Agricultural History Review, Volume 63 Part 1 (2015), pp. 1–18

This article explores the peasant experience of eating and drinking through the descriptions in manorial custumals of the meals provided at boon works. It seeks to show that the peasant recipients were well able to discriminate between good quality and bad in the food and drink they were given. Further, they valued an element of orderliness in the way the meals were served and consumed, that is, they had a sense of ‘dining’. They wished, in the provision of these meals, to be treated with respect – though some expected more respect than others: they were well aware that food and the way it was served could be indicators of status within the household and the peasant community, and in relationships with their manorial lords. They were ready, consequently, to bargain and negotiate with these lords in an attempt to get what they wanted and felt they deserved. 

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