Tudor Food Quiz - The Tudor Society

Just how well did you listen to Claire in her recent Claire Chats videos? How much can you remember about Tudor food and feasting?

Tudor Food

Q1) What were "alexanders"?

A vegetable with a flavour between celery and parsley

A grain used to make pottage

A medicinal drink

A root vegetable similar to carrots

Correct! They were popular in the Tudor era and had edible flowers and leaves.

Wrong! They were a popular vegetable in Tudor times with edible flowers and leaves.

Q2) Bread for the peasant class tended to be made of which grain?

Wheat

Rye

Oats

buckwheat

Correct!

Wrong! It tended to be made of rye or barley

Q3) The main raw ingredient of ale was...

Hops

Wheat

Rye

Barley

Correct!

Wrong! It was barley.

Q4) What was manchet?

A rich person's pottage flavoured with spices and almonds

A carving knife

Marzipan

A light white bread made from wheat flour

Correct!

Wrong! It was a white white made from wheat flour and eaten by the more wealthy in society.

Q5) According to the sumptuary laws of 1517, how many dishes could a duke/archbishop/marquis/earl/bishop have served at one meal?

Nine

Six

Twelve

Seven

Correct!

Wrong! It was seven.

Q6) What proportion of a wealthy man's diet was said to have been made up of vegetables?

20%

10%

30%

40%

Correct! This is why the rich were prone to scurvy.

Wrong! It was 20% and that's why the rich were prone to scurvy.

Q7) Barnacle geese could be eaten on a fish day because...

They spent most of their time in water.

Their meat tasted "fishy"

It was thought that they did not lay eggs but that their goslings emerged from barnacles

They were very rare

Correct!

Wrong! It was thought that barnacle geese emerged from barnacles and so were fish.

Q8) What was sack?

A dessert made from thick cream seasoned with sugar, ginger and rose-water.

A type of salad

A light ale

A type of sherry

Correct!

Wrong!

Q9) What was a buffet?

A piece of furniture which was a cross between a sideboard and a Welsh dresser

A banquet organised by a livery company

A feast of cold cuts and cold dishes

A metal container used for cooling wine

Correct!

Wrong! It was a cross between a sideboard and a Welsh dresser.

Q10) Wynkyn de Worde's "Book of Carving" gave terms for carving specific meats and fish. What was the term for carving "that pike"?

Splay

Alay

Culpon

Splat

Correct!

Wrong! The carver was supposed to "splat that pike".

Q11) What were you supposed to do with food you hadn't eaten at a feast?

Feed it to your dog

Put it on the "voider"

Place it back on the serving dish

Offer it to another diner

Correct!

Wrong! You were supposed to put it on the voider, a special dish for collecting waste food.

Q12) If you had to blow your nose at the table, what were you supposed to do?

Use your napkin

Use the tablecloth

Just sniff and do it later

Use your hand and then wipe it on your clothing

Correct!

Wrong! You were supposed to use your hand and then wipe it on your clothing.

Q13) Who wrote that the napkin should be placed over your left shoulder or your left wrist?

Henry VIII

Wynkyn de Worde

Erasmus

Elizabeth I

Correct! It was Erasmus, the humanist, scholar, priest and theologian.

Wrong! It was Erasmus, the humanist, scholar, priest and theologian.