Many representations on the topic of "Food and Drink in the Middle Ages" particularly rely on descriptions from contemporary poetry. It is often overlooked how much epic poetry is oriented towards ideals. Since classical historical sources such as inventories, invoices, household books, and even the first vernacular cookbooks have only been increasingly preserved since the 14th century, analogies are often used for the High Middle Ages. Due to the sparse written sources on the subject for the period between 1000 and 1300, not only are spatially distant areas related to each other, but they also lacked the connections they are attributed. Existing knowledge is therefore supplemented by the examination of non-literary sources and compared with them. In this context, the results from archaeological excavations of the High Middle Ages are particularly relevant.