Aim:
To give children an insight into food and drink in Tudor times.

Objective:
To prompt children to consider their present day diets and compare them with those in Tudor times.

Resources:
Selection of present day foods and drinks, selection of replica Tudor food, variety of spices, ingredients for a Tudor recipe, oven, aprons, cooking equipment.

Method:
iscuss present day diets with the children and show some food and drink items often consumed (e.g. bread, meat, fish, dairy products, vegetables, crisps, sweets, frozen and tinned foods, water, fruit juice, fizzy drinks, beer and wine.)

Consider how similar or dissimilar Tudor diets were from those enjoyed these days and why this was so. Include seasonal variations in diet and differences in the menu of rich and poor people. Mention some famous Tudor explorers (e.g. Sir Walter Raleigh, John Cabot) and how they brought some unheard of foods to England, when returning from their journeys. Discuss reactions Tudor people might have had to these new foods, by comparing present-day people's attitude to exotic fruit and vegetables, (e.g. okra, sweet potato, yam, lychee).

Allow children to have the opportunity of following a Tudor recipe to create jumble biscuits or pottage - let children be involved in as many stages of the making process as possible; invite comparisons between Tudor and present day cooking techniques.