 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2009) |
 A potage soup, in this case prepared with potato and truffle | |
| Type | Soup, stew, or porridge |
|---|---|
| Main ingredients | Vegetables, grains, meat or fish |
Pottage or potage (/pɒˈ-, pəˈ-/, French: [potaʒ] ; from Old French pottage 'food cooked in a pot') is a term for a thick soup or stew made by boiling vegetables, grains, and, if available, meat or fish.[a] It was a staple food for many centuries.[1][2] The word pottage comes from the same Old French root as potage, which is a dish of more recent origin.
Pottage ordinarily consisted of various ingredients easily available to peasants. It could be kept over the fire for a period of days, during which time some of it could be eaten, and more ingredients added. The result was a dish that was constantly changing. Pottage consistently remained a staple of poor people's diet throughout most of 9th to 17th-century Europe. When wealthier people ate pottage, they would add more expensive ingredients such as meats. The pottage that these people ate was much like modern-day soups.[3]
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- ^ The Oxford Companion to Food, p. 648
- ^ Goodman 2016, p. 142.
- ^ "The history of 'plumb porridge' at Christmas | Christmas". The Guardian. Retrieved 2022-03-15.