The bread in the middle ages

During the Middle Ages notable progresses were not produced in the panification. Besides the culture of wheat and of rye, it was continued by that of barley. In Europe, the culture of cereals descended, and with it the periods of hunger came, the shortage of the food bases, the shortage of the bread. In the epochs of more hunger, the bread is the most valued food. This way it appears in the literature of the epoch, for example in the Lazarillo de Tormes.


In many Europa's places the monasteries turned into the principal producers of bread. The white bread, in this epoch it continued being a sign of social prestige, only accessibly for rich and wealthy classes. In the year 943, in France, " the evil of the ardent ones " arises for the consumption of the bread of rye contaminated by the ergot, mushroom parasite that poisons the spike of this cereal.



The cities in the Middle Ages start receiving importance, and already in the 12th century there arise the first craft guilds of all kinds of professionals. This way, the union baker associates and they are constituted as professionals of the bread. To the being the bread I feed base of the population, in this epoch, as in Rome, the production and distribution this of the bread regulated by the government. Beside being a food base, the bread also was in use - in environments of wealthy classes - as plate for placing the food, and once used it was thrown to the poor.