Feeding the merchants and artisans of Northwest Europe (seventh–tenth centuries) : Food practices and strategies in the emporia of the Nordic Seas[Nourrir les marchands et artisans d’Europe du Nord-Ouest (VIIe-Xe siècle) : pratiques et stratégies alimentaires]

Eating is a socially and culturally significant act that helps define identities. In the context of the economic development of the Nordic Seas from the seventh century onward, a new kind of port area emerged, known as ‪‪wics‪‪ or ‪‪emporia‪‪. Using textual and archaeological sources, this article studies what their inhabitants—who mostly engaged in non-agricultural activities (commercial and artisanal)—ate. Did the food practices in such places, widely open to the outside, have any specific features ? Can we call them "urban" ? Here we try to answer such questions, returning to look at the possible supply networks of these ports and the role food could have played in the construction of their identity.‪