How The Normans Still Have A Huge Influence In What We Eat?

The last of the Normans rule was in 1154 so how and why do they still have a direct influence over what we eat almost 900 years later?

Have you ever wondered why the meat you eat usually has a different name than that of the animal it comes from?

The interesting reason behind this is all down to the Normans conquering England almost a thousand years ago. As the Normans were the ruling classes and their Noblemen were used to eating certain dishes they brought over professional cooks to run the kitchens, however most of the people who worked the land and tended the livestock were still Saxon.

So whilst a Pig was slaughtered on the farm, it was some Porc that was prepared and cooked in the Kitchen. This is the same for Cattle/Beouf & Sheep/Mouton.

It was not quite the same for Deer/Venison as Venison was actually a generic word for any hunted animal (from the Latin Venor meaning to hunt) but since it was deer that was most often hunted (since the other animals were domesticated and kept on farms) it kind of stuck.

I know some of you will be thinking about Chicken and Fish right about now as they obviously disprove this theory.

Well Chicken is Poulet which ended up being used for all Poultry and Poisson was far too close to the word poison for us to use.

Over the years, when the English learned the French ways of cooking the names of the ingredients eventually morphed into the names we know and use now - Pork, Beef & Mutton.

So there you go, that is how William the Conqueror still has an impact on our everyday lives nearly a thousand years after he was crowned King of England.

Photo used with kind permission of Scott Carruthers originally in this post.

Read more in The Norman Conquest: England After William the Conqueror available for free on Amazon Audible