It is the time of year when all sorts of excellent new television shows and films are released. Perfect for the long nights and the dropping temperatures.
One of these new films is the Outlaw King on Netflix, the film focuses on an extraordinary historic year when Robert the Bruce fights to regain control having been crowned King of Scots, only to be defeated in a surprise attack and made an outlaw by Edward I of England and his occupying forces.
The film is by David Mackenzie and stars Chris Pine (Captain Kirk – Star Trek) as Robert the Bruce and Stephen Dillane (Stannis Baratheon – Game of Thrones) as Edward I of England.
We were delighted to supply the film makers with our very own Kentish Cobnuts to be used for dressing the set or as a prop. With such a thrilling and engaging plot and excellent acting they are definitely hard to spot but we are sure they are somewhere in the sumptuous Medieval feasts depicted in the film.
It is also an example of the intricate details the team making the film have gone, to provide realism and authenticity. Nut consumption in the Medieval period has been quite well documented, with medieval feasts usually featuring nuts as a starter. Indeed, the Medieval diet believed that foods should be consumed in order from light to heavy and also depended on the characteristics of the food partly influenced by the theory of the four humors on a dry to moist scale.
Interestingly, in Northern Europe, hazelnut oil and other nut and seed oils were consumed extensively in the Medieval period along with Almond Milk.
According to Dr. Barbara J. Becker, it was also believed that an overwhelmingly good crop of cobnuts / hazelnuts was one of many unusual events that were viewed as a portent for the black death returning! Other portents included a beached whale and turbid wine.