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Original poster

To ask what you think food would be like if tomatoes and potatoes had never arrived in Europe from the new world

35 replies

Fragmentedbrain · 30/07/2025 17:24

What sort of stuff would we be eating? Would your dinner be totally different?

OP posts:
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sashh · 31/07/2025 08:00

Fragmentedbrain · 30/07/2025 17:28

Fish and rice is a nice idea actually - had a great fish and rice thing in Portugal!

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Off topic, I sometimes cook smoked haddock and rice in a mixture of water and orange juice.

Back on topic

I think we would have mash and chips but it would be turnip or other root veg.

OP

Do you mean sort of back in time before they arrived in the UK (which I know didn't exist then) or that everything else has developed as we are now, just with no potatoes and tomatoes?

Bread would probably provide most carb content and I think pies have quite a long history.

Ginmonkeyagain · 31/07/2025 07:31

Black pepper can make food pretty spicy if you use enough of it. The Romans were very keen on it. They would have loved chilli!

NeverDropYourMooncup · 31/07/2025 00:31

Fragmentedbrain · 30/07/2025 21:52

It's crazy to think hot food wouldn't really have been that spicy!

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Have you ever tried fresh mustard or horseradish?

We've always eaten spicy food to make basic foods less boring. If we're only excluding things like tomato, chilli or potatoes, we'd be able to get wasabi as well via Russia - and other starches such as plantain and yam.

RantzNotBantz · 31/07/2025 00:31

Suet puddings: steak and kidney, spotted dick…

Lilyhatesjaz · 31/07/2025 00:19

Turnips, nettles and fat hen.
All horrible.

Ferro · 31/07/2025 00:15

Dumplings
We might have started eating pasta sooner
More yorkshire pudding

RantzNotBantz · 30/07/2025 23:45

Pies!

Wigeon · 30/07/2025 22:14

Redflagsabounded · 30/07/2025 20:56

@Wigeon snap! KW?

@Redflagsabounded bingo! See you in a couple of weeks?! 😁 Although I won't be cooking this time. Add your own KW food that I've forgotten to this thread! To show it's not at all just bread and turnips when you don't have potatoes!

Original poster
Fragmentedbrain · 30/07/2025 21:52

fromthegecko · 30/07/2025 21:50

Curries (South and East Asia) would still be made hot with black pepper instead of chillies.

Hungarian goulash (no paprika) would be very different.

I once toured an old flour mill: the amount of bread eaten by English people before the arrival of potatoes was insane - several loaves a day, for people doing hard physical work. Anyone with cœliac disease would starve to death pretty quickly.

It's crazy to think hot food wouldn't really have been that spicy!

OP posts:
fromthegecko · 30/07/2025 21:50

Curries (South and East Asia) would still be made hot with black pepper instead of chillies.

Hungarian goulash (no paprika) would be very different.

I once toured an old flour mill: the amount of bread eaten by English people before the arrival of potatoes was insane - several loaves a day, for people doing hard physical work. Anyone with cœliac disease would starve to death pretty quickly.

sanityisamyth · 30/07/2025 21:48

Fine by me. Highly allergic to tomatoes in all their revolting forms.

PractisingMyTelekenipsis · 30/07/2025 21:45

Fish and rice is a thing. Never heard of kedgeree?

I love potatoes, but my body doesn't so I wouldn't miss them if we'd never had them!

I cant imagine not having tomatoes though, so many of the meals I make have some in.

Yabberwok · 30/07/2025 21:41

soupyspoon · 30/07/2025 20:48

We did obtain foods from the East, trading along the silk road.

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Thank god I thought I'd slipped into an alternative reality. The phrase pepper corn rent now means cheap...it once was expensive as pepper corns travelled along the silk route and eventually got to Britain.... I'm full of useless facts like that, ask me to wire a plug and I'm googling

Laura95167 · 30/07/2025 21:37

Pottage like ye olde days.

Meat and grains

Talkinpeace · 30/07/2025 21:31

White Pizza

One of my rows with Biff and Chip about their Rome adventure

Ginmonkeyagain · 30/07/2025 21:25

A lot of bread and porridge like grain dishes. Romans got through vast amounts of bread.

