<P> Before a meal, the stomach would preferably be "opened" with an apéritif (from Latin aperire, "to open") that was preferably of a hot and dry nature: confections made from sugar - or honey - coated spices like ginger, caraway and seeds of anise, fennel or cumin, wine and sweetened fortified milk drinks . As the stomach had been opened, it should then be "closed" at the end of the meal with the help of a digestive, most commonly a dragée, which during the Middle Ages consisted of lumps of spiced sugar, or hypocras, a wine flavoured with fragrant spices, along with aged cheese . A meal would ideally begin with easily digestible fruit, such as apples . It would then be followed by vegetables such as lettuce, cabbage, purslane, herbs, moist fruits, light meats, such as chicken or goat kid, with potages and broths . After that came the "heavy" meats, such as pork and beef, as well as vegetables and nuts, including pears and chestnuts, both considered difficult to digest . It was popular, and recommended by medical expertise, to finish the meal with aged cheese and various digestives . </P> <P> The most ideal food was that which most closely matched the humour of human beings, i.e. moderately warm and moist . Food should preferably also be finely chopped, ground, pounded and strained to achieve a true mixture of all the ingredients . White wine was believed to be cooler than red and the same distinction was applied to red and white vinegar . Milk was moderately warm and moist, but the milk of different animals was often believed to differ . Egg yolks were considered to be warm and moist while the whites were cold and moist . Skilled cooks were expected to conform to the regimen of humoral medicine . Even if this limited the combinations of food they could prepare, there was still ample room for artistic variation by the chef . </P> <P> The caloric content and structure of medieval diet varied over time, from region to region, and between classes . However, for most people, the diet tended to be high - carbohydrate, with most of the budget spent on, and the majority of calories provided by, cereals and alcohol (such as beer). Even though meat was highly valued by all, lower classes often could not afford it, nor were they allowed by the church to consume it every day . In England in the 13th century, meat contributed a negligible portion of calories to a typical harvest worker's diet; however, its share increased after the Black Death and, by the 15th century, it provided about 20% of the total . Even among the lay nobility of medieval England, grain provided 65--70% of calories in the early 14th century, though a generous provision of meat and fish was included, and their consumption of meat increased in the aftermath of the Black Death as well . In one early 15th - century English aristocratic household for which detailed records are available (that of the Earl of Warwick), gentle members of the household received a staggering 3.8 pounds (1.7 kg) of assorted meats in a typical meat meal in the autumn and 2.4 pounds (1.1 kg) in the winter, in addition to 0.9 pounds (0.41 kg) of bread and ⁄ imperial gallon (1.1 L; 0.30 US gal) of beer or possibly wine (and there would have been two meat meals per day, five days a week, except during Lent). In the household of Henry Stafford in 1469, gentle members received 2.1 pounds (0.95 kg) of meat per meal, and all others received 1.04 pounds (0.47 kg), and everyone was given 0.4 pounds (0.18 kg) of bread and ⁄ imperial gallon (1.1 L; 0.30 US gal) of alcohol . On top of these quantities, some members of these households (usually, a minority) ate breakfast, which would not include any meat, but would probably include another ⁄ imperial gallon (1.1 L; 0.30 US gal) of beer; and uncertain quantities of bread and ale could have been consumed in between meals . The diet of the lord of the household differed somewhat from this structure, including less red meat, more high - quality wild game, fresh fish, fruit, and wine . </P> <P> In monasteries, the basic structure of the diet was laid down by the Rule of Saint Benedict in the 7th century and tightened by Pope Benedict XII in 1336, but (as mentioned above) monks were adept at "working around" these rules . Wine was restricted to about 10 imperial fluid ounces (280 mL; 9.6 US fl oz) per day, but there was no corresponding limit on beer, and, at Westminster Abbey, each monk was given an allowance of 1 imperial gallon (4.5 L; 1.2 US gal) of beer per day . Meat of "four - footed animals" was prohibited altogether, year - round, for everyone but the very weak and the sick . This was circumvented in part by declaring that offal, and various processed foods such as bacon, were not meat . Secondly, Benedictine monasteries contained a room called the misericord, where the Rule of Saint Benedict did not apply, and where a large number of monks ate . Each monk would be regularly sent either to the misericord or to the refectory . When Pope Benedict XII ruled that at least half of all monks should be required to eat in the refectory on any given day, monks responded by excluding the sick and those invited to the abbot's table from the reckoning . Overall, a monk at Westminster Abbey in the late 15th century would have been allowed 2.25 pounds (1.02 kg) of bread per day; 5 eggs per day, except on Fridays and in Lent; 2 pounds (0.91 kg) of meat per day, 4 days / week (excluding Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday), except in Advent and Lent; and 2 pounds (0.91 kg) of fish per day, 3 days / week and every day during Advent and Lent . This caloric structure partly reflected the high - class status of late Medieval monasteries in England, and partly that of Westminster Abbey, which was one of the richest monasteries in the country; diets of monks in other monasteries may have been more modest . </P>

What did queens eat in the middle ages