What Is The Difference Between Medieval Food And Social Hierarchy

Social hierarchy and the places of certain people in this hierarchy were marked by difference in living and privileges. Two of these differences were the manner in which they ate and how they dressed. While the rich obviously had the privilege of getting more food, they also had a distinct sense of clothing themselves that differentiated them from the peasants and laborers. This distinction was not only by social class, however, it was also differentiation of religion. Although the staple food of the Medieval diet was bread and wine, there was even distinction of that in the social hierarchy of Spain. In a certain banquet of the Confraternity of All the Saints the bread of the rich had cost 30 mrs, while the one of the poor had “cost only one-third of that price” (Ruiz, 209). Even the wine
The food of the people from the upper and middles class were also “highly spiced” which enhanced “the taste of the food” but also preserved “it from spoiling” and compensated for “lax sanitary conditions and the lack of refrigeration” (Ruiz, 210). There was also the amount of food that was eaten by the rich; copious amounts of food had to be served in these banquets and in the lunches and dinners of these people. In this period, “eating a lot was a sign of vaunted status” and “prestige and position were asserted by copious eating” (Ruiz, 211). Not only was the amount of food that rich people ate important, but the manner in which it was displayed was even more so. “Ultimately, a