So I now that potatoes, tomatoes and some legumes came from the New World to Europe. These are things that I (and many fellow Europeans) eat every day. I am wondering what were the typical things that were eaten in normal Medieval family? I guess in the winters they didn't get their 5 servings of fresh fruit that are recommended now. Do we have any record of their diet?
Below the line is my answer from some time ago. The 'daily servings', 'food pyramid', etc are propaganda of modern agricultural lobbyists - so it's best not to look at the effectiveness of past diets measured against that. Bread and beans (legumes) were staples everywhere; meat, poultry, and fish consumed more frequently than thought. Their seasonal diets are the greatest difference to our modern eating habits.
The 'records' we have of diet for the bulk of the middle ages need to be received with deep scrutiny. For example, a lot of reference is made to 'peculiarities' of medieval dietary restrictions; we need to be credulous about these as the sources are two fold, each presenting a problem:
Early/medieval sources are often monastic (as they were the only ones who anything related to food down in the period^1 ) and over-laid with 'what should be' or other moralistic concerns; in other words they are prescriptive of what diet should be, and not reflective of what it was across medieval populations. Archaeology helps us resist these prescriptive pictures^2 .
Constance B. Hieatt in her essay "Making Sense of Medieval Culinary Records: Much Done, But Much More to Do"^3 provides fascinating insight into the trustworthiness of late medieval recipes through a reflection on how she has changed her mind about the words and meanings of manuscripts that she has researched over decades. And here she writes about how some old myths refuse to die:
Right up to the period in the 1980s when a great deal of new material began to become available , much of what was written about medieval food was just plain wrong, whether because the evidence was misinterpreted or because it was still insufficient in quantity (or, in some cases, quality) . Any number of painful instances can be found in William Edward Mead's The English Medieval Feast [1931], which was for many years the most valuable source of information about the food of medieval English (and French) aristocrats. But saying that it was the most valuable is tantamount to calling it the best of a bad lot: it is riddled with such misconceptions as that 'practically every dish was smothered in spices' and thus that 'even the best [medieval recipes] contain one or more ingredients repulsive to modern tastes or...combined in a fashion that would now make them nauseating in the extreme' (pp. 57 and 55).
It also states as fact such myths as that medieval cooks used spices to disguise the flavour of spoiled meat (p. 77), a myth which is, unfortunately, still current among the general public; and that vegetables were hardly eaten at all, at least by the well-to-do (e.g., p. 100). However, there is one thing I can report to Mead's credit: he did not perpetrate the misconception common today that medieval diners chewed messily on large bones and threw them around with wild abandon. I presume we owe that one largely to Charles Laughton's memorable film performance as Henry VIII.
Mead was highly selective of his sources, but they have cemented themselves in our minds (as the deleted comment below tried to repeat as truth). Incidentally, this is similar to the source problems we have with reconstructing concepts of medicine and health in the middle ages.
In the inquisition records I study from 1245-46 (interviews of over 5000 people) the subjects of south-west France speak regularly of 'corn' (wheat), nuts, wine, breads, etc.
Below I outline the fruits and vegetables which would have been grown domestically and eaten in north western Europe (France/Germany/England) by the late medieval period, or in some cases imported from southern Europe in preserved form.
The late medieval period would have been just the point before 'new world' foods found their way to Europe.
I do not include here the medieval trade in spices (which was significant). Nor do I discuss meats, fowl, fish, cereals and legumes (beans); in the main these remained relatively the same through the medieval period and are recognizable to us today, although methods of husbandry might have changed (ie forest-raised pigs vs. pasture and pen, river fishing vs. fish ponds, etc) or dominance of one cereal or legume over another based on substantial transformation of cultivation techniques between 10-13th century CE (crop rotation).
I use north western Europe as a barometer; many foods were in the mediterranean Europe centuries before the north adapted or adopted them.
Note: In [brackets] are origins, then first cultivation reference in West, then Medieval uses (medieval = high to late medieval due to documentary sources).
