Henry VIII’s Banquet Menu

First course 100 whole roast pigs with mustard 3,500 spicy roast larks 300 salted saltwater fish

Second course 1,200 roasted cockatrice (front half of cockerel sewn onto back half of piglet) 60 whole roasted swans with cloves 300 eel pies with garlic purée

Third course Venison stew with mead (made with shoulder, flank and neck) Sugared lampreys Wild bird pie (contains live birds and small pie) Jelly castle

Drinks Beer Mead Spiced wine Sherry Cider

Sweets and Confections Cheesecake Sugared jumbles (knotted biscuits) Honeyed fruits

How is Tudor food different from modern cooking? Tudor water was polluted Rich Tudors mainly ate meat Food was heavily salted to stop it rotting Then it was flavoured with spices to disguise the taste

What modern ingredients did they not have? Chocolate White bread Margarine Not much fruit Breakfast cereal Coffee

What did they use instead? Honey Rye bread Cheese Curds beer

Any curious food customs? You must not blow on food to cool it Rich people used trenchers (large slabs of bread), instead of plates A Tudor feast could last for many hours

Where did ingredients come from? Farms Market Wild food like deer

How was Henry VIII’s food different from a poor person’s? He ate meat A poor person ate vegetables, like turnips He ate tons of food A poor person would eat only a small amount A poor person would eat the same breakfast every day (bread or porridge) Henry VIII ate lots of different types of meat