ABSTRACT
As some food historians have pointed out, apart from the archaeological remains of some kitchens belonging to kings, great lords or monasteries, little is known about how the popular classes ate their food in the Middle Ages. In addition, this knowledge has an eminently iconographic base. However, mediaeval Spanish saying collections are rich in references to food, but they have never been read from this point of view. This chapter, thus, tackles food in the rich Spanish tradition of Middle Ages sayings through a lexical study on ingredients, tools and ways of preparing food to be eaten. As it will be seen, this means a departure point towards abstract conpcepts related to food consumption that reveal a symbolic representation of the Spanish mediaeval society and its moral values.
