ABSTRACT
In the Hispanic Middle Ages, each individual had to eat according to their social status. Doctors and preachers advocated different food systems according to the cradle in which each person was born. However, these theories were actually trying to deal with an increasingly evident reality, which was the instability of that society. The nobles, and also the high clergy, tried to impress with the quantity and quality of the food served at their tables, and above all they justified their social primacy through the distribution – albeit selective – of their leftovers. On the other hand, the newly rich, the bourgeoisie, combined the imitation of aristocratic manners with a greater desire for rationality and the need to prove to everyone that they were good Christians. In contrast, the majority of the population ate to survive and tried to get as many nutrients as possible from a limited income.