Fruit
Apples: [Caucasus] evidenced by Greeks and Romans; Medieval: fresh or dried; added to sauces and as fillings; added to verjuice (cooking liquid); made cider
Pears: [Caucusus] evidenced by Greeks and Romans; Medieval: like apples, eaten fresh or dried; added to sauces and as fillings; made cider
Quinces: [Caucasus] evidenced by Greeks and Romans; Medieval: preserved in honey, eaten as 'marmalade' or in sauces and stews
Plums: [European native?] evidenced by later Romans; Medieval: eaten fresh and dried; stuffing, sauces and stews
Peaches: [China via Persia] evidenced by Greeks and Romans; eaten fresh and dried; stuffing and sauces
Cherries: [West asia] evidenced by Romans; Medieval : eaten fresh and dried; preserves; stews and stuffing
Berries: [Indigenous] Late medievals created several of the cultivars we know now, including strawberries; however berries of all sorts were foraged and grow including blackberries, raspberries; eaten fresh and dried
Grapes: [West asia via Phoenicians] evidenced by earliest Greeks; Medievals fresh and dried as raisins; juice, syrup, fermented as wine and spirits; vinegar and verjuice;
Citrons (lemon/lime): [India] evidenced by late Romans; Northern Medievals imported these from the mediterranean as they did not grow domestically, and were therefore eaten dried or preserved
Oranges: [India/China] Arrived in medieval mediterranean as bitter varieties by 12th century; juiced; candied/preserved
Figs: [Not indigenous but predates Greeks] evidenced by greeks and romans; Medievals: eaten fresh, dried and candied; stews
Dates: imported by Romans and Greeks; Medievals imported them dried from Arabic lands, eaten as-is or in sauces
Vegetables
Garlic: [Asia] evidenced by Egyptians, Greeks and Romans; Medievals: sauces; salads; preserved; medicines;
Onions: [Asia] evidenced by Eqyptians, Greeks and Romans; Medievals: salads, sauces, soups, stews
Cabbage: [Indigenous] evidenced by Eqyptians, Greeks and Romans; Medievals it is found as cabbage cultivars including cauliflower, kale, broccoli, etc; soups, stews, salads; pickled; cooked; juiced
Lettuce: [Indigenous] evidenced by Greeks and Romans; Medievals: salads
Turnips: [Indigenous] evidenced by Romans; Medievals: cooked; stews; pickled;
Parsnips: [Indigenous] evidenced by Greeks and Romans; Medievals: cooked; preserved; juiced for sweet essence
Carrots: [Indigenous] not cultivated as root for eating by Romans or Greeks, 'modern' carrot developed in the early middle ages in the south and became staple in the north by late middle ages (yellow or purple in colour); salads, stews
Beets: [Indigenous] evidenced by Romans; Medievals cultivated varietals into chard; eaten cooked, sauces, soups;
Radishes: [Indigenous] evidenced by Eqyptians, Greeks and Romans; Medievals eaten as salad, cooked, sauces, soups, stews;
Gourds: [Indigenous] evidenced by Romans; Medievals: soups, stews, cooked
Cucumbers: [India?] evidenced by Greeks and Romans; Medievals: soups, salads
Asparagus: [Indigenous] evidenced by Greeks and Romans; Medievals: cooked, fried
Eggplant (Aubergine): [India] Medievals: received from Arabs in early middle ages; cooked, fried;
Spinach: [Persia 4th CE] Medievals: received from Arabs in high middle ages, boiled, fried, salads
Mushrooms: [Indigenous] evidenced by Greeks and Romans; Medievals: cooked, fried, salads, dried
Olives: [Indigenous] evidenced by Greeks and Romans; medievals: pressed oils; preserved
Beyond fruits and vegetables, there were a lot of native herbs and wild leaf varietals ('salads') and a lot of nuts which, if not native to Europe, were established by the time of Greeks from eastern sources; nuts like almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts, pistachios, chestnuts. These would have all been present in medieval diets and are testified to in some surprising ways, including identification of almonds with heretics in the 13th century.
^1 See for example Jotischky, Andrew. Hermit’s Cookbook: Monks, Food and Fasting in the Middle Ages. Continuum, 2011.
^2 See Woolgar, C. M., D. Serjeantson, and T. Waldron. Food in Medieval England: Diet and Nutrition. Oxford, 2009.
^3 Essay in a wonderful collection: Carlin, Martha, and Joel Thomas Rosenthal. Food and Eating in Medieval Europe. Hambledon Press, 1998.