What did poor people eat in the 16th-century?

What was the typical diet of a 16th-century peasant?

What did a 16th-century peasant typically eat? Mostly, it was bread, pottage, and vegetables. Bread, a real core food, varied greatly in quality. Honestly, it just sounds kinda… simple, doesn't it?

I mean, bread was the big deal then, a true cornerstone of every meal. But imagine the quality. Not like the sourdough I splurged on last Tuesday, March 12th, from that little bakery downtown; that cost me eight quid. Theirs must've been, ugh, so coarse and heavy.

Must've been kinda... hard to eat, wouldn't you say? Just tough to chew, probs. My old nan, she always said, 'you get what you're given.'

And pottage? What even is pottage, really? Like a thick, soupy-gruel sort of thing, I guess? Full of whatever they could find. I keep picturing them just tossing in any greens, a bit like that odd soup I made last year that no one would touch.

Honestly, it makes you stop and think about how much we just... take for granted, you know? Like, having actual food options.

Last summer, around mid-July, I tried growing some chives in a tiny pot on my balcony. It struggled. Imagine your whole family's existence depending on if your small patch of land actually produced something. That's really wild, just wild.