Hospitality

Upon finding an inn or a tavern what can be expected when ordering a meal?
As a whole it would not be like a restaurant today, there were no short order cooks and due to the lack of refrigeration, the guest would not have a lot of options to choose from.

Larger establishments might prepare a larger animal, even starting the night before, for the day’s meals. For instance a pig might be butchered and roasted then served throughout the day. As the customer base becomes larger there may even be several choices available for the day’s menu. For instance a pig may be roasted, as well as smaller foul, and a stew kept warm. The guest would then have a choice of whichever meal was desired. There would almost never be more than two or three choices and only in an establishment with a large customer base.

On average it takes a town with a minimum population of around 400 people to support a small tavern or restaurant. It takes a town with a minimum population of 2,000 to support an inn. When traveling in rural areas a party is not likely to find a convenient inn or tavern to get a meal served*1.

In most restaurants, including those associated with an inn, there would be a single option for the day. Food for the day’s meals would be purchased at the start of the day from a local supplier. Meat would be cooked regularly throughout the day. A soup or stew might be prepared in the morning for all day use or might even be kept warm for several days. Side dishes would be prepared early for use throughout the day as well.

The menu would depend on the number of expected customers; an inn or tavern with a large population base would expect more customers than one in a smaller community. A smaller tavern might have several small birds roasted or available for roasting for the day. Soups and stews are also good for smaller establishments since they can be kept warm over fires all-day or even several days and served as needed.

So here you are in a town and still have to camp for the night, hunt food or use trail rations, doesn’t seem fair.
The fact is that in most small communities there is a place to get a meal and rest for the night. Rural towns folk and farmers often live in the same place all their life. Provided the party is friendly, staying in homes should be no problem. These people are usually quite willing to share their meal and provide a place to stay for the night in exchange for news from outside the community and stories of adventure. Of course any money the traveler might offer is also welcome but news or good stories is often enough. These meals will be hearty and simple; of course the wealth of the family and community will dictate this.