of device, like a modern skewer, and soup was eaten with spoons made of wood or bone.

The food was usually drunk. Recipes for alcoholic beverages were not too intricate. Beer and ale were brewed from barley with the addition of herbs. Mead was made from honey, water and yeast. They could make fruit and berry wine in a very limited amount. Non-alcoholic compotes and fruit drinks were also made from fruits. From milk - something like drinking yogurt or kefir. They often drank whey.

Based on materials from Internet pages: what the ancient Vikings ate

Vikings famous for their feasts. Their diet, rich and varied, included meat from domestic and wild animals, grains and fruits, fish, poultry, and much more that they hunted, cultivated, or gathered from the wild.

The Vikings ate better than the inhabitants of medieval Britain. Archaeologists, by studying medieval literature and viewing the contents of ancient cesspools and sewers, found out that the Vikings ate meat, that they had worms, that they added weed seeds to bread that are poisonous to humans.

Viking bowler hat from the National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen

The Viking Age lasted from 800 to 1066. They are originally from Scandinavia, but spread through their conquests to most of Europe, Russia and the British Isles.

User Viking Answer Lady on her blog describes in detail the rich and varied diet of the Vikings, which included whale meat. She said the scientists were looking into the Midden, or garbage heaps, and finding animal bones, examining the remains of pollen to see what plants they were eating. Some information about the diet of the Vikings can be gleaned from the texts of the sagas.

Here is an excerpt from the Egils Skallagrimssonar saga: “Skallagrim was also a good carpenter. To the west of Myrar he built another farm in Alftaness, his people went fishing and hunting and collecting wild bird eggs, lots of things. Whales often got stuck near the shore, it was easy to shoot them, since they and other animals rarely saw people and were not afraid of them.

Skallagrim built a third farm by the sea. He began to sow there and named the place Akrar (cornfields). There are some offshore islands where whales were washed up, so they were called whale islands. Skallagrim's people went up the rivers for salmon, many settled on the banks of the river Gljufur and fished.

The Vikings, apparently, did not fry meat, but boiled it. In the southern latitudes, they ate the meat of domesticated cattle: horses, sheep, goats, and pigs, as evidenced by the bones of these animals found by archaeologists. Some farms kept 80-100 heads of cattle. The Vikings also raised ducks, geese and chickens for meat and eggs.

In the northern lands, the Vikings hunted elk, deer, bear, wild boar, hare, squirrels and wild birds.

The Vikings caught cod, haddock, herring, mackerel and other fish in the Atlantic Ocean and the Baltic Sea, collected shellfish in fresh and salt water. They also hunted seals and guinea pigs.

They prepared meat by smoking, salting, marinating and drying (dried meat was stored for a year), in the far North it was frozen.

Vegetables and fruits were wild, the Vikings made oil from the seeds. They ate various types of berries, apples, plums, sloes and dried them for future use. Later they began to grow carrots, turnips, parsnips, spinach, celery, cabbage, horse beans, peas and radishes, leeks, eat algae, mushrooms.

From oats, barley and rye, the Vikings made cakes, beer, boiled porridge and baked bread, adding herbs and spices.

“Dill, cilantro and hops are mentioned in Jorvík and the Danelaw,” writes Viking Answer Lady. — There is evidence in Dublin of poppy, black mustard and dill. In the burial in Oseberg they found watercress, cumin, mustard, horseradish. Other spices include lovage, parsley, mint, thyme, marjoram, cumin, juniper berries and garlic.

Later, Scandinavians gained access to exotic spices through trade. These include: cumin, pepper, saffron, ginger, cardamom, clove, nutmeg, mace, cinnamon, anise, and bay leaf. Vinegar and honey have been used as flavorings in foods."

And what did the Vikings drink all this with?

“Alcoholic drinks, mainly ale, were widely consumed, especially in winter. Hops and bog myrtle were used to flavor beer. The Vikings also drank mead, milk, whey and water,” added Viking Answer Lady.

Scandinavian cuisine. What did the ancient Vikings eat?

Beef, lamb, lamb, goat and pork were eaten everywhere in the territories where the Vikings lived. Horse meat was also consumed, but this practice ceased in Christian times.

They also hunted seals. The most important product was the fat of marine animals, which was eaten instead of butter and cooked on it.

Norwegians still eat pre-marinated, fried whale meat steak today. But the largest number of Viking food traditions are, of course, preserved in Iceland.

Among the goods brought to the North, although wine is sometimes found, and from the biography of St. Ansgar it is clear that it was available in Birka, but its use was limited.

The Scandinavians dined and dined at noon and in the evening. Being late or not coming to a common meal at all was considered a big offense.

At dinner they drank little, at dinner - immoderately.

Women and men ate at different tables, with the exception of weddings.

