"The eating and feasting habits of the Celts were recorded by a number of classical writers, the most important of these being Posidonius, a Syrian Greek philosopher who in his Histories provides eyewitness accounts of the Gauls in the 1st Century BC. Although his work does not survive intact, it was an important sources of information for a number of later Greek writers, notably Diodorus Siculus (1st century BC) and Athenaeus (fl. C. AF 200). Detailed accounts are also found throughout the corpus of early medieval Irish saga literature, much of which is believed to reflect Iron Age Celtic society. Athenaus, quoting Posidonious, describes the informal feasting arrangements of the Celts as follows: 'the Celts place dried grass on the floor when they eat their meals, using tables which are raised slightly off the ground.' The classical material indicates that the feast was centered around the cauldron and roasting spits and was characterized by an abundance of roasted and boiled meat, which were eaten with bare hands....the feast was a ceremonial manifestation of the warfaring nature of society."

---Oxford Compantion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 149-50)

[NOTE: This book contains far more information than can be paraphrased here. It also cites sources for further study. Your librarian can help you find a copy.]

"The Celts, like their predecessors, prepared their meat by roasting or stewing. Both methods became easier after the introduction of metal utensils. Bronze, known in Britain from introduction the middle of the second millennium BC, was for a long time used sparingly for weapons, knives or jewelry. The inspiration for cauldrons of the meat came from the Greek trading colonies on the French Mediterranean coasts. Their vessels of riveted sheet bronze were seen and copied by itinerant Irish smiths about the eighth or seventh century BC. Soon cauldrons began to made in Britain too, though there were rare at first and were probably reserved for ritual meals rather than everyday use. Metal had many practical advantages over pottery. The new containers could be placed directly over the flames of a fire. They were not liable to be broken through over-heating or by being accidentally dropped. They were even more hygienic, for they could be cleaned with sand or ask and water more thoroughly than earthenware pots."

---Food and Drink in Britain From the Stone Age to the 19th Century, C. Anne Wilson [Academy Chicago:Chicago] 1992 (p. 67)

[NOTE: This book is an excellent source for your project. It is arranged by general food group (cereals, breads, meats, vegetables, etc.) and then by time period. Each chapter has pages devoted to Iron Age Celtic foods/cooking methods. Sample below. Ask your librarian to help you find a copy of this book.]

Meat:

"Mealtimes among the Celts in Gaul were described by Posidonius (135-51 BC)...The diners sat on the ground on straw or hides, and ate their meat with their fingers in a cleanly by leonine fashion, raising up whole limbs in both hands and biting off the meat, while any part that is hard to tear off they cut through with a small dagger which hangs attached to their swordsheath in its own scabbard'. They were waited upon by t heir older sons and daughters. Beside them are hearths blazing with fire, with cauldrons and spits containing large pieces of meat. Brave warriors they honor with the finest portions of the meat.' The Celtic Iron Age saw the establishment of salt working around Britain coasts. The salt helped to preserve meat for winter use, and especially the pork so well loved by the Celts. The hams prepared by their neighbours in Gaul were exported to Rome as a delicacy; but we know no details about the salted meats of Britain. According to an Italian recipes of the mid-second century BC, hams had to be covered with salt and steeped in their own brine for seventeen days, dried for two, rubbed over with oil and vinegar, and them smoked for a further two days. It is likely that Celtic Britons followed similar practices, barring the oil and vinegar dressing."

---Food and Drink in Britain (p. 68)

"The Celts, who began to settle in Britain from the eighth century B.C., added hens, ducks, and geese to the list of Britain's domeseticated animals. They refused to eat the wild horses and instead tamed them for riding and for drawing wagons and chariots. The Celts were the first to recognize that the soil of Britain is more fertile than that of continental Europe, and they cleared forests to plant cereals and allow pasture to grow for grazing. They preserved meat, fish, and butter in salt and exported British beef to the Continent. The Celts also tilled the soil so successfully that they exported grain to many parts of Europe. In Britain, they built underground grain storage silos. The Celts processed wheat by setting ears alight, then extinguishing the fire when the husks were burnt. The wheat was then winnowed and baked, and saddle querns were used to grind it into flour. These industrious farmers also began beekeeping, with conical hives made from wickerwork daubed with mud or dung. They employed shallow earthenware pots as drinking vessels, whereas deeper pots were made for cooking pottages (mixtures of meat, grains, leaves, roots, and herbs) slowly over a fire. Honey and water, left together in a pot, will ferment, and this drink--mead--was often flavored with wild herbs and fruits. Some cow, ewe, and goat milk might have been drunk fresh, but most of it would have been made into cheese and only the whey drunk. The Celts made an unhopped beer from barley and wheat, first allowing the grain to germinate, then stopping this process with heat and allowing it to ferment. Finally, they also imported wine and, later, began to grow vines themselves."

---Cambridge World History of Food, Kenneth F. Kiple and Kriemhild Conee Ornelas [Cambridge University Press:Cambridge] 2000, Volume Two (p. 1217-8)

[NOTE: page 1217 contains a summary of foods known in the British Isles prior to the Celts. Presumably, these foods were also known to these peoples.]

Recommended reading:



Food and Drink in Prehistory Europe/Jacqui Wood

Prehistoric Cooking , Jacqui Wood (includes modernized recipes)

, Jacqui Wood (includes modernized recipes) "The Celts," Food in the Ancient World, Joan P. Alcock (p. 172-180)

What did Irish people eat before the potato arrived?

Food history books skip from Ancient Celtic fare to the late 17th century, when the Irish embraced the potato. Surely, food did not stand still for centuries. "Irish Food Before the Potato," A.T. Lucas, Gwerin: A Half-Yearly Journal of Folk Life, Volume III, No. 2, 1960(p. 3-43) explores this period in depth. Information is grouped by food type: meat, bread, milk, cheese, corn (grain), butter, drinks. This scholarly article is not available via the Internet or academic databases. You can read it here, in three short courses: I, II & III.