The cellar and the kitchen

This is the heart of the castle! This is where bread was baked and meals prepared. It was also the heating source for the hypocaust. It may also have been where the castle folk ate their meals. Imagine a room illuminated by a crackling fire, with produce, kitchenware and utensils stacked on shelves and hanging from the ceiling.

People in the Middle Ages were aware that the right diet promoted health, an important consideration in an age without modern healthcare. Humoral pathology was a popular theory that held that a balanced diet kept the bodies four vital fluids – blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile – in balance. Produce was divided into either cooling or warming, dry or moist, just like the four bodily fluids. This resulted in some exciting taste combinations in which all ingredients were required to balance one another, such as fish pie with raisins, figs, apples and pears.

Click on the model to explore the cellar and kitchen!

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