Unlike modern Norwegians, Vikings tended to only eat two meals per day. These were known as dagmal and nattmal, which meant a day meal and night meal.
Meat, fish, vegetables, cereals and milk products were all an important part of their diet. Sweet food was consumed in the form of berries, fruit and honey. In England the Vikings were often described as gluttonous. They ate and drank too much according to the English.
A Viking family would typically eat two meals per day. Dagmal was the morning meal in which the adults would eat leftover stew from the night before with bread and fruit. The children would usually have porridge and dried fruit or, on occasion, buttermilk and bread.
As it turns out, their food was healthy, fresh, and even a poor Viking ate much better than an English peasant during the Middle Ages.
Typically a Viking family would eat twice a day, once an hour after rising and then again in the evening after a day's work on the land. The first meal, the "dagmal" (day meal) would likely be leftover stew from the night before served with bread and pickled or dried fruit.
Unlike modern Norwegians, Vikings tended to only eat two meals per day. These were known as dagmal and nattmal, which meant a day meal and night meal.
What time did Vikings go to bed? So in winter, they would have gone to sleep around 6pm, gone up to eat from midnight to 2am and then woken up around 8am. In summer you would have slept from midnight to 4am at most, if at all.
Vikings were known for their excellent hygiene.
Excavations of Viking sites have turned up tweezers, razors, combs and ear cleaners made from animal bones and antlers. Vikings also bathed at least once a week—much more frequently than other Europeans of their day—and enjoyed dips in natural hot springs.
Viking Teeth-Filing
Viking teeth were often subject to a great deal of wear, which is largely attributed to their diet. Study of the skeletal remains of Vikings has also shown evidence that they suffered from periodontal disease and tartar buildup.
However, experts believe Vikings were quite large, muscular people, capable of striking fear into the hearts of their enemies as a result of their strength and size. The physical build of the Vikings was likely to be somewhat similar to our own, but with significantly more mass and muscle.
Grains and bread
A large part of the Viking diet consisted of grain products like bread and porridge. Bread would have been enjoyed with every meal, though it wouldn't be much like the bread we eat nowadays.
Sources appear to agree that Viking warriors probably ingested one of two mushroom species: Amanita muscaria (fly agaric) or Amanita pantherina (panther cap). In both cases, the primary psychoactive ingredient is muscimol. both contain the psychoactive compound muscimol (right).
The Vikings were not always alcoholics, contrary to popular belief. In fact, most beers in the Viking era had less alcohol content than they do today; it is unlikely that the Norse people would have been binge drinking all of time when there was a strong understanding and respect for drunkenness and intoxication.
Cooked meats were preserved in vats of sour whey (súrr). The lactic acid in the sour liquid prevented the meat from spoiling. Large vats found in some Viking age house sites held preserved meat in sour whey, as well as other stored dairy products.
And because of the dirty water in these towns, beer was often drunk in large quantities every single day. The beer was made with both a high and low level of alcohol, so everyone in the family could drink it, and yes even the children in the Viking age would also drink beer to quench their thirst.
The diet encourages a lot of locally sourced seasonal whole founds, including wholegrains, particularly rye, barley and oats, fruits and berries, vegetables (especially root vegetables such as beets, turnips and carrots), fatty fish, low-fat dairy, legumes, and eggs and game meat in moderation.
The bras were often made of metal and until now scientists had thought they were used as collar-bone protection. But it is now clear these pads were worn much further down by female Vikings, according to the work in Birka, Sweden's oldest Viking centre.
Indeed, the evidence collected by researchers over the world suggests Vikings actually bathed quite frequently, washing both their hair and bodies. The Viking age, which took place during the middle ages, wasn't a time when hygiene or personal grooming was particularly well-prized.
The Vikings typically lived to be around 40-50 years old. But there are also examples of upper class Vikings who lived longer – for instance Harald Fairhair, who was King of Norway for more than 60 years.
Description: The waterlogged areas of the excavation at Whithorn uncovered preserved 'sheets' of moss, which had been discarded. Closer analysis revealed them to be studded with fragments of hazel nut shells, and blackberry pips.
Many Vikings used picks to clean the gaps between their teeth, and some historian believes they may have also used fibrous hazel twigs and similar tools as a kind of brush. The Viking skeletons discovered over the decades have usually had relatively strong teeth too.
Beds were most likely lined with straw and animal skin. However, some historians believe that the Vikings actually slept sitting up with their backs against the wall given the limited and confined space that was available on the benches.
Viking women married young—as early as 12 years old. By the age of 20, virtually all men and women were married.
There are also indications that Vikings practiced polygamy, which in their highly stratified society would have meant that poorer unmarried men might have had limited access to women, and would have targeted female slaves as concubines (or even wives).
They could own property, request a divorce and reclaim their dowries if their marriages ended. Women tended to marry between the ages of 12 and 15, and families negotiated to arrange those marriages, but the woman usually had a say in the arrangement.