Rabbit with pudding in its belly

I watched a crazy program on BBC2 tonight about what food was like in Elizabethan times. Basically it was about a food critic (a self confessed "fatso") and a radio presenter that had to live a whole week eating as a wealthy Elizabethan merchant would have lived.

Their meals were... interesting. The highlights seemed to feature an entire sheep's head (including the oesophagus and lungs), most kinds of fish and beer with every single meal. Tea and coffee weren't due to arrive in England for another 100 years.

One of the most bizarre servings was a fish (and on another day, a rabbit) with a suet fruit pudding cooked in its belly.

I'm not sure if the funniest part was watching the two presenters try to stomach some of the (quite frankly) foul oddities from the table of history or their occasional tantrums due to caffeine withdrawal. :)

Quite frankly it was vile and I'm glad to be born in this century. What was noticeably absent from their meals was any kind of vegetable. It was meat, meat and meat cooked in cloves, nutmeg and various dried fruits (including, in large quantities, the prune).

Both of the guinea pigs lost 4 kilograms over the course of one week and I'm not surprised. It was pretty much a Shakespearean Atkins diet.

Here's the BBC's description of the show:

Restaurant Critic Giles Coren and writer and performer Sue Perkins spend a week going back to the food of Elizabeth I and William Shakespeare. Cooking for them at home is top chef Paul Merrett. Giles puts on his codpiece and Sue makes up like Queen Bess.

The duo discover the joys of sheep's head decorated with offal, the dish that bleeds and leaping frog pie. Giles tries some cupping and Sue learns the lute. With so many exciting foods to try out from the New World, the intrepid Supersizers find out how healthy the Elizabethan diet was.