FOOD IN MEDIEVAL TIMES
birds. Classified as warm and moist in nature, young birds were
thought to heat the body, while old male birds were supposedly ben-
eficial to people suffering from nervous disorders. The meat of turtle-
doves was said to sharpen the mind and improve a person’s memory.
Quail
Smaller than the partridge, to which it is related, the quail was com-
mon in classical and medieval Europe. It was generally considered less
wholesome than the other game birds because it fed on poisonous
plants such as hellebore. This may explain why quails are hardly men-
tioned in medieval cookbooks and dietetic texts. The Arab health
book Tacuinum sanitatis (Tables of Health) is one manual that does
list quails. It describes them as a warm and moist foodstuff similar to
the other small game birds. According to this text, quails generate
good blood and provide good nutrition, especially for skinny people.
Pomegranates, nuts, and cinnamon supposedly help prevent any neg-
ative side effects the consumption of quails may have.
Crane
A long-legged migratory bird, the crane was eaten in classical Rome
and medieval Europe. While the Romans preferred braising it in
sauce, late-medieval cooks usually roasted the bird and served it at
banquets with such standard sauces as the cinnamon-based sauce
cameline. Cranes were hunted by falcons and hawks, a method physi-
cians approved of. Classified as warm and dry, cranes, like peacocks,
were supposed to be hung by the neck and weighted down to make
the dry meat more tender. When prepared with aromatic substances
and thoroughly cooked, cranes were thought to be easier to digest
than peacocks.
Herons
Like the crane, the heron is a long-legged waterbird. It is not men-
tioned in the Roman cookbook of Apicius, but figures prominently in
some late-medieval European recipe collections, including the oldest
German one from the mid-fourteenth century. The bird was hunted
by the aristocracy with falcons, and in some places, notably the Low
Countries, herons were also bred. In the Alpine region, heron ap-
peared on the tables of the rich as heron puree, heron roast, in a spicy
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