February 29, 2020 • 41 mins
Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament, a medieval-themed dinner theater chain, has been hosting feasts and tournaments since the 1980s. Anney and Lauren dig into how it works – and how medieval it really is.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hello, and welcome to Savor protection of iHeart Radio and
STEPH Media. I'm Annie and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum. And today
we're talking about medieval times, not not like the actual times,
which were medieval like medieval times, dinner and tournament, yes,
entertainment and food concept. Indeed, indeed, and this one has
(00:29):
been on our list for an embarrassingly long We've been
trying to go for years, no joke, years. Yeah, you know,
it's difficult to drive up to Sugarloaf Parkway, to be
super honest, Lanta Castle. It's really really funny. I can't
wait to talk about my experiences there because I have been,
I have been, I have not so I well, I've
(00:52):
got a lot of memories, fond and not so fund
oh uh. And there was that recent s Nel sketch yes, yes,
which I say mandatory watching material for this episode brought
it back to the forefront of our minds. But it
was when yeah, Adam Driver was playing this kind of
(01:13):
in this actor who worked at the medieval times and
took his role perhaps a little too seriously, yes, as
we all do sometimes. Yeah, yeah, And it resulted and
as you might imagine, larity, Yeah, hijinks, Yes, hijinks. Yes,
my favor line is Cameron Adam Driver. He says, the
(01:37):
manager Steve Pach does you one hundred and ten dollars
for chicken and potato and does not even give you
the dignity of a fog. And then Keenan is in
the audience says, yeah, I do want a fork. No,
grown mancho have to eat a pick potato with his hands.
It's really good and it's you know, it's true. It
(01:58):
is true. We were discussing that before we start. There
is sort of a novelty at first of eating things
with your hands in public, which, by the way, yeah
there's no utensils at these restaurants. Um, but it wears
off pretty quick. So yeah, I've been twice once. It
was my super hard one first trip to Disney World
Universal via high school marching band. But I was aid,
(02:22):
oh okay, and so I was in seventh grade, Oh wow, yeah,
and you signed up to be in this club specifically
for the Disney trip. Only reason I did it because
my parents swore they would never take me, and so
I was like, well, Fama, and I did, and that
was the last year they did it. So I'm glad
I did sign up to be a bandage. Um, so yeah,
we went to the one and kissed Me Florida and
(02:44):
it was sort of a group. I mean, the whole
class went there. And I didn't know this was a thing.
So I roll up and there's this castle and I've
been told there's dinner here, and I'm very confused. But
it was quite fun. Um and my night, because there
is it's divided into six, six color coded sections, I believe,
(03:04):
and my night was the trader at the time. One
night was always the trader was always the trader. So
you're like, she I bought props by the way everybody,
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, she Annie has her banner with
her in her little paper crown. Yes, so you're like
cheering for your night, like yeah, go night. And then
he was a trader, and you you feel kind of like, well,
I guess I don't cheer anymore, Like do I want
him to kill the gig? You switched just turned on
(03:28):
a dime and be like, oh, yes, we have been
betrayed ourselves. You're right, You're right. I should have. And
then I went a few years back to the one
in Atlanta, which opened in two thousands six. It's kind
of outside of Atlanta, but Atlanta area. Um for my birthday,
which was not a sad thing, it's a happy thing.
(03:48):
I wanted to go. They have a birthday coupon uh
and it's pretty legit. And my night was a trader again.
I am ghost. I am I'm beginning to think that
this is on you. Oh my gosh, you think. I'm
pretty sure they don't do that anymore. But there's one
like bad Guy Night still in the storyline, is there.
I thought they got They got so many complaints about
(04:10):
like what took my kid and then getting this one
section and may or the trainer. Um. But yeah, I
didn't realize the first time I went there. I think
the biggest mistake I made was I didn't realize you
were either supposed to wait, have patience, or use your
bread to stop up the soup. So I picked up
the metal bowl and went in to sip it, and
(04:33):
it was hot the heck out of my hand. Yeah,
it's no joke. It was sad, not so sad one though,
I did want to read the birthday email I got
from medieval times, which I'm sad. There was a whole
chain with Lauren and Dylan and I, um, I think
(04:54):
where we were. We were riffing on this and I
can't find it. It was very funny, it was very
full of his ours. Yes, um, Most Noble Annie, we
take a great pleasure in wishing you a happiest of birthdays.
We would like to extend this royal invitation to return
to your nearest castle and celebrate with those that you
(05:17):
hold in the highest regard. Together, we will feast, we
will revel in your recent glory, and we will raise
our glass. Too many prosperous crusades to come with grace
and honor the noble families of medieval times. I mean,
that's that's high quality stuff. You're gonna tell me you
(05:39):
wouldn't take up that offer. They called you most Noble Annie,
I know from like, are we all supposed to call
you that all the time? It technically I don't correct you,
but okay, true, okay, most Noble Annie, thank you, thank you,
But okay, for people who have not through our question.
(06:02):
Medieval Times, what is it? Well? Medieval Times Dinner and
Tournament is a sort of dinner theater experience with a
vaguely Medieval Europe theme. UM. The theater portion is a
story played by actors about a medieval Ish era royalty
hosting a tournament. Um, and you are their guests, and
(06:25):
these days are I guess since the beginning, Um, it's
been the stories set in eleventh century Spain. Although it's
in English, they're using English accents or English Ish anyway anyway. Um,
and yeah, there are six nights competing in choreographed sword
fights and hand to hand combat and games of skill,
and there's a joust on horseback. Apparently falconry is a thing.
(06:50):
Do you want to tell us a little bit more
about your experience? What's up too? Okay, So so you
walk into the castle. Yes, So most of these castles
are located in malls, so you're exactly so the one
in Atlanta, for instance, it's a mall and then there's
a draw bridge in the parking lot into a castle. Um. Yeah,
(07:16):
and you walk in and it's kind of right away.
You're in the gift shop in the souvenir area, and
then you get see and it's just huge stadium seating
all around, and you go through this this dinner and
as as the courses come out, Um, it starts with
the king, but now it's the queen. But but the
(07:37):
times I've been it was a king would do I
love this and he would have announced, like to the
honorable watching band from Lumpkin County. We well, like he
calls out all the birthdays. Um, but like Brian Bachelor
and stuff go there. Yeah, so it's really funny to
(07:58):
hear this sort of modern stuff, which they also have
a campaign now about cyber blowing. Interesting here that come
from the king's mouth. And then there's sort of a story.
It's a very vague storyline of like honor and there's
somebody who's doing something wrong as far as the falcon goes. Um,
(08:21):
so he comes out the falcon or and he just
he releases the falcon. I think there might be a
message involved. I don't recall, but it just flies and
circles around the stadium and it gets close like it
knocked my friends hat a little crowd right off his head.
(08:42):
And see again. The first time I went, I was
a seventh grader who had no idea this was a thing.
I didn't know what was happening. There's a falcon. Now
the horses do like this kind of dancing thing. Um, yeah,
a little little horse horse tricks. Yeah, they deal horse chicks.
And then the all the nights getting fights and you
(09:04):
cheer for your section, and then one's a trader and
you're like, well, and all the servers are dressed, uh
and in like vague like peasant uniforms. There's heavy scare
quotes involved in that, right, and they're called surfs and winches. Um.
(09:24):
We'll talk more about this hyperbulling thing actually in a minute,
but huh, it's interesting. I don't know how much longer
that they will be called that as part of their
new campaign. Yeah, I feel like that's a silly thing
to do, Like you're like updating to like include more
women in the cast. It's like the reigning queen with
power and stuff. And then you're like, oh, yes, serving Wench,
bring me another PEPSI. I'm like, well, right, that's strange.
(09:48):
It is pretty strange. Okay, alright, so um so so
the so the dinner that we're talking about here, it's
a four course banquet. Um, and that four courses. I'm
still not sure how this is for, but I'll take
their word for it. Um. It's a garlic bread and
a tomato biscu um. Half a roast chicken, half a
corn on the cob, half a herb basted russet potato,
(10:11):
and the dessert of the castle or pastry of the castle,
as the case. Maybe uh huh um. Sometimes I throw
like a barbecue spar rib in there for good measure.
