What did Elizabethans eat at the Globe theatre?
“The food seems principally to have been apples [there are several references to ‘pippins’ being used as ammunition], and nuts…John Tatham mentions pears [again used as ammunition] in 1641, and Overbury’s Character ‘A Puny Clarke…eats Ginger bread at a Play-house’. The drink offered was either water or bottle-ale.” —Playgoing in Shakespeare’s London, Andrew Gurr (p. 36-7) [NOTE: this book contains many footnotes citing to original sources. It is interesting to note that most of what we know about theatre food comes from poems, plays, and diaries describing the experience.” “Vendors offered beer, water, oranges, nuts, gingerbread, and apples, all of which were occasionally thrown at the actors. Hazelnuts were the most popular theatre snack, the Elizabethan equivalent of Raisinets.” —The Friendly Shakespeare, Norrie Epstein [Viking:New York] 1992 (p. 45) [NOTE: this book does not contain footnotes back to original sources. It does contain a long bibliography of works consulted.]
