Viking Food (by Mick Bensted)

The Viking diet was based on fish, dairy produce, and wild and domesticated animals. Vegetables were grown, including onions, peas and cabbages. Cherries, plums, sloes and other wild fruits were gathered.

Production of bread was a daily task, as it became inedible if not consumed the same day, and could then only be used to thicken stews. The women had to grind grain into flour with a hand quern made of stone, which often crumbled into the flour, doing no favours to their teeth. Dried peas and pine bark were also used to make bread, but these were a poor man's substitute for grain.

Domestic animals such as sheep, cows, pigs and horses were bred for a variety of uses. As well as being meat they provided hides, wool, and dairy products, and were used for riding and pulling farm implements. In addition, many others like elk, deer, wild boar and bear were hunted. Meat was sometimes eaten raw, but was usually cooked in a cauldron hung over the fire or roasted on a spit. Another method was to place the meat in a hole in the ground, surrounded with hot stones and covered with earth. Fish played a large part in feeding the growing Viking population, and in the north reindeer, whales and seals were hunted.

Milk was drunk and also used to make butter and cheese, with the separated whey being used in pickling. Liquid dairy products were stored in vats and their contents ladled out when needed. Cheese and butter were made from unskimmed milk. Sometimes the butter was heavily salted so that it could be stored for a long time. Meat and fish were preserved for winter and as provisions for the boats by salting and pickling. Some would be wind-dried or hung indoors, and it can be assumed that fish-drying sheds, documented in the 13th century, existed earlier.

Certain foods were traded, both locally and over long distances. A find of rye possibly came from Russia, and the walnut found at Oseberg must have come from farther south. In fact, the royal lady buried at Oseberg was extrememly well provided for, with oxen, wheat, hazelnuts, cummin, mustard and horseradish. She also had an entire kitchen, and an old servant to do the dirty work.

Although no Viking recipe books exist, the sagas and archaeological evidence tell us what they ate, and it is clear that wealth dictated the quality and variety of food. For many, life was a constant battle against starvation.

See also the following books:

A History of the Vikings (Gwyn Jones)

The Viking Achievement (PG Foote and DM Wilson)

The Viking World (James Graham-Campbell)

A Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food (Ann Hagen).