What would the iron age people in Britain eat?

Answer 1

What people ate in the Iron age would depend to some extent on where in the world they were. Generally speaking though by this time people were farmers who would have lived off domesticated plants and livestock much the same as we do today. They would also have supplemented this with wild resources, such as hazelnuts and seasonal wild fruit, and wild animals such as game species and fish.

Answer 2

As iron began to be used more and more for tilling the soil, crops were more and more abundant. This meant that the quality of life went up. The kind of person that ate nothing but bread and beer in the Bronze Age could now eat more kinds of food in the Iron Age, because he could afford it.

The cuisine varied from region to region, but here's a good list for people living in the Mediterranean region:

Meat:

Mutton

Lamb

Goat

Beef

Pork

Duck

Goose

Chicken (late Iron Age)

Fish

Manatee/Dolphin

Various game animals

Various insects (such as locusts)

Produce:

Leeks

Onions/shallots

Scallions (green onions)

Melons

Apples

Pomegranates

Grapes and Raisins

Olives

Grains:

Bread (of course!)

Roasted and cracked grains

* Wheat (durum)

* Barley

* Spelt

* Flax

Spices/condiments:

Cumin

Salt

Parsley

Mint

Mustard

Sesame

Olive Oil

Butter

Sweets:

Sesame cakes with honey

Raisin cakes with honey

Honeycomb

Beverages:

Wine (barely alcoholic)

Mixed wine (more alcoholic)

Mustum (wine mixed with wild mustard, used by Roman soldiers as an energy drink)

Barley Beer

Honey Beer

Milk

Water

Once again, each region might have more or less than these. The Romans, for instance, had a wide variety of exotic dishes, such as those made of pigeon dung.

The poor continued to eat simply bread and beer (especially in Egypt). However, sometimes they were able to add milk to their diet, and some produce such as leeks and melons. The rich continued to have vastly more food than the poor, but now there was a far wider selection, due to the advancement in prosperity.