At our literature club we study the classics. Part of the enjoyment for us is the meal. When everyone arrives we gather in the living room to discuss the book and enjoy the projects the kids prepared.
Afterwards, we feast!
Here are some links to help you put Beowulf in context and ideas about what kind of food to prepare for a meal that celebrates Beowulf.
Contextual Background and Menu Ideas for Beowulf
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/history/handsonhistory/HOH_Feasting_activities.pdf
http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/kids/food_drink.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/C005446/
http://recipewise.co.uk/food-in-the-anglo-saxon-period
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/food_01.shtml
http://library.thinkquest.org/C005446/Food/English/viking.html
Normans http://cookit.e2bn.org/historycookbook/27-315-normans-medieval-Food-facts.html
http://www.chiddingstone.kent.sch.uk/homework/saxons/food.htm
Recipes
Anglo-Saxon http://www.tjurslakter.nl/viking%20recepten.pdf
Viking http://library.thinkquest.org/C005446/Food/English/viking.html
Normans http://cookit.e2bn.org/historycookbook/index-27-normans-medieval.html
Saxon & Vikings http://cookit.e2bn.org/historycookbook/27-315-normans-medieval-Food-facts.html
I love stuff like this — I know how to make some traditional Icelandic foods, though given that island’s colonization period I doubt any of them go back this far. It’ll take me a while to get though these links, but now that autumn is coming, it’s a good time of year to look at recipes for the harvest.
I find the autumn to be a good time to research too. I’m so happy you like the links. I read your article on the suspense in The Two Towers. Thanks for that.
By the way, have you ever read Steven Brust’s Jhereg series? There’s one fantasy author who pays attention to the food of his world — always adds something to the story.
No I haven’t read that series but I have thought of making one of my characters have a strong interest in the culinary arts.
Ali, have you seen this site? It is a timeline of when certain foods came onto the scene. http://www.foodtimeline.org/
I am going to show my children for sure – I know my young foodie club will find it interesting!
I love that site. here is another one you might like, http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/, and another called A Taste of History, http://library.thinkquest.org/C005446/.