And I've seen desserts ranging from apple turnover to lemon
pound cake, to buttertart, to chocolate chip cookies to a
chocolate mouse cake to vanilla ice cream with a black
currant swirl and caramel sauce. Vegetarian meals are offered upon request.
(10:35):
The menu there is a hummus and warm pea bread
with carrot and celery sticks, um pasta salad with vegetables
and a vinegarrette, a three bean stew with fire roasted
tomatoes and brown rice, and then a fresh fruit or
Italian nice for dessert. Coffee, tea and pepsi products are
available at most locations. There's a full bar for adults,
(10:55):
and yes, you're not giving utensils unless you get the
bean stew, and then apparently they grant you a spoon. WHA, Yeah,
I know right. I always I always thinking of all
things the cable guy when I think about this, because
there's this moment where they go to medieval times and
Janine Garoffalo is their waitress and uh and they're like, hey,
can I get a fork? And she's like, because there
(11:17):
were no forks in medieval times. There are no forks
at medieval times. Now, would you like a pepsi or
diet pepsi? Yeah? And I'm like, oh yeah, anyway, Um,
they have ingredients lists online and I looked everything up
and oh man, I definitely can't eat anything there. It's
all filled with paprika. I could have like the garlic
(11:37):
bread and like the three bean stew and maybe one
of the desserts. Everything is red. Yeah, um, well maybe
we can figure out you know another thing. The drinks
are very um like Applebee's. Yeah. I understand that there's
(11:58):
a lot of like booze slushies involved, and like just
neon colors and everything very much stuck in the nineteen
eighties from whence this came, right, Um? And I did
want to include before we move on that, Um, okay
I my hat Oh right yeah yeah yeah, little paper
paper crown it says it's an ad inside, right, and
(12:18):
it has all the locations and it says perfect for
any occasion, birthdays, family reunions, date nights, corporate events, team building,
holiday parties, and many more. And I say this because
there are different levels of tickets because if you want,
I mean the baseline price, I feel like it's always
discounted at like thirty, but it's supposed to be sixty,
(12:41):
I think. But you can do stuff like a whole
package where you get to meet the night of your choice,
you get to meet the kig picture yes, and you
get like, um, I'll take home goblet. There's a there's
different levels of medieval times, is what I'm trying to say. Okay,
all our right, that's no good to know, yes, and
(13:02):
thing on things like Father's Day and Mother's Day. They
do like the Queen's Court, the King's Court they do
every every other week. Is a new thing that they
are doing. They advertise and market very aggressively. But anyway,
if you're interested, plenty of events apparently, yeah, of events,
(13:23):
and if you're interested in being a night and working there,
you should take note. Potential nights have a physical test
after a year of training, which is a ten minute
or less mile, a set of thirty push ups and
fifty sit ups, and then they allow of the jets
at handling the twenty pounds of armor. Yea, armor is serious. Yeah.
A lot of people work up, work their way up
(13:44):
from like the stables. Yeah, there was actually a really
moving story of somebody has been working there for a
long time as a night because it's not too frequently
that people work there that long. But he left it
and he said like people would recognize him and tell
them out special occasion. But it was really sweet. It
was a sweet story. Oh man. Yeah. Uh. The servers
(14:06):
are pretty heroic too, because that the food is cooked
in these full sheet pans and the servers carry those
hole dang pans out and serve their whole section at once,
one by one out of the sheep and just just
running down the rose and tonguing everything onto your plates um.
And that's like people, So you're talking about thirty half
(14:28):
chickens that you're carrying through a stadium with horses in
the dark at this restaurant. Yeah, it's wild. I'm like,
oh okay, sure. Yeah. Something else is wild is that
they use so many Spanish horses. They have their own
reading farm in Sanger, Texas. They do have a lot
(14:51):
of horses. We dang, well, let's talk about some nutrition.
I guess okay, well, okay, on paper, neither the veg
or the omnivore dinner is that bad for you. The
omnivore option is a little bit light on the vegetables
and heavy on protein and carbs, but both are just
like a lot of food. And according to the thorough
(15:12):
nutrition information on the Medieval Times website, the chicken meal
will run you one thousand, five hundred and forty two
calories um, and the vegge meal will run you one
one d seventy three and that is including dessert and
a non diet soda. So that's a bunch for a
meal that's close to, if not your daily recommended caloric intake.
(15:33):
The chicken meal also has the recommended upper limit of
saturated fat intake for the whole day. Both meals contain
more than you recommended intake of sodium. As always watch
your portion sizes, choose less processed foods when you can
for best nutrition, or just go to Medieval Times and
eat your chicken with your hands and have a nice time.
It's a feasts. We were invited to a feast florin,
(15:55):
so feast we shall I can't argue with that logic. Nope,
we do have some numbers. These restaurants attract about two
and a half million visitors each year, and since its creation,
over sixty six million have attended. In different places, there
are different numbers, but that's from Medieval Times, and most
places have it between fifty nine and sixty six. So okay,
(16:18):
somewhere somewhere and there a bunch yea. Currently there are
only nine castles in the US and one in Canada,
believe in Toronto. Yeah yeah, and together they serve some
twenty five thousand meals on the typical Saturday night. Wow,
I know, right per year. Um. New York Times ran
the numbers. UM. That equals out to two hundred thousand
(16:39):
gallons of tomato soup, seven hundred and fifty thousand pounds
of potatoes, five million pounds of chicken, and four hundred
thousand gallons of pepsi products. Wow wow, Well okay, ums.
So yes. Cyber bullying UM Medieval Times as a new
(17:01):
campaign called Chivling Action that is meant to be an
anti cyber bullying kind of educational campaign, and because of
that they have been trying to re update their their
scripts so that they're nicer, because a lot of medieval
times was you know, fighting one. But also just I
(17:24):
think anyone who's been to a Renaissance fair something knows
what I'm talking about. What people kind of insult it's
it's it's insults in bodiness and which is kind of
the medieval like. But yeah, they're trying to move away
from it. And I found this code I wanted to
include in the research from Ariella Lama. When she was
(17:44):
asked about this, she said, I'm not sure Knights would
have understood cyber bullegue. I'm not sure they would have,
you know, good point, good point. And she would know
because she wrote her doctoral dissertation on medieval Europe's trial
by battle customs. That's why they asked. I just thought
it was funny. You never know where the research will go.
(18:09):
As true, yes, and if you if you are looking
for a place to have a good meal, perhaps this
is not your place. I read in many places you
are not there for the food. I would agree. Uh.
And to be fair, only four percent of their two
thousand employees work in the kitchen, so I know, right
(18:30):
for that many chickens. Gosh, well, those numbers have given
me some pause. We do have some history for you,
oh gosh, we do. But before we get to that,
we're going to take one quick break forward from our
sponsor and we're back. Thank you sponsored, Yes, thank you.
(18:56):
To go to the beginning, we must go back to
that most medieval of times, the nineteen sixties and a rivalry,
an epic rivalry on a small Spanish island that involved
barbecue and barbecue businessman Jose Montena and another restaurateur. As
(19:21):
the story goes, Montenei overheard some British tourists discussing night
jousting during medieval fairs. An idea. What if he lured
more tourists to his barbecue joint via show Ah Yes,
I I will say that most good rivalries involved barbecue.
(19:42):
But but that is true, not enough of them involved jousting.
So got on him. He combined the two. He found
what was missing, um and so he transformed his estate
first into a medieval dinner theater in the nineteen sixties,
and soon after he opened a second location in Spain.
