[Sca-cooks] medieval fast food

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach Stefan li Rous:
>Linda Anderson asked:
>>What was pub fare like (or the medieval equivalent of "fast-food")?  Not
>>feast-food, but things ike stews and roasts that could be made ahead and
>>served in taverns?  Would that be correct?  What would travelers be
>>likely to be served at the inns?
>Well, not tavern food, but how about various street foods? There are 
>also items that we might consider fast foods or street foods that 
>were served in other settings. Here are a few files in the 
>Florilegium on such items:
>Scotch-Eggs-msg   (17K)  3/21/01    Fried sausage-wrapped hard-boiled eggs.
>  (I've not seen any evidence that these are actually period, though...)
>fried-breads-msg  (28K) 12/29/02    Period fried breads. Funnel cakes, donuts.
>jumbels-msg        (8K) 10/12/03    Knotted twists of dough similar 
>to pretzels.
>pizza-msg         (12K) 11/ 9/03    Period pizza and similar items.
>pretzels-msg      (28K) 11/ 9/03    Period pretzels and pretzel-like breads.
>wafers-msg        (76K) 12/ 4/03    Period savory and sweet wafers. Recipes.
>   (probably not a period street food, but similar by today's ideas)

There's an article in at least some editions of the Larousse 
Gastronomique about the Street Cries of Paris (and the vendors 
performing same). It refers specifically to the medieval Parisian 
waferer, who sold them, as well as waffles and fritters, I think, 
from a long skewer. It's conceivable that these were street foods (in 
the literal sense, both bought and eaten in the street).

I'm not sure what food, if any, taverns served, but apart from inns, 
where travellers stayed, I'm not sure how many options there were for 
seeing all your needs seen to in one location. There are medieval 
references (things like laws regulating them) to cooked meat shops, 
pastry shops, bread bakers, alewives, etc., suggesting that more 
take-away was done than anything like hanging out in the pub and 
having a snack there, is done today.

Adamantius