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Friday, May 13, 2022

Question from Barbara - Nobles cooking their own meals

Message Hello everyone, I just had a very odd thought, that I want to drop by. I doubt its even been asked before. Here goes; Would a rich English nobleman back in this time be allowed to cook his own meals if he wanted to and not have a servant to do it for him? It wouldve allowed him some independence I would think, because if he was hungry he wouldnt have to wait on a personal cook to get it for him! Lol!

1 comment:

  1. Why would a nobleman *not* be allowed to cook his own meals if he wanted to do so? I cannot imagine anyone saying to the head of the household, "No, you cannot do that." But more importantly, how would any noble MAN have the slightest clue of what to do in a Tudor kitchen? The kitchen was an alien space to noble *men*. And the tightly constructed social and gender role expectations of the day would have mitigated against a man of wealth and status "stooping down" to do the work of a "mere" cook when he can demonstrate that wealth and status by having someone else do it for him. I think it would have been exceedingly rare for a such a man to express any interest whatsoever in "doing for himself" in a hot Tudor kitchen.

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