Mont and A also had interest in Spanish history. In particular,
(20:03):
he cited the nineteen sixty one Charleston Heston film Ill
sid It featured many of the key aspects of Medieval Times,
these original restaurants, horses, nights, jousting. Later, he even tried
to hire Heston. He tried to Dire, but the price
was too high. I can imagine. I cannot imagine it's
(20:24):
Heston in the nineteen sixties. That's a big price tag
that I can I can imagine that would and you've
got horses to feed. Oh gosh. Yes. By the nineteen
eighties he had convinced a group of investors to go
ahead with the title of Medieval Times. The first US
location opened in Orlando, Florida, less than fifteen minutes away
(20:44):
from Disney World, in nineteen three. The castle cost almost
four million dollars. Orlando never changed, never change. Also, I
didn't include this, but I'll add it now because I
do think it's funny. They filed multiple law study against
competing restaurants in Orlando, and one of them I've been
to and it's like a pirate themed medieval That also
(21:10):
was an accident. This was back before I maximized. Oh
my gosh. Uh. It was an interesting experience for sure,
for sure, But yes, o Orlando. Indeed, so when this
opened This was on the heels of a long history
of people looking down on dinners provided during shows. Originally,
stage productions that provided meals did so primarily to stave
(21:33):
off complaints of hunger during long shows. But Medieval Times
was different and that it was a live stunt show
that didn't rely on star power. No Charlton has to
no problem. But over a decade from when it opened,
attendance at that Medieval Times rose from under two hundred
thousand to above six hundred thousand. The second location opened
(21:56):
in California in um beginning in two thousand. Management to
create that choreography must be uniform pretty much the entire
show across the across all the castles must be uniforms.
And then who tragedy in do Florida locations filed for
(22:16):
bankruptcy after the I R S came at them for
over ten million dollar tax claiming back taxes. Yeah, so
they had to file for bankruptcy so they could pay
the I R S. Heck, look y'all are talking about
a scary I won't say villain, but presents in a
(22:36):
medieval show. Perhaps the I R S tax could do it?
Could do it? Huh? Okay, as of seventeen, they started
replacing the kings with queens. As of yet, there have
been no female nights, and the updated script include lines
like there will be no much making tonight, and serve
(22:58):
me as you served my father, and get not that
inside I have the blood of kings. Yeah. Yeah, it
was actually the guy who wrote this. He's been writing
the scripts for thirty years since he started, and you
can read his his interview about it and his his
kind of process of having He felt like he had
(23:19):
to explain why she was the created. Finally, the female
writers were like the king never explained why he was
a king. She's just a queen. Man. It was really good.
It was also a fun read. Yes, and we did
want to include in here a very brief historical fact check. Yes,
because as as you can imagine, it's not the most accurate.
(23:41):
Right of the cable guy might indicate, uh, dinner wise,
I can't. I can't promise anything about the horses and falconry.
I don't know anything about those things. I would have
loved to have researched it. But we are purportedly a
food show reportedly. Um but yes, so the medieval times,
(24:02):
like the period the Medieval period a k. The Middle
Ages was a long stretch of time like it ran
from the fall of the Roman Empire around four seventies
six through the beginning of the Renaissance in fourteen fifty
three see or thereabouts. And food changed a bit during
that time and also varied across different parts of Europe. Right,
(24:23):
so we're talking about how accurate is them and you
not at all accurate. The tomatoes for bisk um not
brought to Europe till the sixteenth century and largely believed
to be toxic at first c R. Tomato episode, which
is one of my favorites. That similar with the potato,
it hadn't arrived until later in Europe. Yeah, And cornu
(24:43):
is also a crop of the Americas and didn't make
it to Europe until after the Middle Ages um. Though,
to be fair, the word corn was sometimes used in
Medieval English to refer to all manner of grains, so
sweet buttered corn might conceivably have appeared on a menu
at the time after had a printed menu. Gosh, I
(25:05):
was trying to think of when it did because we
were talking about it. Yeah, because he was trying to
be super accurate of this, Like time right. I'm pretty
sure we talked about Oh gosh, that's been bugging me
and I couldn't figure out why Google Drive was serving
me the Lembus episode. Yes, oh that's why. Okay, thank you,
Oh my gosh, I'm here to help. Speaking of hobbits,
(25:29):
coffee and tea did not arrive in Europe until after
the Middle Ages either. All these things were imports during
the age of exploration and colonization, really kicking off in
the late fourteen hundreds after medieval times, right, right, And
of course pepsi products surprise, surprise, were not a thing
then either. No, um, I believe oh gosh, I didn't
(25:52):
look up the number, but from our carbonated water episode, uh,
there was some interest in sparkling beverages during that time,
but it didn't really kick off until people figured out
pressurization technology in what like the seventeen hundreds. I think
so that sounds right. Yeah. And the food at medieval times,
(26:13):
the restaurant is a little on the bland side, and
spices were really popular during actual medieval times in part
to perhaps cover up the taste of spoiled meat. Perhaps
there's argument about whether that's accurate or how spoiled. It
possibly could have been without people getting sick all the time,
although people did kind of get sick all the time.
But anyway, for sure, spices were a way for rich
(26:34):
people to show off, and they used a lot of them,
like garlic, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, pepper, cumin, cardamom, and mace
were all super popular. As we're sauces with lots of
sugar and vinegar and wine and another thing feast, as
they alleged to be at this restaurant, we're much larger
(26:57):
during actual medieval times, so much larger, Like okay, if
you're a chef at a medieval times you might be
seating uh nine hundred to hundred people per seating, and
you are going to have more than one seating at night,
um so, and and when you serve them, you serve
them all at once simultaneously. And that's and that's a lot.
(27:19):
Um it's a lot to deal with. It's a lot
of people. But big event feasts lasted multiple days and
involved so much food. Slate which has a whole article
about medieval times food and how inaccurate it is, they
reported that the marriage feast for Margaret of England at
Henry the third daughter. They served one thousand, three hundred deer,
seven thousand hens, hundred and seventy boars, sixty thousand herring,
(27:43):
and sixty eight thousand, five hundred loaves of bread for one.
I mean probably not all at like one sitting. That
was probably I imagine that was over like a weekend,
at least a few days. I don't know that much
about this wedding. I honestly didn't look at it well.
But either way, yea, there's a lot of food, yes,
and uh, each course would have included many dishes served simultaneously,
(28:08):
like fifteen plus, like seven on the low end, like
fifteen plus for big fancy ones. And it would be
combinations of hot and cold dishes. Um, so you'd get
like early courses would be like savory pies and pastries,
different soups, different stews, than moving on to different meats
and different sauces, than more other different meats and more
other different sauces. Um, the fritters and breads, fruits and
(28:30):
candies and sweet pastries and cheeses, just just all the things.
It sounds like all the things. Yes. Also, as we
have talked about in previous episodes, feasts around this time
tended to be heavily presented. Um Like, truly wild display
and decoration going on. Not none of all of this,
(28:50):
all the food being the same color on a single
individual plate. Stuff. No, uh, see your Aspect episode for
lots of examples. Um, but like yeah, like savory gelled
molds with like whole roast fish inside and then leafed
with gold and silver to make it look like sparkling.
They were swimming through sparkling water. Um Like animals roast
(29:12):
and other animals, roast and other other animals like original
turduck and stuff. Um birds served decorated with pastry to
resemble their original plumage little marzipan figures that were molded
to make some kind of weird political statement that I
don't really understand. Yeah, yeah, you're not really getting that
at medieval times restaurants. That's just fair. Yeah, that's okay, okay, No,
(29:38):
it is totally cool. Yeah you're not. Again they experience.
And as for those utensils, people were using them during
medieval times. Yeah yeah, yep, um, though they might have
shared them with fellow diners. Maybe. Spoons were definitely in use.
Um and uh, and knives also U like even common
(30:00):
people would have probably had like a small dagger or
knife on their person basically at all times and probably
would have used it at the table. Is kind of
an all purpose implement to be fair. Forks, as we
have discussed, we're regarded with suspicion by most of Europe
to the end of the Middle Ages and caused a
scandal er too when brides from further south brought them
(30:22):
to their wedding feasts. It's true, So the no forks
thing is legit. Yeah, that's the kind of a plausible Yeah.
