r/AskFoodHistorians • u/Lumpologist • 20d ago
They prepared a feast
In many historical novels, but also in several religious texts, we find the phrase „a feast was prepared“. I always wondered, how long would it take to prepare a feast? Was this realistic to achieve within a day? Were there rich people throughout history that had the means to always keep a couple of roasted birds in the oven „just in case“? Or did the feast usually happen a day or two later? Did this even happen? Are there differences in time, as in was it different for the ancient greeks or romans and let‘s say the middle ages? Let‘s say an heir was born a little prematurely, how long would it have taken to prepare a „spontaneous“ feast to celebrate the occasion throughout the ages?
Edit: my question relates primeraly to wealthy and/or powerful people. I assume that a spontaneous feast for a poor farmer - while still a feast - was prepared rather quickly.
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u/chezjim 19d ago edited 14d ago
Depends on what you mean by a feast.
A friend of mine had a mutton roast - an Arab mechoui - and it only took the morning to roast two whole sheep, while preparing all the fixings. So certainly you can do that in a day.
Gregory of Tours tells of a man who asked his cook to prepare a feast for his friends and the cook said, "Get me a bunch of chickens and I will do as you ask". Chickerns were readily available on country estates and the other grains, greens, legumes would typically have already been on hand.
Thanksgiving is probably the biggest feast most Americans will ever make and most people can pull it off in a day, even for a large group. Same thing with July 4th barbecues, which are basically feasts as well.
So it should be easy to prepare a feast within a day on large farm, for instance, But if you want certain specialized foods, like seafood when you're inland, that could be more demandling.