Guest post: You are what you ate

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The project team: Top row from left to right: Iona McCleery, Vicky Shearman, Jo Buckberry, Joanna Phillips Bottom row from left to right: Caroline Yeldham, Maya Harrison, Maria Cannon

Iona McCleery, one of the organisers of You Are What You Ate, talks us through the project, which recreates 15th Century dishes to bring a historical perspective to modern diets and eating habits.

Around half way through the morning we realised we were really enjoying ourselves. There was a cloudless blue sky, enthusiastic members of the public milling around, and a glorious aroma of cooking; the first event of You Are What You Ate was proving to be a great success!

You Are What You Ate brings together food scientists, nutritionists, historians and bioarchaeologists from the Universities of Leeds and Bradford and Wakefield Council to explore modern nutrition through medieval eating habits and diets.

After months of planning it was 24 July 2010 and we were at a medieval fair at Pontefract Castle launching our Wellcome Trust-funded project to the public.

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You Are What You Ate at Pontefract Castle

Half of our stall was a re-created 15^th century field kitchen where Caroline Yeldham cooked pigeons in orange sauce, black porray (kale and bacon), green sauce (great with fish!) and pommemoil (apple dessert).

Members of the public were able to sample the dishes and learn about their nutritional value from the chemical analyses we had done earlier.

The rest of the stall displayed baskets of food grown in medieval England (leek, parsnip, blackberries, cherries, cabbage, plums, apples, hazelnuts, broad beans, onion, fennel); expensive imported foods (almonds, ginger, sugar, oranges, lemons, figs, dates); and foodstuffs introduced from America and Asia in the 16^th–18^th centuries (potatoes, tomatoes, chocolate, sweetcorn, vanilla, coffee, tea, chilli).

Children touched and smelled these sometimes unfamiliar food stuffs: many kept coming back to ask more questions and taste more dishes! Altogether several hundred people engaged with us and over fifty filled out food questionnaires, providing food for thought for future discussion groups that will allow us properly to evaluate our project over a longer term.

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Sample foods from You Are What You Ate at Pontefract Castle

The event was just the start for us. Over the next three years we will be running osteology workshops, schools projects, adult and youth activities, exhibitions and festival stalls in Yorkshire.

Through cooking recipes, exploring changing eating customs, learning about food chemistry and nutritional disease, and understanding how diet interacts with other aspects of lifestyle, this project encourages members of the public to reflect on their own eating habits and gain a better understanding of research into human health in both past and present times.

For more information please contact us at Youarewhatyouate@wakefield.gov.uk.

Iona McCleery

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