THis is Anglocentric.
Different countries in Europe had different customs.
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AZ, you might be correct to a degree. However, much in this piece would definitely comport with readings from medieval France and Central Europe. There are some good contemporaneous accounts from Troyes, France, as well as from Poland. Meat was difficult to come by for the average man.
“Fat Tuesday” was a BIG deal for many families, not because the fast of Lent is coming, but because they got to eat all the meat and rich foods they had been able to scavenge the previous months of winter.
Thanks for your post.
People in Medieval Times were always on the verge of starvation and so they ate whatever was available. Not too much choice, eat this or stave!
During the wars and bad harvest, people used to die from starvation!
Meat was expensive so you would eat it according to your pocketbook. Rich got a lot more of it than the poor.
However, for the same reasons, there were no vegetarians around either!
If you got hold of some meat, you would eat it!
And, there were customs of sharing. If somebody slaughter a pig or cow, all the village got a piece of it!
All you have to do was to be a friendly person, not to spoil the feast! If you could, you would repay the same way, if you could not, you just had to thank the host nicely! Unlike present day welfare system, they knew who was poor and deserved help and who was just a lazy asocial!