Research On Diet Consumption In Late Medieval England

Diet consumption is the material base on which human beings rely for subsistence and one of the driving forces for social development.In the late middle ages,with the development of productivity,the decline of population,the increasing relaxation of social hierarchy regime,the appearance and development of specialized market,and the change of climate,diet consumption of all social classes in Britain changed a lot.It has gradually shifted from subsistence consumption to fashion consumption,and increasingly reflects the characteristics of periodicity,recreation and fashion complication,hierarchy and regionalization.The changes of late medieval British diet consumption had a major and far-reaching influence,on British daily life and the development of society.It mainly shows the following four aspects: promoting the development of business specialization,and the expansion of consumption at all levels of society,partially changing the economic and geographical structure of Britain,and promoting the development of British diet culture.The thesis is divided into four chapters.Chapter One briefly introduces the diet consumption of English town and rural dwellers in the late medieval Britain from four aspects:staple food,non-staple food,drink and condiment;Chapter Two analyzes the main features of the British diet consumption in late medieval through the exposition of the change from the subsistence consumption to the fashion consumption;Chapter Three analyzes and discusses the reasons for the change of British diet consumption in the late middle ages;Chapter Four elaborated the important and profound influence of the late medieval English diet consumption on the British society.The concluding remark is the summary and sublimation of this paper.First of all,it summarizes the reasons for the change of British diet consumption in the late middle ages,and the changes and characteristics of diet consumption in this period.Secondly,it analyzes and summarizes the profound influence brought by the change of British diet consumption in the late middle ages,and then draws a new conclusion that the British "consumer society" was formed in the early modern period,rather than in the late middle ages.