Fynes Moryson

"I will boldly say, that England...hath more fallow dear than all Europe that I have seen. No kingdom in the world hath so many dove-houses...The English husbandmen eat barley and rye brown bread, and prefer it to white bread as abiding longer in the stomach, and not so soon disgested with their labour; but citizens and gentlemen care eat most pure white bread, England yielding...all kinds of corn in plenty...The English have abundance of white meats, of all kinds of flesh, fowl and fish and of all things good for food...The oysters of England were of old carried as far as Rome, being more plentiful and savoury than in any other part...In the seasons of the year the English eat fallow deer plentifully, as bucks in summer and does in winter, which they bake in pasties, and this venison pasty is a dainty, rarely found in any other kingdom. Likewise brawn is a proper meat to the English, not known to others...In general, the English cooks, in comparison with other nations, are most commended for roasted meats...But the Italian Sansovine is much deceived, writing, that in general the English eat and cover the table at least four times in the day; for howsoever those that journey, and some sickly men staying at home, may perhaps take a small breakfast, yet in general the English eat but two meals (of dinner and supper) each day, and I could never see him that useth to eat four times in the day."

"Moryson is a sober and truthful writer, without imagination or much literary skill. He delights in statistics respecting the mileage of his daily journeys and the varieties in the values of the coins he encountered. His descriptions of the inns in which he lodged, of the costume and the food of the countries visited, render his work invaluable to the social historian."