How were meals prepared on ancient and medieval sailing ships?

Question

Curious as to whether all cooking was done on deck and what protection was affected with regard ro wind spreading fire on wooden ships,

Answer 1

When food had to be cooked there was a sand box with tinder. Cooking was usually done inside because on deck the wind would be too strong. If the ship had a big enough compliment then a person was assigned as the ship's cook.

On more ancient ships, cooking wasn't done, but crews had salted dried meat, fruits and veggies. In the Mediterranean, voyagers tended to be short so eating was cooked on land or port.

Ok, that's all I know.

Answer 2

I think they ate a lot of biscuits which I'm guessing were pretty hard and dry, salted meats, jerky, hardtack and fish and I am betting more than a few rats. The reason Columbus and other early explorers were in search of spices and that spices were valued so highly was that so much bad and spoiled food had to be eaten. By heavily seasoning it you couldn't tell the food was so bad. Good question about cooking. I wouldn't be so crazy about having a fire on a wooden sailing ship with no way to call for help.

Answer 3

very carefully...lol actually I don't really know. Good question. Maybe they didn't have hot meals? Or if they did maybe it was made with an old fashioned medieval cookstove?