Venison
There were three types of deer common in medieval Europe: roe, fallow, and red. All three were popular quarry for aristocrats on the hunt, and the meat of all three was enjoyed by the nobility and their guests on many an occasion. The male deer (stag or hart) was considered superior for meat. Venison was a popular item at banquets, and in order to be sure of having the meat when it was wanted, deer were sometimes kept in enclosed tracts of land ("deer parks").
Since the hunting of deer (and other animals) in the forests was usually reserved for the nobility, it was highly unusual for the merchant, working, and peasant classes to partake of venison. Travelers and laborers who had reason to stay at or live in a castle or manor house might enjoy it as part of the bounty the lord and lady shared with their guests at mealtime. Sometimes cookshops were able to procure venison for their customers, but the product was much too expensive for all but the wealthiest merchants and nobility to purchase. Usually, the only way a peasant could taste venison was to poach it.
Wild Boar
The consumption of boar goes back thousands of years. Wild boar was highly prized in the Classical world, and in the Middle Ages it was a favored quarry of the hunt. Virtually all parts of the boar were eaten, including its liver, stomach and even its blood, and it was considered so tasty that it was the aim of some recipes to make the meat and innards of other animals taste like that of boar. A boar's head was often the crowning meal of a Christmas feast.
A Note on Horse Meat
The meat of horses has been consumed ever since the animal was first domesticated five thousand years ago, but in medieval Europe, horse was only eaten under the most dire circumstances of famine or siege. Horse meat is prohibited in the diets of Jews, Muslims, and most Hindus, and is the only food ever to be forbidden by Canon Law, which led to its being banned in most of Europe. Only in the 19th century was the restriction against horse meat lifted in any European countries. Horse meat does not appear in any surviving medieval cookbooks.
Sources and Suggested Reading
Food in Medieval Times
by Melitta Weiss Adamson
Food and Eating in Medieval Europe
edited by Martha Carlin and Joel T. Rosenthal
Food in Medieval England: Diet and Nutrition
edited by by C.M. Woolgar, D. Serjeantson and T. Waldron
The Cambridge economic history of Europe, Volume 5
edited by E.E. Rich and C.H. Wilson
Food in the Middle Ages: A Book of Essays
by Melitta Weiss Adamson
