Ancient British kings ate vegetable diets.
Ancient British kings ate vegetable diets
Experts are convinced that Anglo-Saxon rulers like Alfred the Great shared the same diet as their peasant subjects and debunks the art which suggests royalty enjoyed roasts.
An examination of the diet shows it mainly consisted of bread, grains and boiled veg.
A team from Cambridge University analysed the bones of more than 2,000 people buried in England from the 5th to the 11th centuries with chemicals revealing that both royalty and peasants had veggie diets with meat feasts only saved for special occasions.
Historian Dr. Tom Lambert said: "We were quite surprised by the findings. The popular view has always been of a big social divide between the elites and the peasants.
"But their diet was the same. It shows on normal days they were mostly eating bread and vegetable stew. And once in a while they would come together for a nice spread or a barbecue. So an early form of flexitarianism."