And the MythBusters scheme of rating things. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The the roast chicken pretty legit. I think that's it.
I think I like that silence, no fork roast chicken accurate. Also,
(30:49):
we didn't say this, but yeah, you're eating this chicken
like you're digging in with your hands. Yeah, and it's
half a chicken. Yeah, so they give you moist towelets.
Also not a thing. No, that was not prepackaged moist
tele It's definitely we're not a thing at that time. Yeah.
(31:10):
Actually I got to thinking about that much later and
too late to really look into it. But I've never
really thought about the history of napkins clearly something we
have to research. It could be very short. People figured
out early on. Sometimes you want to wipe your hands.
Sometimes you know whatever's around, whatever's around, you can't you
(31:34):
can't really know. You never know where the research is
going to take you. It's true, it's true. But yeah,
I guess I guess that sort of just brings us
to a general like like I guess like like sort
of like moral of the story that I wanted to
throw in here, that we have this idea that that
dining and everything in medieval times was kind of crude
(31:57):
um and I guess like compared with today in some
ways it was. In some ways it wasn't um. But
a lot of our ideas of what medieval life was
like come from either um, really romantic or really like
sarcastic or an ugly retellings of history, both from the
Late Middle Ages themselves and also from more modern times,
(32:20):
especially uh, the Victorians really loved retellings from that era
UM and and also a lot of American films UM
from the nineteen fifties and sixties. Yeah, I think we
definitely have, at least for me, a lot of things
I think of and it's not accurate as Monty Python
like oh sure, yeah, definitely. They're popular culture things where
(32:42):
that's what we see and we think, okay, this, yeah,
and I mean it's an interesting version of history. Like
I we we both love Game of Thrones, which is
not historical. I know. Medieval Times restaurants historical retellings of
(33:09):
the medieval period. They claim on their website that their
story is based on a true story from a real family.
I did read that, and I don't know if that's
marketing or not from Spain, right, yeah, they don't, but
they don't say which one anywhere, which makes me I mean,
to be fair, there were a lot of royal people
(33:31):
in Spain for a long time, so who knows. Maybe
it's bits and pieces. Oh gosh, there should really be
more of an Islamic element in medieval times because Spain
during that time would have had lots of Islamic influence.
Another inaccuracy. Well there you go. Well, if anyone can
explain or illuminate the story behind the story that they
(33:55):
use at Medieval Times, please let us know. Oh we
clearly need to get need to get these people on
the horn. Oh gosh, I would love too I would
love to. We'll see if we can make that happen.
I you know, it seems everything that I've read about
it was like either like this is a great ridiculous
thing to bring your kids to or this is a
(34:16):
great ridiculous thing to be drunk at as an adult
with your friends. Um. I think both can be true. Also, again,
just going in knowing the food, it's fine, it's not
the main part of the experience. Yes, And and that's
not no shade on that is a lot of people
(34:37):
that you're serving all at once. Yeah, Oh my gosh,
I couldn't feed people yeah at the same time. Yeah,
and probably half of them are giving you some kind
of stick people. Anyway, that was what we had to
(34:58):
say on medieval to yes. Uh. And we do have
a little bit more for you. But first we've got
another quick break for a word from our sponsor, and
we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you. Um. And
because we ended on just a little bit of like
(35:20):
a weird down note before the ad break there, I
just wanted to share with you two more positive tidbits
about medieval times. First, there is a museum of torture
in the lobby that you can go check out before
your dinner, because that's good family fund for everybody. Yeah.
I know I'm using my sarcastic voice when I say that,
(35:42):
but I kind of genuinely mean it, like being like
weird gossl that I am. Um, that's a and b Annie.
Would you would you relate for us once more, um
as you did during the break. Uh. The phone number
that you can use to dial medieval times, well that
number would be one eight eight. We joust, we joust.
(36:05):
Oh it's still funny even what I'm expecting it. Okay, alright. Also,
by the way, this is not a positive zero percent.
We are just genuinely completely heck and delighted by the
existence of this weird thing. Yeah yeah, yeah, definitely not
(36:26):
a sponsorship. If you'll want to reach out, let us
know we're right here. We are here and available ready
clearly anyway, anyway, this brings us to listen, Normer. I
was unprepared. I should have waved my flag, that's all right.
(36:53):
The look of shock on Laurence face listeners was priceless sometimes.
You know, I didn't realize until the other day when
I was I think about these you know, Oh, um,
of course you do oh, I have to. I think
we just started doing it because at the time we
couldn't decide on a jingle or and now it's just
(37:14):
a thing. It's like at the end of epic graph
battles of history they do that, Oh do they? Yeah?
He always the announcer always says it in some different way.
It's great. So hey, we're not the only only ones
doing this. Yeah, it has legitimacy. It does in the field. Yes,
(37:35):
it is a tried and true um just Sina wrote.
I'm writing in again because I have a personal tale
about the savory emotion eaten at New Year's in Japan.
I used to date a German Japanese guy and for
New Year's we would often stay with his mother, she
had moved to Germany. She would treat us with these
amazing traditional Japanese dishes that are eaten for good luck,
(37:56):
prosperity and all that good stuff. And they included some
of the weirdest tech shows and flavors I have ever experienced,
one of which was the sticky rice cake wrapped with nori.
She put the little blocks they reminded me of bigger
racers in the oven where they puffed up in the
weirdest shapes. Then she wrapped them in Nori put the
package in a little bowl and spooned a little broth.
(38:16):
I believe me so over it. It was hard enough
to even grab with chaud sticks, but then holding it
strongly enough to bite off a manageable chunk was the
real challenge. While I was trying to chew, they told
me those stories I especially old and young people have
breathing issues or even die, And I was making extra shore.
I didn't swallow any unchewed pieces. Most stressful eating experience
(38:38):
of my life. Those stressful eating experiences. Oh goodness, we've
all had them. We have, certainly, certainly we've had them.
Oh gosh, yes we have. I don't think I've ever
had one where I was eating something I was worried
would kill me at that moment, you know, like later maybe, yeah, yeah,
(38:59):
like years down the line, perhaps, but never in the moment. Yeah.
I've never been trying to eat something and thought, oh boy,
this is gonna be it, this could be the last thing.
Um Austin wrote. We recently got a new puppy and
getting him to sleep through the night has been ridiculous.
I feel you there, Um, However, I learned that if
(39:21):
I play your podcast, he'll sleep. At first, I thought
he just liked to hear people talking, but after introducing
him to three other podcasts, I found out he prefers yours.
As soon as he hears the opening music, he makes
his way into my bedroom. Thank you guys for making
Puppy Training at Breeze. Attached below our pictures of the
dog Scout PS. I wanted to name him Garlic, but
(39:42):
it was vetoed. Oh that is so sweet, Scout, High Scout,
you are such a good dog. Scout, you're trying. I
you know what we should update our slogan, savor preferred
by puppies. I like it. I'm not finited at all
all years. Agoes asleep. No, that's great, that's wonderful. Get
(40:04):
get sleep. However, you can man exactly exactly. It did
remind me of back when do you remember when we
had the problem with our ad bikes. They're so loud,
oh yeah, compared to the rest of the podcast, and
so many people wrote in angry at me, Well not me,
but yeah, the situation um saying I use your podcast
to fall asleep and I don't dare you wake me? Up,
(40:25):
and I would say the most polite way as possible.
I really, I really truly do appreseate that. But if
you're just trying to sleep, maybe podcast. Yeah, until we
picked this problem, which we did, and now we're helping puppies.
You know, it's just just one puppy at a time
at a time making the world a better place. Yes, yes, Well,
(40:49):
thanks to both of them for writing both word delights. Yes,
oh gosh um And if you would like to write
to us, we would love to hear from you. Our
email is hello at favorite pod dot com. We're also
on social media and you can find us on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at savor pod. Favor is a production of
I Heart Radio and Stuff Media. For more podcasts in
(41:11):
my Heart Radio, you can visit the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Thanks as always to our super producers Dylan Fagan and
Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and we hope
that lots of more good things are coming your way.
