Bonjour Frogleg,

Well I know that a lot of stuff was preserved: dried fruit, salted meat
etc. Honey and salt are both extremely good preservatives, as is
fermentation. Hence alcohol (also kills bugs in the water), yogurt and
cheese. Keeping things under oil also works. Our wonderful gourmet
sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil is a very effective way to keep them for
several months. Pickling is also worth a mention. So a huge raft of
fresh food can have their shelf-life extended.

Here in the UK pasturised milk is standard but in the rest of Europe UHT
seams to be the norm and a lot of yogurt is drunk too. (This annoys me
on holiday cause tea with UHT milk is not the same as pasturised.)

The other thing about diets long ago is that they were a lot more
seasonal. You only got fruit and veg when they were in season and grown
locally.

In victorian times the big houses had ice houses but that is the first
refrigeration I know about in the UK.

What I wonder about is what did the Italians cook before America and
particularly the tomato was discovered?

Yours,
Helen

Note: The email address has a bit of a fudge in it.