here was a clear social difference regarding food. According to some chronicles, there were two different diets, that of the rich and noble people, and that of the poor and peasants.

Although in very different proportions, bread, meat, wine and fish, which were not scarce in the county, were the base of all social groups' diet. Fruit and vegetables were scarce and the rich american products had not arrived yet, but they would come here earlier than to any other place.

Besides, Niebla had the rich muslim culinary tradition that was incorporated into its habits. In the kitchen of the alcázar, cooks made hotpots, roast,delicious alfajores and pestiņos, meatballs with cumin, meat and semolina gachas, couscous, peas and hake pie, fish with green coriander or filled aubergines.

Bread was the food of the rich and the poor, food for body and soul. All the aspirations and the determinants of the late medieval man's life are summarized in it. Gachas, cakes, polentas, etc. were made out of bread. When it was scarce, it was as if the rest of products to satisfy the nourishing needs did not exist

Meat and bread are the two main kinds of food of the medieval world, although they held completely opposed places within the food hierarchy of this epoch. Society was ruled by the noble class, who regarded meat as the product that could give them physical and moral strength. There was, this way, an identification of nobility with the consume of meat.

That is why the "bread and water " penance meant a great opprobrium, except when the fast of meat was voluntary, as it happened in religious communities, during Lent or on fasting days.

Wine is one of the main elements of the medieval christian ideology, one of its symbols, so when one was drinking it, was helping oneself in the miracle of personal salvation. It was considered to be revitalizing and it was recomended for people who had jobs demanding a lot of strength, such as soldiers, or for those who were ill or weak.

However, its abuse was also severely criticised, for it was said to lead to disorders and lust, and to bring about the moral and physical ruin of the person.

Fish was also a symbolic element of the medieval christian culture. The first christians identified the image of the fish with the Saviour.

The prescription of not eating meat on fasting days during Lent appeared in the Middle Ages. The observance of this rule declined in parallel with the increase of the trade of exemption bulls.

Fishing was an important activity in the late medieval Andalusia. The Medinasidonia family -lords of Niebla- had the exclusive privilege of the tuna fishing, due not only to the abundance of fish and the ease of the fishing but to cultural and religious reasons as well.