A recent benefit for a New York theatre company featured "updated versions of Elizabethan recipes" — in other words, the kind of thing Shakespeare might have eaten. Here's an excerpt from the resulting New York Times article: Shakespearean Diet: Pasta, No Coffee.
"As early as the 1500's in England they had tortellini recipes," said Francine Segan, the author of "Shakespeare's Kitchen: Renaissance Recipes for the Contemporary Cook" (Random House, 2003) and the culinary adviser for the evening.
Hard to believe, but tortellini is there in "The Accomplisht Cook," written in 1660 by the English chef Robert May. He was the Emeril Lagasse of his time, gaining notoriety while working in several noble households and famous for such stunts as baking a deer-shaped loaf of bread that bled wine when pricked. He wrote the first edition of his cookbook at 70, recording over a thousand recipes from his career, including those for liver pâté, stuffed lobster and even saffron chicken baked in a bread bowl. The recipe for tortelleti, as he calls it, advises the reader to take "pease green or dry," boil them and add fried onions, sugar and spices; then, spreading this mixture on dough to "make little pasties," boil them and serve them in a "fine clean dish."
"They didn't top it with sauce," Ms. Segan explained. "Since pasta and tortellini were so expensive and special, they would top it only with nutmeg, Parmesan and sugar."
It is impossible to say exactly what Shakespeare ate, but one can make educated guesses. Excavations around the site of the old Globe have uncovered mounds of oyster shells, Ms. Segan said. Oysters were served both at taverns as a pretheater snack and inside the theater itself, the Elizabethan equivalent of ballpark franks. Shakespeare's frequent mention of them ("love may transform me to an oyster," says Benedict in "Much Ado About Nothing") makes it all but certain that he slurped on oysters or ate oyster pie during long days at the theater. [continue]
(Update: the New York Times has moved the article to their archives, and now they're charging for access. Phooey.)
Francine Segan's website includes two recipes from Shakespeare's Kitchen: Salmon with Violets and "Pears" in Broth.
Related:
Shakespeare's Kitchen - francinesegan.com
The book:
Shakespeare's Kitchen: Renaissance Recipes for the Contemporary Cook - amazon.ca