Viking Food Facts: What Did They Eat, How Did They Prepare It, And More

Many students of history often wonder; who were Vikings?

The Vikings were people from Scandinavia. They were a combination of Scandinavian, Sami, and southern  European as well.

Other questions that people often think of are related to what some of the basic Viking foods were.  Do you know how the Vikings cooked their food? The Vikings cooked their food mostly by boiling.

The Viking people ate a lot of stuff including leftover stew. The Viking diet consisted of many nutritious food items and the Viking people included meat and freshwater fish in their diet. The Viking diet consisted of meat such as beef and mutton, as well as goats. The Vikings also used to grow a number of crops.

Do you know about the sweetener used by the Vikings? Only honey was known to the Viking people. The Vikings ate honey as a sweet treat after their night meal. The Vikings used to drink a number of drinks including ale, strong beer and mead, as well as buttermilk.

The Vikings ate a range of fresh food. The Vikings also used to eat homemade rye bread, cooked vegetables, and cooked meats. They used to drink ale during their feasts and beer at festive occasions.

The diet of the Vikings included rich stews as well. The Viking people used to raise animals for the consumption of cooked meat. Skause, which is a form of stew, was another favorite food that was eaten with bread baked with all sorts of grains, beans, and even tree bark.

While having their two meals, Vikings preferred an alcoholic drink as part of their Viking diet. Some of the most favored Viking foods were dairy products, pigs, wild boar, sloe berries, and fruit. After reading about the diet of Vikings during the summer months and winter months, also check Viking battles facts and Viking runes facts.

The Most Common Viking Foods

Do you want to know about the most common Viking foods and did you know the Vikings used to grow crops? Read on to find out more.

A number of foods were eaten by the Vikings. Some of the common foods of Vikings include beef, and animals such as goat, mutton, fish, pigs, lamb and chicken. These foods were consumed as night meals as well.

The Vikings ate eggs as well and eggs were also included in the Viking warriors' diet. The eggs that were eaten were both chicken and duck. Vikings also ate the eggs of wild seabirds.

The Vikings' diet consisted of meat stew and the Vikings loved eating meat. The Viking people also used to grow crops so they could eat fresh food.

The meat of a cooked pig is known as pork and this was one of the most important meals of the Vikings. These meals were very important and were full of nutritional enrichment. Brown cheese was also a basic Viking food.

Boiled meat stew is one of the dishes that was eaten by the Vikings during the Viking Age. During the Viking Age boiled meat stew was one of the most popular foods.

The eggs of the wild seabirds also served as the basis of their meals whether it be the night meal or breakfast.

Vegetables Of The Viking Age

What were some of the vegetables eaten during the Viking Age? Did the Viking diet consist of wild vegetables and if so, what wild vegetables were eaten by Vikings? Well, let us tell you!

A number of Vikings were farmers and they used to grow a variety of vegetables such as cabbages, beans, peas, wild apple, and berries, as well as foraging for wild berries. They also used to eat vegetables which included wild garlic, onion, leeks, peas, and beans.

The Vikings ate a number of spices as well such as coriander, cumin, and mustard.

Do you know what vegetables the Vikings did not have? The Vikings did not know about potatoes, tomatoes, or sweet corn.

Cooked meat and vegetables were some of the fundamental Viking foods. They also used to eat a number of foods such as meat, fish, and cereals. Wild plants were also used in the meals of the Vikings.

Fruits And Nuts

What are some of the fruits and nuts that were eaten as foods by the Vikings? Do you know that a lot of wild fruit grew during the Viking Age as well? Let's look at this in more detail.

A number of dried fruits were consumed by the Vikings. Do you know which types of dried fruit were eaten by Vikings as foods?

The Vikings used to eat many fruits and nuts including raspberries, bilberries, plums, and wild apples as well as hazelnuts.

However, the Vikings used to eat a very simple diet and used to enjoy Viking feasts. Viking feasts were also known as seasonal feasts like Winter Nights as well as Jul (Yule).

Hazelnuts were found in Scandinavia and at the time, it was only nut found in the wild.

The Labor Of Food

If we talk about the labor of food of the Vikings, they loved to eat and we have sufficient evidence that shows what the Viking people ate but how was food prepared during the Viking period?

A typical Viking meal consisted of soup, porridge, bread, and stews, as well as various kinds of soups.

A number of fatty foods were included in the Viking diet. They used beef, and other meat including fish, as well as porridge. A number of fruits and vegetables were also eaten by the Viking people.

Vikings usually prepared their food by boiling it. The meat they ate was prepared in a fire pit that was made up of wood.

Food On Sea Voyages

A number of food items were eaten by the Vikings as part of their diet but do you know what food was eaten by the Vikings when on sea voyages?

When Vikings went on long ship journeys they used to eat beef, and other meats, such as chickens, lambs, and goats.

The Vikings also used to eat foods like salted meat and fish. They sometimes also used to eat dried meat as well as fish.

The Vikings ate a variety of seafood? The reason for this is that the Vikings usually lived around or near the sea and so seafood including, freshwater fishes was often readily available to them.

Viking Meals And Feasts

What do you know about Viking meals and feasts? What were some of the Viking meals and feasts? Let us tell you.

Among the meals of the Vikings, meat held a very important place. The Viking's meal basically consisted of boiled meat and mutton, as well as beef.

The Viking people also fed on eggs. They used to eat eggs not only from the hen but also from ducks.

During a feast, the Vikings used to eat a lot of food just like fowl, meat, and wild greens. Wild greens were a basic food of the Vikings. They used to drink buttermilk as well as alcohol including beer.

Mead is one of the well-known items consumed by the Vikings. Mead is an alcohol that is made from fermenting honey and it was drunk during the feasts the Vikings held.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Viking food facts then why not take a look at Viking religion facts, or Viking houses facts?