Hello, and welcome to Savor protection of iHeart Radio and
STEPH Media. I'm Annie and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum. And today
we're talking about medieval times, not not like the actual times,
which were medieval like medieval times, dinner and tournament, yes,
entertainment and food concept. Indeed, indeed, and this one has
(00:29):
been on our list for an embarrassingly long We've been
trying to go for years, no joke, years. Yeah, you know,
it's difficult to drive up to Sugarloaf Parkway, to be
super honest, Lanta Castle. It's really really funny. I can't
wait to talk about my experiences there because I have been,
I have been, I have not so I well, I've
(00:52):
got a lot of memories, fond and not so fund
oh uh. And there was that recent s Nel sketch yes, yes,
which I say mandatory watching material for this episode brought
it back to the forefront of our minds. But it
was when yeah, Adam Driver was playing this kind of
(01:13):
in this actor who worked at the medieval times and
took his role perhaps a little too seriously, yes, as
we all do sometimes. Yeah, yeah, And it resulted and
as you might imagine, larity, Yeah, hijinks, Yes, hijinks. Yes,
my favor line is Cameron Adam Driver. He says, the
(01:37):
manager Steve Pach does you one hundred and ten dollars
for chicken and potato and does not even give you
the dignity of a fog. And then Keenan is in
the audience says, yeah, I do want a fork. No,
grown mancho have to eat a pick potato with his hands.
It's really good and it's you know, it's true. It
(01:58):
is true. We were discussing that before we start. There
is sort of a novelty at first of eating things
with your hands in public, which, by the way, yeah
there's no utensils at these restaurants. Um, but it wears
off pretty quick. So yeah, I've been twice once. It
was my super hard one first trip to Disney World
Universal via high school marching band. But I was aid,
(02:22):
oh okay, and so I was in seventh grade, Oh wow, yeah,
and you signed up to be in this club specifically
for the Disney trip. Only reason I did it because
my parents swore they would never take me, and so
I was like, well, Fama, and I did, and that
was the last year they did it. So I'm glad
I did sign up to be a bandage. Um, so yeah,
we went to the one and kissed Me Florida and
(02:44):
it was sort of a group. I mean, the whole
class went there. And I didn't know this was a thing.
So I roll up and there's this castle and I've
been told there's dinner here, and I'm very confused. But
it was quite fun. Um and my night, because there
is it's divided into six, six color coded sections, I believe,
(03:04):
and my night was the trader at the time. One
night was always the trader was always the trader. So
you're like, she I bought props by the way everybody,
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, she Annie has her banner with
her in her little paper crown. Yes, so you're like
cheering for your night, like yeah, go night. And then
he was a trader, and you you feel kind of like, well,
I guess I don't cheer anymore, Like do I want
him to kill the gig? You switched just turned on
(03:28):
a dime and be like, oh, yes, we have been
betrayed ourselves. You're right, You're right. I should have. And
then I went a few years back to the one
in Atlanta, which opened in two thousands six. It's kind
of outside of Atlanta, but Atlanta area. Um for my birthday,
which was not a sad thing, it's a happy thing.
(03:48):
I wanted to go. They have a birthday coupon uh
and it's pretty legit. And my night was a trader again.
I am ghost. I am I'm beginning to think that
this is on you. Oh my gosh, you think. I'm
pretty sure they don't do that anymore. But there's one
like bad Guy Night still in the storyline, is there.
I thought they got They got so many complaints about
(04:10):
like what took my kid and then getting this one
section and may or the trainer. Um. But yeah, I
didn't realize the first time I went there. I think
the biggest mistake I made was I didn't realize you
were either supposed to wait, have patience, or use your
bread to stop up the soup. So I picked up
the metal bowl and went in to sip it, and
(04:33):
it was hot the heck out of my hand. Yeah,
it's no joke. It was sad, not so sad one though,
I did want to read the birthday email I got
from medieval times, which I'm sad. There was a whole
chain with Lauren and Dylan and I, um, I think
(04:54):
where we were. We were riffing on this and I
can't find it. It was very funny, it was very
full of his ours. Yes, um, Most Noble Annie, we
take a great pleasure in wishing you a happiest of birthdays.
We would like to extend this royal invitation to return
to your nearest castle and celebrate with those that you
(05:17):
hold in the highest regard. Together, we will feast, we
will revel in your recent glory, and we will raise
our glass. Too many prosperous crusades to come with grace
and honor the noble families of medieval times. I mean,
that's that's high quality stuff. You're gonna tell me you
(05:39):
wouldn't take up that offer. They called you most Noble Annie,
I know from like, are we all supposed to call
you that all the time? It technically I don't correct you,
but okay, true, okay, most Noble Annie, thank you, thank you,
But okay, for people who have not through our question.
(06:02):
Medieval Times, what is it? Well? Medieval Times Dinner and
Tournament is a sort of dinner theater experience with a
vaguely Medieval Europe theme. UM. The theater portion is a
story played by actors about a medieval Ish era royalty
hosting a tournament. Um, and you are their guests, and
(06:25):
these days are I guess since the beginning, Um, it's
been the stories set in eleventh century Spain. Although it's
in English, they're using English accents or English Ish anyway anyway. Um,
and yeah, there are six nights competing in choreographed sword
fights and hand to hand combat and games of skill,
and there's a joust on horseback. Apparently falconry is a thing.
(06:50):
Do you want to tell us a little bit more
about your experience? What's up too? Okay, So so you
walk into the castle. Yes, So most of these castles
are located in malls, so you're exactly so the one
in Atlanta, for instance, it's a mall and then there's
a draw bridge in the parking lot into a castle. Um. Yeah,
(07:16):
and you walk in and it's kind of right away.
You're in the gift shop in the souvenir area, and
then you get see and it's just huge stadium seating
all around, and you go through this this dinner and
as as the courses come out, Um, it starts with
the king, but now it's the queen. But but the
(07:37):
times I've been it was a king would do I
love this and he would have announced, like to the
honorable watching band from Lumpkin County. We well, like he
calls out all the birthdays. Um, but like Brian Bachelor
and stuff go there. Yeah, so it's really funny to
(07:58):
hear this sort of modern stuff, which they also have
a campaign now about cyber blowing. Interesting here that come
from the king's mouth. And then there's sort of a story.
It's a very vague storyline of like honor and there's
somebody who's doing something wrong as far as the falcon goes. Um,
(08:21):
so he comes out the falcon or and he just
he releases the falcon. I think there might be a
message involved. I don't recall, but it just flies and
circles around the stadium and it gets close like it
knocked my friends hat a little crowd right off his head.
(08:42):
And see again. The first time I went, I was
a seventh grader who had no idea this was a thing.
I didn't know what was happening. There's a falcon. Now
the horses do like this kind of dancing thing. Um, yeah,
a little little horse horse tricks. Yeah, they deal horse chicks.
And then the all the nights getting fights and you
(09:04):
cheer for your section, and then one's a trader and
you're like, well, and all the servers are dressed, uh
and in like vague like peasant uniforms. There's heavy scare
quotes involved in that, right, and they're called surfs and winches. Um.
(09:24):
We'll talk more about this hyperbulling thing actually in a minute,
but huh, it's interesting. I don't know how much longer
that they will be called that as part of their
new campaign. Yeah, I feel like that's a silly thing
to do, Like you're like updating to like include more
women in the cast. It's like the reigning queen with
power and stuff. And then you're like, oh, yes, serving Wench,
bring me another PEPSI. I'm like, well, right, that's strange.
(09:48):
It is pretty strange. Okay, alright, so um so so
the so the dinner that we're talking about here, it's
a four course banquet. Um, and that four courses. I'm
still not sure how this is for, but I'll take
their word for it. Um. It's a garlic bread and
a tomato biscu um. Half a roast chicken, half a
corn on the cob, half a herb basted russet potato,
(10:11):
and the dessert of the castle or pastry of the castle,
as the case. Maybe uh huh um. Sometimes I throw
like a barbecue spar rib in there for good measure.
