“All credits to Atlas Obscura” link at the end of this text<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The knights\u2019 diets seem to have been a balancing act between the ordinary fasting demands on monks, and the fact that these knights lived active, military lives. You couldn\u2019t crusade, or joust, on an empty stomach. (Although the Knights Templar only jousted in combat or training\u2014not for sport.) So three times a week, the knights were permitted to eat meat\u2014even though it was \u201cunderstood that the custom of eating flesh corrupts the body.\u201d On Sundays, everyone ate meat, with higher-up members permitted both lunch and dinner with some kind of roast animal. Accounts from the time show that this was often beef, ham, or bacon, with salt for seasoning or to cure the meat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s likely that these portions were considerable: If the knights weren\u2019t allowed meat due to a Tuesday fast, the next day it would be available \u201cin plenty.\u201d One source suggests that cooks loaded enough meat onto their plates \u201cto feed two poor men with the leftovers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, the knights ate more spartan, vegetable-filled meals. Although the rules describe these meals as \u201ctwo or three meals of vegetables or other dishes eaten with bread,\u201d they also often included milk, eggs, and cheese. Otherwise, they might eat potage, made with oats or pulses, gruels, or fiber-rich vegetable stews. (The wealthier brothers might mix in expensive spices, such as cumin.) In their gardens, they grew fruits and vegetables, especially Mediterranean produce such as figs, almonds, pomegranates, olives, and corn (grain).* These healthy foodstuffs likely also made their way into their meals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once a week, on Fridays, they observed a Lenten fast\u2014no eggs, milk, or other animal products. For hearty fare, they relied on dried or salted fish, and dairy or egg substitutes made from almond milk. Even here, however, there are pragmatic concessions. The weak and sick abstained from these fasts and received \u201cmeat, flesh, birds, and all other foods which bring good health,\u201d to return them to fighting shape as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All the while, brothers drank wine\u2014but this too was restricted. Everyone had an identical ration, which was diluted, and they were advised that alcohol should \u201cnot be taken to excess, but in moderation. For Solomon said \u2026 wine corrupts the wise.\u201d In the Holy Lands, they allegedly mixed a potent cocktail of antiseptic aloe vera, hemp, and palm wine, known as the Elixir of Jerusalem, which may have helped accelerate healing from injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Franceschi describes other regulations beyond the Primitive Rules that were \u201cspecifically designed to avoid the spreading of infections.\u201d These included mandatory handwashing before eating or praying, and exempting brothers in charge of manual tasks outdoors from food preparation or serving. Some of these innovations, picked up without any awareness of germs, may have resulted from interactions with Arab doctors, renowned during the period for their superior medical knowledge. By medieval medical standards, Templar Knights were at its apex, able to treat many illnesses and to take care of their weak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The order was one of the richest in the world\u2014yet these rules prevented the knights from sitting on their laurels or gorging themselves on fatty, cured meat. In fact, many of these rules resemble modern dietary advice: Lots of vegetables, meat on occasion, and wine in moderation. A meal fit not for a king on a throne, but a knight with some serious crusading to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n