The Power of Peasant Consumers

The long-held view of the peasantry as a passive social group has gradually been replaced by a positive narrative that stresses peasant agency in economic, social, and even political terms. Contributing to this shift, Luis Almenar Fernández explores the objects that peasants used to store, cook, and serve their food in late medieval Valencia. Drawing on a range of archival, visual, material, and literary evidence from c. 1280 to c. 1460, the book examines the materiality of food to shed light on the consumer behaviour of agriculturalists during pivotal economic, social, and material transformation. It builds on discussions about changes in living standards, consumption patterns, and material culture in pre-industrial European societies. The materiality of food improved significantly among Valencian peasants during this period. This phenomenon had widespread implications for the economy and underpinned the development of new industries, contributing to the economic growth of this prominent Mediterranean polity.

Luis Almenar Fernández is Assistant Professor at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. He studies consumption patterns, material culture, and living standards in late medieval Iberia. He is co-editor of the book Objetos Cotidianos en la Corona de Aragón durante la Baja Edad Media (2025).