And I've seen desserts ranging from apple turnover to lemon
pound cake, to buttertart, to chocolate chip cookies to a
chocolate mouse cake to vanilla ice cream with a black
currant swirl and caramel sauce. Vegetarian meals are offered upon request.
(10:35):
The menu there is a hummus and warm pea bread
with carrot and celery sticks, um pasta salad with vegetables
and a vinegarrette, a three bean stew with fire roasted
tomatoes and brown rice, and then a fresh fruit or
Italian nice for dessert. Coffee, tea and pepsi products are
available at most locations. There's a full bar for adults,
(10:55):
and yes, you're not giving utensils unless you get the
bean stew, and then apparently they grant you a spoon. WHA, Yeah,
I know right. I always I always thinking of all
things the cable guy when I think about this, because
there's this moment where they go to medieval times and
Janine Garoffalo is their waitress and uh and they're like, hey,
can I get a fork? And she's like, because there
(11:17):
were no forks in medieval times. There are no forks
at medieval times. Now, would you like a pepsi or
diet pepsi? Yeah? And I'm like, oh yeah, anyway, Um,
they have ingredients lists online and I looked everything up
and oh man, I definitely can't eat anything there. It's
all filled with paprika. I could have like the garlic
(11:37):
bread and like the three bean stew and maybe one
of the desserts. Everything is red. Yeah, um, well maybe
we can figure out you know another thing. The drinks
are very um like Applebee's. Yeah. I understand that there's
(11:58):
a lot of like booze slushies involved, and like just
neon colors and everything very much stuck in the nineteen
eighties from whence this came, right, Um? And I did
want to include before we move on that, Um, okay
I my hat Oh right yeah yeah yeah, little paper
paper crown it says it's an ad inside, right, and
(12:18):
it has all the locations and it says perfect for
any occasion, birthdays, family reunions, date nights, corporate events, team building,
holiday parties, and many more. And I say this because
there are different levels of tickets because if you want,
I mean the baseline price, I feel like it's always
discounted at like thirty, but it's supposed to be sixty,
(12:41):
I think. But you can do stuff like a whole
package where you get to meet the night of your choice,
you get to meet the kig picture yes, and you
get like, um, I'll take home goblet. There's a there's
different levels of medieval times, is what I'm trying to say. Okay,
all our right, that's no good to know, yes, and
(13:02):
thing on things like Father's Day and Mother's Day. They
do like the Queen's Court, the King's Court they do
every every other week. Is a new thing that they
are doing. They advertise and market very aggressively. But anyway,
if you're interested, plenty of events apparently, yeah, of events,
(13:23):
and if you're interested in being a night and working there,
you should take note. Potential nights have a physical test
after a year of training, which is a ten minute
or less mile, a set of thirty push ups and
fifty sit ups, and then they allow of the jets
at handling the twenty pounds of armor. Yea, armor is serious. Yeah.
A lot of people work up, work their way up
(13:44):
from like the stables. Yeah, there was actually a really
moving story of somebody has been working there for a
long time as a night because it's not too frequently
that people work there that long. But he left it
and he said like people would recognize him and tell
them out special occasion. But it was really sweet. It
was a sweet story. Oh man. Yeah. Uh. The servers
(14:06):
are pretty heroic too, because that the food is cooked
in these full sheet pans and the servers carry those
hole dang pans out and serve their whole section at once,
one by one out of the sheep and just just
running down the rose and tonguing everything onto your plates um.
And that's like people, So you're talking about thirty half
(14:28):
chickens that you're carrying through a stadium with horses in
the dark at this restaurant. Yeah, it's wild. I'm like,
oh okay, sure. Yeah. Something else is wild is that
they use so many Spanish horses. They have their own
reading farm in Sanger, Texas. They do have a lot
(14:51):
of horses. We dang, well, let's talk about some nutrition.
I guess okay, well, okay, on paper, neither the veg
or the omnivore dinner is that bad for you. The
omnivore option is a little bit light on the vegetables
and heavy on protein and carbs, but both are just
like a lot of food. And according to the thorough
(15:12):
nutrition information on the Medieval Times website, the chicken meal
will run you one thousand, five hundred and forty two
calories um, and the vegge meal will run you one
one d seventy three and that is including dessert and
a non diet soda. So that's a bunch for a
meal that's close to, if not your daily recommended caloric intake.
(15:33):
The chicken meal also has the recommended upper limit of
saturated fat intake for the whole day. Both meals contain
more than you recommended intake of sodium. As always watch
your portion sizes, choose less processed foods when you can
for best nutrition, or just go to Medieval Times and
eat your chicken with your hands and have a nice time.
It's a feasts. We were invited to a feast florin,
(15:55):
so feast we shall I can't argue with that logic. Nope,
we do have some numbers. These restaurants attract about two
and a half million visitors each year, and since its creation,
over sixty six million have attended. In different places, there
are different numbers, but that's from Medieval Times, and most
places have it between fifty nine and sixty six. So okay,
(16:18):
somewhere somewhere and there a bunch yea. Currently there are
only nine castles in the US and one in Canada,
believe in Toronto. Yeah yeah, and together they serve some
twenty five thousand meals on the typical Saturday night. Wow,
I know, right per year. Um. New York Times ran
the numbers. UM. That equals out to two hundred thousand
(16:39):
gallons of tomato soup, seven hundred and fifty thousand pounds
of potatoes, five million pounds of chicken, and four hundred
thousand gallons of pepsi products. Wow wow, Well okay, ums.
So yes. Cyber bullying UM Medieval Times as a new
(17:01):
campaign called Chivling Action that is meant to be an
anti cyber bullying kind of educational campaign, and because of
that they have been trying to re update their their
scripts so that they're nicer, because a lot of medieval
times was you know, fighting one. But also just I
(17:24):
think anyone who's been to a Renaissance fair something knows
what I'm talking about. What people kind of insult it's
it's it's insults in bodiness and which is kind of
the medieval like. But yeah, they're trying to move away
from it. And I found this code I wanted to
include in the research from Ariella Lama. When she was
(17:44):
asked about this, she said, I'm not sure Knights would
have understood cyber bullegue. I'm not sure they would have,
you know, good point, good point. And she would know
because she wrote her doctoral dissertation on medieval Europe's trial
by battle customs. That's why they asked. I just thought
it was funny. You never know where the research will go.
(18:09):
As true, yes, and if you if you are looking
for a place to have a good meal, perhaps this
is not your place. I read in many places you
are not there for the food. I would agree. Uh.
And to be fair, only four percent of their two
thousand employees work in the kitchen, so I know, right
(18:30):
for that many chickens. Gosh, well, those numbers have given
me some pause. We do have some history for you,
oh gosh, we do. But before we get to that,
we're going to take one quick break forward from our
sponsor and we're back. Thank you sponsored, Yes, thank you.
(18:56):
To go to the beginning, we must go back to
that most medieval of times, the nineteen sixties and a rivalry,
an epic rivalry on a small Spanish island that involved
barbecue and barbecue businessman Jose Montena and another restaurateur. As
(19:21):
the story goes, Montenei overheard some British tourists discussing night
jousting during medieval fairs. An idea. What if he lured
more tourists to his barbecue joint via show Ah Yes,
I I will say that most good rivalries involved barbecue.
(19:42):
But but that is true, not enough of them involved jousting.
So got on him. He combined the two. He found
what was missing, um and so he transformed his estate
first into a medieval dinner theater in the nineteen sixties,
and soon after he opened a second location in Spain.