Based on materials from Internet pages: what the ancient Vikings ate

First of all, it is worth making a reservation - the Normans borrowed a lot from other peoples in terms of nutrition, which is quite natural with such wide contacts around the world. They willingly consumed products that were not available in the harsh conditions of Scandinavia - grape wine, heat-loving fruits and vegetables, spices. Actually, it was the harsh living conditions in their homeland that forced them to begin expansion in different directions. The cuisine of the Vikings was simple, dense, high-calorie, heavy. They were very fond of fatty foods and sweets - a similar feature of peoples whose culture was formed in difficult natural conditions. In short, their cuisine is based on dairy products, berries and fish.

Plant food

The basis of the diet of almost all peoples of the world were and still are cereals. Conditions for growing wheat are only in the very south of Scandinavia. In the rest of the country, the soil is so stony and unfertile, the summers are so short and cool, and the rainfall is so plentiful that the peasants had to grow more undemanding barley and rye. This affected the bread: barley dough “rises” poorly, so they prepared not soft yeast bread, but harsh, crispy cakes. White bread was called "French", few could afford it. In addition, cereals were also used for making soups and cereals. As a rule, fresh or dried herbs were added to these dishes - sorrel, wild garlic, mustard, mint and others. Peas and beans were also grown to a limited extent, wild mushrooms, fruits (apples, pears) and nuts were collected. An integral part of the cuisine of the peoples of the European north are berries and dishes from them - an invaluable source of vitamins. Cranberries, cranberries, blueberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, wild roses, currants, cloudberries, blackthorns served as the basis for many dessert dishes. They made sweet sauces and jams for cereals, jelly, compotes. Sometimes honey was added to the berry mass for even greater sweetness.

animal food

The Vikings kept cattle for meat and dairy purposes - sheep, goats, cows, deer, rams. The abundance of dairy products is another characteristic feature of Scandinavian cuisine. They drank milk fresh, fermented it, made cheese, cottage cheese, whey, butter (to keep it heavily salted). Dairy products were used to make main dishes (soups with milk), and desserts with berries, and drinks (hot milk with spices). They ate little meat. As you might guess, only rich kings could afford to eat a lot of meat dishes. The Swedes, Norwegians and Danes ate (and still eat) fish in incredible quantities. Ordinary people could eat fish dishes three times a day. Salmon, cod, herring, trout were boiled, fried, dried, smoked, dried, fermented. They did the same with meat: it was extremely important to process the meat for long-term storage. Cattle were usually slaughtered in autumn, and pieces of meat were salted, treated with dried ground herbs, cured or smoked to keep for a long time. Before eating, meat (fresh, dried or smoked) could be boiled in water or fried on a spit. A valuable addition to the table in the northern regions was game - deer, elk, wild boars, marine mammals (whales, seals, walruses, dolphins). Birds were hunted with bows, caught with snares, and eggs were collected. Aristocrats could hunt with falcons. Fish were caught with nets, fishing rods or beaten with spears. There is evidence that fish in the lakes were specially bred.

Beverages

Housing, meals and utensils

The Vikings lived in large barn-like houses, sometimes under the same roof as cattle. The material was clay, wood, stones, earth, peat - depending on the region. In the middle was a hearth and sometimes a small clay oven. If the weather allowed, then they cooked in the open air, so as not to once again smoke the dwelling and not be at risk of fire. Soups were cooked in pots or pots that were hung over the fire. They usually fried and baked on pans or flat stones. In addition to iron utensils, the Vikings used clay (little) and wooden pots, jugs and bowls. They also knew the technology of making food vessels from leather. They ate at the table, sitting on the benches. Spoons, knives and fingers were used during the meal. For drinks, the Viking had a mug or a horn. The Scandinavians, as a rule, led a very ascetic life, they worked hard. In the harsh conditions of the north, there was no other way to survive. Before sitting down to breakfast, Scandinavian peasants worked for several hours on the farm. The first meal consisted of porridge or thick soup. At lunch they had a snack and continued to work. The heaviest meal took place at dusk. A difficult life, even by medieval standards, explains the high calorie content of local cuisine. An excellent appetite was considered a sign of strength and health. With such energy costs, he was provided. In mythology, among the standard feats is the eating of unimaginable amounts of food. Musicians and saga narrators were invited to rich festive feasts.

Dishes

To feel like a real Viking, you can cook one of the dishes below. Severe northern men ate simply, worked hard and, as a result, had excellent health.

Mushroom soup.

Ingredients:

Milk - 3 liters (preferably goat)

Mushrooms (any wild) - 500 g.

Butter - 100 g.

Barley or wheat flour - 100-150 g.

Salt, dill, parsley.

