Food that wiggles

If you haven't guessed by now, my attention to things medieval tends to wander across many facets of daily life. Here is another one: eels. I happened to see a nature show about eels the other day and immediately linked it to medieval food and the wide variety of seafood in Sicily. Eels are both salt and fresh water fish, with more than 800 species. Some are migratory, being born in the ocean and traveling inland in rivers and streams. These particular eels do not breed in fresh water so are often caught in mass quantity as they head back to the ocean using eels traps made of netting or wire. Eels are predators that eat other small fish and crustaceans. The European eel, now critically endangered, is a species that has been recorded at nearly 10 feet long and 350 pounds, although the modern version is smaller. They can live more than 80 years. Medieval castles, monasteries, and farms often raised their own eels in eel ponds as they did their own vegetables, flowers, and other animals. Eels are a tremendous source of protein and Vitamins A and E. They were served fresh, salted or smoked. During the later Middle Ages, eels somehow became associated with the spread of plague, and consumption dropped off. Current Italian cuisine especially favors eels from Valli di Comacchio, a swampy area along the Adriatic coast. Due to the decline in eel populations, present day eel meet is expensive. Some Maine fishermen are becoming millionaires by farming eels, sending the young ones to China's feed lots, and being sold at unheard of prices in Japan.


Moray eel




Medieval eeler



Conger eel, European eel