With sugar and spices prohibitively expensive in
16th-century England, one recipe writer used parsnips instead
What comes to mind when you think of Tudor food? Perhaps you imagine a great feast at which ostentatious pies were served with stuffed and gilded swans on top. After mountains of meat, the wealthy would banquet on luxurious biscuits, candied fruits and elaborate sugar sculptures. Henry VIII’s leading statesman Thomas Wolsey even created an entire sugar chessboard for such an occasion, complete with moving sugar pieces.
But the Tudor period also experienced great want. Poor harvests were common, landowners closed off pasture to peasants, and the growing population put pressure on dwindling food supplies.