Pour milk into a cast iron pan, add flour, chopped mushrooms and herbs. Mix thoroughly, then hang over the fire. When it boils, add butter and salt to taste. Boil for 15-20 minutes, then let it brew for about an hour. You will get a very fragrant, thick and tasty soup. Serve hot, preferably in a wooden bowl with a wooden spoon. Sprinkle with herbs on top. You can eat with bread or cakes made from wholemeal flour.

Porridge with meat.

Ingredients:

Coarse barley flour - 500 g.

Dried lamb - 200 g.

Butter - 50 g.

Dill, parsley.

To cook this simple dish, you need to sit down with a group of friends on a longship, sit at the oars all day and then start cooking. Make a fire on a stone slab and hang a pot of water (about 2 liters). Bring to a boil and add flour, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil again and put in the porridge pieces of dried lamb or any other meat that is among your ship's supplies. The size and shape of the pieces are free. After half an hour of cooking, put out the fire in the porridge, put butter and herbs. Leave to brew for a while so that the thick porridge absorbs the smell of butter, meat and greens. It is better to eat directly from the pot with a wooden spoon, washed down with beer. After hard physical exercise and in the open air, it tastes much better.

The most severe Vikings were very fond of fried meat. A piece of pulp was pierced on a skewer and roasted over a fire. If there is no skewer, then you can use a combat spear or even a sword. No marinade or spices! Leave it to the effeminate, pampered Byzantines or Arabs. It is recommended to cut the pieces not too large so that they fry faster. Salt a little before use. You can take any meat - beef, pork, poultry, lamb .. any that is. It is desirable to eat directly from the sword or spear. If a skewer is found, then you need to cut off pieces of steaming meat from the carcass and eat it with beer. Be sure to joke and laugh a lot and obscenely while eating - it will be even tastier.

Icelandic delicacies (photo: Wikimedia)

One of the most popular traditional Icelandic dishes has always been slatur(slatur). Other local delicacies, such as fermented shark meat and pickled lamb testicles, were not as successful and were mostly consumed only during the pagan winter solstice festival Þorrablót. And this is understandable!

Slatur remained a widespread dish among Icelanders until the end of the last century, but by the turn of the new millennium, it lost out in a culinary duel between fast food and more modern cuisine. However, there are still families in Iceland who harvest it in the autumn. Not least because it is nutritious, tasty and very cheap food.

The word slatur is translated as "slaughter". Today it only applies to black pudding and smoked sheep's head, but in earlier times the term was used for anything that was considered edible from sheep.

Every autumn, Icelandic men had one bloody task: to slaughter sheep that had spent a carefree summer on mountain pastures. The entrails and blood of the sheep were then turned into slatur, which was smoked or preserved in salt or whey.

Blood pudding and Icelandic haggis

The casing for the Icelandic black pudding is sewn together from sheep's stomachs (photo: visir.is)

Sheep blood, among other things, went to puddings, cereals and even bread. Blood porridge was more common among the southerners, while people in the northern regions of the country preferred blood pudding: a hot dish of milk, butter, flour and blood served along with sugar, cinnamon and cream.

The two most popular dishes made from sheep entrails among Icelanders are bloomomör And lifrarpylsa. The first, made from sheep's blood, flour, and lard, resembles Irish black pudding, and the second, made from sheep's entrails mixed with flour and lard and stuffed into sheep's stomach bags sewn together, resembles Scottish haggis. Lifrarpylsa is a more popular dish than blóðmör. It is eaten warm, with mashed potatoes or turnips.

Some traditional recipes common in the past have long since disappeared from Icelandic cuisine. Among them: salted cow udder, mashed sheep brains and dumplings boiled in lifrarpylsa broth with brains. Sheep stomachs in Iceland are used exclusively as casings for blood sausages, but in Denmark and Norway they are used to make a soup called Kallun Suppe.

Icelandic aphrodisiacs

Icelandic black pudding blóðmör and lifrarpylsa (photo: visir.is)

The same blóðmör, made from blood mixed with Icelandic moss and various herbs and plants (sometimes even cabbage is added). The minced meat is placed in a sheep's stomach bag, the edges of which are sewn together with a wooden needle, after which it is fried whole in oil with sugar and served with potatoes or turnips.

The first mention of lyfrarpylsa dates back to the 18th century. Then very little flour was added to it or it was completely abandoned and the product was simply marinated in whey. Lyfrarpylsa was considered an energizing food and was sometimes called galsapylsa, which literally means "living sausage".

Icelanders believe that men who eat blóðmör with herbs and galsapylsa become more playful in bed.

Reference: “month of blood” or gormánuður is considered by the Icelanders as the first month of winter. It begins on the Saturday between October 21st and 27th, and its name comes from the innards of sheep and cattle, which are scattered in great numbers throughout the farms during the slaughter season.