Mont and A also had interest in Spanish history. In particular,
(20:03):
he cited the nineteen sixty one Charleston Heston film Ill
sid It featured many of the key aspects of Medieval Times,
these original restaurants, horses, nights, jousting. Later, he even tried
to hire Heston. He tried to Dire, but the price
was too high. I can imagine. I cannot imagine it's
(20:24):
Heston in the nineteen sixties. That's a big price tag
that I can I can imagine that would and you've
got horses to feed. Oh gosh. Yes. By the nineteen
eighties he had convinced a group of investors to go
ahead with the title of Medieval Times. The first US
location opened in Orlando, Florida, less than fifteen minutes away
(20:44):
from Disney World, in nineteen three. The castle cost almost
four million dollars. Orlando never changed, never change. Also, I
didn't include this, but I'll add it now because I
do think it's funny. They filed multiple law study against
competing restaurants in Orlando, and one of them I've been
to and it's like a pirate themed medieval That also
(21:10):
was an accident. This was back before I maximized. Oh
my gosh. Uh. It was an interesting experience for sure,
for sure, But yes, o Orlando. Indeed, so when this
opened This was on the heels of a long history
of people looking down on dinners provided during shows. Originally,
stage productions that provided meals did so primarily to stave
(21:33):
off complaints of hunger during long shows. But Medieval Times
was different and that it was a live stunt show
that didn't rely on star power. No Charlton has to
no problem. But over a decade from when it opened,
attendance at that Medieval Times rose from under two hundred
thousand to above six hundred thousand. The second location opened
(21:56):
in California in um beginning in two thousand. Management to
create that choreography must be uniform pretty much the entire
show across the across all the castles must be uniforms.
And then who tragedy in do Florida locations filed for
(22:16):
bankruptcy after the I R S came at them for
over ten million dollar tax claiming back taxes. Yeah, so
they had to file for bankruptcy so they could pay
the I R S. Heck, look y'all are talking about
a scary I won't say villain, but presents in a
(22:36):
medieval show. Perhaps the I R S tax could do it?
Could do it? Huh? Okay, as of seventeen, they started
replacing the kings with queens. As of yet, there have
been no female nights, and the updated script include lines
like there will be no much making tonight, and serve
(22:58):
me as you served my father, and get not that
inside I have the blood of kings. Yeah. Yeah, it
was actually the guy who wrote this. He's been writing
the scripts for thirty years since he started, and you
can read his his interview about it and his his
kind of process of having He felt like he had
(23:19):
to explain why she was the created. Finally, the female
writers were like the king never explained why he was
a king. She's just a queen. Man. It was really good.
It was also a fun read. Yes, and we did
want to include in here a very brief historical fact check. Yes,
because as as you can imagine, it's not the most accurate.
(23:41):
Right of the cable guy might indicate, uh, dinner wise,
I can't. I can't promise anything about the horses and falconry.
I don't know anything about those things. I would have
loved to have researched it. But we are purportedly a
food show reportedly. Um but yes, so the medieval times,
(24:02):
like the period the Medieval period a k. The Middle
Ages was a long stretch of time like it ran
from the fall of the Roman Empire around four seventies
six through the beginning of the Renaissance in fourteen fifty
three see or thereabouts. And food changed a bit during
that time and also varied across different parts of Europe. Right,
(24:23):
so we're talking about how accurate is them and you
not at all accurate. The tomatoes for bisk um not
brought to Europe till the sixteenth century and largely believed
to be toxic at first c R. Tomato episode, which
is one of my favorites. That similar with the potato,
it hadn't arrived until later in Europe. Yeah, And cornu
(24:43):
is also a crop of the Americas and didn't make
it to Europe until after the Middle Ages um. Though,
to be fair, the word corn was sometimes used in
Medieval English to refer to all manner of grains, so
sweet buttered corn might conceivably have appeared on a menu
at the time after had a printed menu. Gosh, I
(25:05):
was trying to think of when it did because we
were talking about it. Yeah, because he was trying to
be super accurate of this, Like time right. I'm pretty
sure we talked about Oh gosh, that's been bugging me
and I couldn't figure out why Google Drive was serving
me the Lembus episode. Yes, oh that's why. Okay, thank you,
Oh my gosh, I'm here to help. Speaking of hobbits,
(25:29):
coffee and tea did not arrive in Europe until after
the Middle Ages either. All these things were imports during
the age of exploration and colonization, really kicking off in
the late fourteen hundreds after medieval times, right, right, And
of course pepsi products surprise, surprise, were not a thing
then either. No, um, I believe oh gosh, I didn't
(25:52):
look up the number, but from our carbonated water episode, uh,
there was some interest in sparkling beverages during that time,
but it didn't really kick off until people figured out
pressurization technology in what like the seventeen hundreds. I think
so that sounds right. Yeah. And the food at medieval times,
(26:13):
the restaurant is a little on the bland side, and
spices were really popular during actual medieval times in part
to perhaps cover up the taste of spoiled meat. Perhaps
there's argument about whether that's accurate or how spoiled. It
possibly could have been without people getting sick all the time,
although people did kind of get sick all the time.
But anyway, for sure, spices were a way for rich
(26:34):
people to show off, and they used a lot of them,
like garlic, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, pepper, cumin, cardamom, and mace
were all super popular. As we're sauces with lots of
sugar and vinegar and wine and another thing feast, as
they alleged to be at this restaurant, we're much larger
(26:57):
during actual medieval times, so much larger, Like okay, if
you're a chef at a medieval times you might be
seating uh nine hundred to hundred people per seating, and
you are going to have more than one seating at night,
um so, and and when you serve them, you serve
them all at once simultaneously. And that's and that's a lot.
(27:19):
Um it's a lot to deal with. It's a lot
of people. But big event feasts lasted multiple days and
involved so much food. Slate which has a whole article
about medieval times food and how inaccurate it is, they
reported that the marriage feast for Margaret of England at
Henry the third daughter. They served one thousand, three hundred deer,
seven thousand hens, hundred and seventy boars, sixty thousand herring,
(27:43):
and sixty eight thousand, five hundred loaves of bread for one.
I mean probably not all at like one sitting. That
was probably I imagine that was over like a weekend,
at least a few days. I don't know that much
about this wedding. I honestly didn't look at it well.
But either way, yea, there's a lot of food, yes,
and uh, each course would have included many dishes served simultaneously,
(28:08):
like fifteen plus, like seven on the low end, like
fifteen plus for big fancy ones. And it would be
combinations of hot and cold dishes. Um, so you'd get
like early courses would be like savory pies and pastries,
different soups, different stews, than moving on to different meats
and different sauces, than more other different meats and more
other different sauces. Um, the fritters and breads, fruits and
(28:30):
candies and sweet pastries and cheeses, just just all the things.
It sounds like all the things. Yes. Also, as we
have talked about in previous episodes, feasts around this time
tended to be heavily presented. Um Like, truly wild display
and decoration going on. Not none of all of this,
(28:50):
all the food being the same color on a single
individual plate. Stuff. No, uh, see your Aspect episode for
lots of examples. Um, but like yeah, like savory gelled
molds with like whole roast fish inside and then leafed
with gold and silver to make it look like sparkling.
They were swimming through sparkling water. Um Like animals roast
(29:12):
and other animals, roast and other other animals like original
turduck and stuff. Um birds served decorated with pastry to
resemble their original plumage little marzipan figures that were molded
to make some kind of weird political statement that I
don't really understand. Yeah, yeah, you're not really getting that
at medieval times restaurants. That's just fair. Yeah, that's okay, okay, No,
(29:38):
it is totally cool. Yeah you're not. Again they experience.
And as for those utensils, people were using them during
medieval times. Yeah yeah, yep, um, though they might have
shared them with fellow diners. Maybe. Spoons were definitely in use.
Um and uh, and knives also U like even common
(30:00):
people would have probably had like a small dagger or
knife on their person basically at all times and probably
would have used it at the table. Is kind of
an all purpose implement to be fair. Forks, as we
have discussed, we're regarded with suspicion by most of Europe
to the end of the Middle Ages and caused a
scandal er too when brides from further south brought them
(30:22):
to their wedding feasts. It's true, So the no forks
thing is legit. Yeah, that's the kind of a plausible Yeah.
And the MythBusters scheme of rating things. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The the roast chicken pretty legit. I think that's it.
