The basic Iron Age home was a circular building made of wattle and daub with a pointed thatched roof. There was no division into ‘rooms’ and so there was no separate kitchen. Food was cooked on an open hearth placed in the middle of the building. Meals were eaten from a low table and diners would sit on a floor of rush matting or animal skins. Food would be eaten from wooden plates using fingers and a sharp knife.
The most important piece of equipment for food preparation was a large iron pot or cauldron which could be hung over the open fire on an iron tripod. In this, meat and vegetables could be cooked in water to make a stew (pottage) although spits were sometimes used for roasting meat. The Celts also cooked outside in pits with hot stones laid over the meat or fish and then covered by turf to keep the heat in. Bread, which was made with the yeast resulting from ale brewing, or natural yeasts from the air (sourdough), was either baked on a bakestone over the fire or in the hot ashes on the floor around the fire.
The climate of the British Isles, like other northernmost areas of Europe, meant that food was not available throughout the year. Not all the meat from a slaughtered animal could be eaten immediately and crops harvested at the end of the summer needed to be stored until the harvest the following year. Such foodstuffs needed to be preserved. Meat and fish were either salted, smoked or dried, and summer vegetables were pickled with a mixture of salt and lactic acid or whey. Grains were kept in barns raised off the ground to keep them dry. Summer fruits could be preserved in pottery vessels with honey.
The diet of the Celts was supported by farming practices which they introduced to the British Isles and was primarily based on the raising of cattle for milk and pigs and sheep for meat and the cultivation of arable crops such as wheat, barley, oats and rye. Ingredients that were native to the islands included fruits such as blackberries, elderberries, haws and crab apple; herbs such as ramsons (wild garlic), sorrel, alexanders, watercress, and nuts: hazelnuts and cob nuts. As well as stews of meat and vegetables, roasted meats and fish, the Celtic diet consisted of porridges made from grains; cheese and butter; breads made from a variety of grains; and honey gathered from skeps. Most meat came from farmed animals, particularly sheep and pigs, but other meats, such as wild boar, were hunted. Root vegetables were cultivated while herbs, such as wild garlic and sorrel, and fruit berries were gathered. Ale made from malted barley and mead made from fermented honey, an important drink to the druids, were the staple beverages.
During the year there were important Celtic seasonal festivals when feasting, particularly on the sacred boar, and drinking took place, the most important centering on the solstices.
