Food and Eating Habits in Goslar around 1659 A Historical Reference Dossier for the Household of Executioner Caspar Kruse III

No directly verified menus or kitchen accounts are available for the household of the Goslarexecutioner Caspar Kruse III (1610–1682). The most responsible portrayal of an ordinary workingday around 1659 centres on a diet of dark rye bread, porridge or groats made from oats and barley,thick soup, pulses and seasonal vegetables. Butter, cheese, bacon, sausage, meat, fish and fruitsupplemented those staples when money, season and supply permitted. Beer had a strong localtradition in Goslar, but it was not the only possible drink. This dossier is intended as a standing reference for articles, scholarly family publications andhistorical novellas about Caspar III, Anna Klages and their children. The sample meals are expresslyreconstructions: they make a described situation plausible but do not prove that the Kruse family ateprecisely those dishes. A future archival discovery may alter the picture