I think I like that silence, no fork roast chicken accurate. Also,
(30:49):
we didn't say this, but yeah, you're eating this chicken
like you're digging in with your hands. Yeah, and it's
half a chicken. Yeah, so they give you moist towelets.
Also not a thing. No, that was not prepackaged moist
tele It's definitely we're not a thing at that time. Yeah.
(31:10):
Actually I got to thinking about that much later and
too late to really look into it. But I've never
really thought about the history of napkins clearly something we
have to research. It could be very short. People figured
out early on. Sometimes you want to wipe your hands.
Sometimes you know whatever's around, whatever's around, you can't you
(31:34):
can't really know. You never know where the research is
going to take you. It's true, it's true. But yeah,
I guess I guess that sort of just brings us
to a general like like I guess like like sort
of like moral of the story that I wanted to
throw in here, that we have this idea that that
dining and everything in medieval times was kind of crude
(31:57):
um and I guess like compared with today in some
ways it was. In some ways it wasn't um. But
a lot of our ideas of what medieval life was
like come from either um, really romantic or really like
sarcastic or an ugly retellings of history, both from the
Late Middle Ages themselves and also from more modern times,
(32:20):
especially uh, the Victorians really loved retellings from that era
UM and and also a lot of American films UM
from the nineteen fifties and sixties. Yeah, I think we
definitely have, at least for me, a lot of things
I think of and it's not accurate as Monty Python
like oh sure, yeah, definitely. They're popular culture things where
(32:42):
that's what we see and we think, okay, this, yeah,
and I mean it's an interesting version of history. Like
I we we both love Game of Thrones, which is
not historical. I know. Medieval Times restaurants historical retellings of
(33:09):
the medieval period. They claim on their website that their
story is based on a true story from a real family.
I did read that, and I don't know if that's
marketing or not from Spain, right, yeah, they don't, but
they don't say which one anywhere, which makes me I mean,
to be fair, there were a lot of royal people
(33:31):
in Spain for a long time, so who knows. Maybe
it's bits and pieces. Oh gosh, there should really be
more of an Islamic element in medieval times because Spain
during that time would have had lots of Islamic influence.
Another inaccuracy. Well there you go. Well, if anyone can
explain or illuminate the story behind the story that they
(33:55):
use at Medieval Times, please let us know. Oh we
clearly need to get need to get these people on
the horn. Oh gosh, I would love too I would
love to. We'll see if we can make that happen.
I you know, it seems everything that I've read about
it was like either like this is a great ridiculous
thing to bring your kids to or this is a
(34:16):
great ridiculous thing to be drunk at as an adult
with your friends. Um. I think both can be true. Also, again,
just going in knowing the food, it's fine, it's not
the main part of the experience. Yes, And and that's
not no shade on that is a lot of people
(34:37):
that you're serving all at once. Yeah, Oh my gosh,
I couldn't feed people yeah at the same time. Yeah,
and probably half of them are giving you some kind
of stick people. Anyway, that was what we had to
(34:58):
say on medieval to yes. Uh. And we do have
a little bit more for you. But first we've got
another quick break for a word from our sponsor, and
we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you. Um. And
because we ended on just a little bit of like
(35:20):
a weird down note before the ad break there, I
just wanted to share with you two more positive tidbits
about medieval times. First, there is a museum of torture
in the lobby that you can go check out before
your dinner, because that's good family fund for everybody. Yeah.
I know I'm using my sarcastic voice when I say that,
(35:42):
but I kind of genuinely mean it, like being like
weird gossl that I am. Um, that's a and b Annie.
Would you would you relate for us once more, um
as you did during the break. Uh. The phone number
that you can use to dial medieval times, well that
number would be one eight eight. We joust, we joust.
(36:05):
Oh it's still funny even what I'm expecting it. Okay, alright. Also,
by the way, this is not a positive zero percent.
We are just genuinely completely heck and delighted by the
existence of this weird thing. Yeah yeah, yeah, definitely not
(36:26):
a sponsorship. If you'll want to reach out, let us
know we're right here. We are here and available ready
clearly anyway, anyway, this brings us to listen, Normer. I
was unprepared. I should have waved my flag, that's all right.
(36:53):
The look of shock on Laurence face listeners was priceless sometimes.
You know, I didn't realize until the other day when
I was I think about these you know, Oh, um,
of course you do oh, I have to. I think
we just started doing it because at the time we
couldn't decide on a jingle or and now it's just
(37:14):
a thing. It's like at the end of epic graph
battles of history they do that, Oh do they? Yeah?
He always the announcer always says it in some different way.
It's great. So hey, we're not the only only ones
doing this. Yeah, it has legitimacy. It does in the field. Yes,
(37:35):
it is a tried and true um just Sina wrote.
I'm writing in again because I have a personal tale
about the savory emotion eaten at New Year's in Japan.
I used to date a German Japanese guy and for
New Year's we would often stay with his mother, she
had moved to Germany. She would treat us with these
amazing traditional Japanese dishes that are eaten for good luck,
(37:56):
prosperity and all that good stuff. And they included some
of the weirdest tech shows and flavors I have ever experienced,
one of which was the sticky rice cake wrapped with nori.
She put the little blocks they reminded me of bigger
racers in the oven where they puffed up in the
weirdest shapes. Then she wrapped them in Nori put the
package in a little bowl and spooned a little broth.
(38:16):
I believe me so over it. It was hard enough
to even grab with chaud sticks, but then holding it
strongly enough to bite off a manageable chunk was the
real challenge. While I was trying to chew, they told
me those stories I especially old and young people have
breathing issues or even die, And I was making extra shore.
I didn't swallow any unchewed pieces. Most stressful eating experience
(38:38):
of my life. Those stressful eating experiences. Oh goodness, we've
all had them. We have, certainly, certainly we've had them.
Oh gosh, yes we have. I don't think I've ever
had one where I was eating something I was worried
would kill me at that moment, you know, like later maybe, yeah, yeah,
(38:59):
like years down the line, perhaps, but never in the moment. Yeah.
I've never been trying to eat something and thought, oh boy,
this is gonna be it, this could be the last thing.
Um Austin wrote. We recently got a new puppy and
getting him to sleep through the night has been ridiculous.
I feel you there, Um, However, I learned that if
(39:21):
I play your podcast, he'll sleep. At first, I thought
he just liked to hear people talking, but after introducing
him to three other podcasts, I found out he prefers yours.
As soon as he hears the opening music, he makes
his way into my bedroom. Thank you guys for making
Puppy Training at Breeze. Attached below our pictures of the
dog Scout PS. I wanted to name him Garlic, but
(39:42):
it was vetoed. Oh that is so sweet, Scout, High Scout,
you are such a good dog. Scout, you're trying. I
you know what we should update our slogan, savor preferred
by puppies. I like it. I'm not finited at all
all years. Agoes asleep. No, that's great, that's wonderful. Get
(40:04):
get sleep. However, you can man exactly exactly. It did
remind me of back when do you remember when we
had the problem with our ad bikes. They're so loud,
oh yeah, compared to the rest of the podcast, and
so many people wrote in angry at me, Well not me,
but yeah, the situation um saying I use your podcast
to fall asleep and I don't dare you wake me? Up,
(40:25):
and I would say the most polite way as possible.
I really, I really truly do appreseate that. But if
you're just trying to sleep, maybe podcast. Yeah, until we
picked this problem, which we did, and now we're helping puppies.
You know, it's just just one puppy at a time
at a time making the world a better place. Yes, yes, Well,
(40:49):
thanks to both of them for writing both word delights. Yes,
oh gosh um And if you would like to write
to us, we would love to hear from you. Our
email is hello at favorite pod dot com. We're also
on social media and you can find us on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at savor pod. Favor is a production of
I Heart Radio and Stuff Media. For more podcasts in
(41:11):
my Heart Radio, you can visit the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Thanks as always to our super producers Dylan Fagan and
Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and we hope
that lots of more good things are coming your way.
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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