Romans would have loved tomatoes as they were very fond of umani type flavours. Garum (a fish sauce like Nam Pla) was consumed in huge amounts. They also loved heat and use pepper a lot to make dishes spicy and hot.

GulliaumeDuc · 30/07/2025 20:56

It would be a surfeit of lampreys.

Redflagsabounded · 30/07/2025 20:56

@Wigeon snap! KW?

Nopenott0day · 30/07/2025 20:54

As a multi period reenactor (pre history, ancient Greek, Roman, early medieval, high medieval & early Tudor) I experiment with a lot of foods. There is some amazing recipes still available to us.

RitaFromThePitCanteen · 30/07/2025 20:53

More oats in savoury dishes. More bread with hot meals. More parsnip, turnip and swede. Probably even more pasta and rice if we'd still had the trade and influence from countries outside the Americas.

soupyspoon · 30/07/2025 20:48

GrouachMacbeth · 30/07/2025 20:32

I wonder if we would have obtained food from Asia or Africa, if the exploration had not been westwards....

We did obtain foods from the East, trading along the silk road.

GrouachMacbeth · 30/07/2025 20:32

I wonder if we would have obtained food from Asia or Africa, if the exploration had not been westwards....

Original poster
Fragmentedbrain · 30/07/2025 20:17

Wigeon · 30/07/2025 18:11

I know exactly what it would be like as a volunteer as a Tudor re-enactor and have cooked meals for both gentry level people and working class people, without using any tomatoes or potatoes (or forks! They didn't have those either). Working class people didn't just eat mush. Examples I have cooked and eaten for working class include:

Veg stews of all kinds, including things like onions, leeks, all kinds of pulses, carrots, herbs, garlic, all kings of green veg

Bread

Cheese

Occasional meat and fish

Authentic Tudor gentry level food (for well off family, not nobility) that I have cooked and /or eaten:

Veg stews but also meat stews, using chicken, pork, pheasant, rabbit, beef, with all kinds of herbs or spices to flavour

Various dishes of lentils /pulses

Tarts - both sweet and savoury. Quiche type tarts, could include French cheese in them (imported from France).

Gingerbread

Meatballs

Various fish dishes

Pasta in shape of noodles - yes really

Stuffed things - stuffed mushrooms, stuffed eggs

Salads using fresh lettuce and all kinds of other veg

Stewed fruit sweetened with honey. Marzipan.

They ate very well without a single potato or tomato!

This is cool! How much did they eat eggs? I hate eggs so much.

OP posts:
Elsvieta · 30/07/2025 19:12

RumJerrySailorRum · 30/07/2025 17:59

I only eat British tomatoes or potatoes so id be none the wiser probably.

If I cook a roast, there are no potatoes on it as I prefer to fill up on veg.

Yes I eat mince based dishes, but my favourite ones are not tomato based.

I do like the odd packet of crisps, but I'd rather have nuts!

That's the point - there are no native British potatoes or tomatoes. Our cuisine didn't have either until we discovered the new world.

We'd be like medieval peasants - bread at every meal. Oats and barley etc.

Wigeon · 30/07/2025 18:11

I know exactly what it would be like as a volunteer as a Tudor re-enactor and have cooked meals for both gentry level people and working class people, without using any tomatoes or potatoes (or forks! They didn't have those either). Working class people didn't just eat mush. Examples I have cooked and eaten for working class include:

Veg stews of all kinds, including things like onions, leeks, all kinds of pulses, carrots, herbs, garlic, all kings of green veg

Bread

Cheese

Occasional meat and fish

Authentic Tudor gentry level food (for well off family, not nobility) that I have cooked and /or eaten:

Veg stews but also meat stews, using chicken, pork, pheasant, rabbit, beef, with all kinds of herbs or spices to flavour

Various dishes of lentils /pulses

Tarts - both sweet and savoury. Quiche type tarts, could include French cheese in them (imported from France).

Gingerbread

Meatballs

Various fish dishes

Pasta in shape of noodles - yes really

Stuffed things - stuffed mushrooms, stuffed eggs

Salads using fresh lettuce and all kinds of other veg

Stewed fruit sweetened with honey. Marzipan.

They ate very well without a single potato or tomato!