From the 1090s, waves of crusaders arrived in the Holy Land from western Europe and of course, they needed to eat and drink. So, what did they have for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? It seems that after several generations, crusaders began to go native – adapting to local dietary customs – with some, it’s reported, even giving up pork in line with Jewish and Muslim prohibitions on pig meat.
A report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz outlined what crusaders may have eaten from studies of medieval cesspits – what some archaeologists do to ascertain the truth! So, what were they scoffing?
- Wheat and barley
- Legumes, mainly lentils, but also broad beans and chickpeas
- White mulberry was found in human remains from the crusader period, which is unusual because they originated in northern China
- Lots of figs, which no doubt helped the crusaders keep regular!
- Grapes – a lot of pips were found in the cesspit
- Olives and olive oil
- Crusaders were massive meat eaters, pork featured but also beef, mutton, and goat
- Gazelle and deer popped up
- Some believe that dogs and cats were eaten though this is disputed
- During Lent, the crusaders gave up meat but this may not have extended to chicken, which somehow was exempted in the Holy Land, maybe because certain foods were hard to come by during sieges, etc
- Freshwater catfish were liked by the crusaders – while being despised by the locals who derided the scale-free fish as ‘pigs of the river’
There is evidence that crusaders in the Holy Land went native in their eating habits…
Crusaders going native in Jerusalem
It seems that some crusaders stopped eating pork. A story told by an Arab chronicler who went to dinner at the house of a “Frank” – their word for all crusaders – related that he boasted at having dumped all his old culinary habits and even hired some Egyptian cooks.
Pork never enters this home, he noted. This disgusted many knights in the west who felt that their compatriots in the east had got a bit effete and heretical in their manners. Why, they were probably feasting on dates and almonds every day.
But what was the real reason? Were the crusaders being influenced by their Muslim and Jewish neighbours? There is no law against pork in Christianity despite the dietary laws stated in the Old Testament. But in Judaism and Islam, pork is not kosher or halal respectively.
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