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my question is literally right there. the general amount of people is about 2500 people. 1000 are men, 1000 are women, and 500 are kids. whatever farm area amount is required, I won't mind. as long as it isn't absolutely ridiculous. the era is generally in the medieval era. I just need to know if a diet of egg, chicken, rice, beans, and potatoes is livable or not. or maybe there is an online tool I could use to see if this is possible? any other information you need/request I will go ahead and add in. people have been mentioning that rice and potatoes weren't in the medieval era together, or at least weren't grown in the medieval era together, and i am here to mention that while the "kingdom"(people have also mentioned this is more of a county than a kingdom) is generally based off medieval, this is also a completely fantasy world.

the other part is the fact that potatoes and rice can't be grown together due to different conditions, and to that, i would like to ask: can a 20 degrees fahrenheit lower half of the year and 20 degrees fahrenheit higher half of a year, where the half way mark is 60, (so its about 80 degrees at its highest, and 40 degrees at its lowest) be suitable to grow potatoes during the warmer season, and rice during the colder season? it never gets below freezing but it does get cooler during the "void moons" one of the two ingame seasons.

the other bit of requested info was the landscape due to me mentioning the foraging and gathering. i've imagined this place as being a very open plain with shrubs and the occasional tree, due to deforesting for housing, and supplies, and space for farm land, before reaching an immediate forest about 10 miles out. in the lower sections of the plains is just wetlands and in the higher areas is dryland. so i guess we could add fish to the diet. about animals, i'd say there are just hare's, and a few types of canine in the forest, and deer, and general pesky fantasy monsters we don't need to worry about, cause they're made of magic.

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    $\begingroup$ isnt that basically what medieval people eat ? assuming you mean general medieval times, south american farming potato already, since you mention rice. because potato is not farmed yet in europe, before renaissance or colonialism start. $\endgroup$
    – Li Jun
    Commented Jan 22, 2020 at 2:05
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    $\begingroup$ That's one very very small kingdom... Maybe a tiny little county, at best. (And there was no place in the Middle Ages where they had both rice and potatoes. Rice comes from Asia, potatoes come from the Americas. The two crops never met until after the Middle Ages.) $\endgroup$
    – AlexP
    Commented Jan 22, 2020 at 2:07
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    $\begingroup$ @LiJun: Rice arrived in south-eastern Europe during the Antiquity, probably via Egypt, or maybe after Alexander's conquest of the Persian empire. In Spain, rice was introduced by the Arabs during the Middle Ages. But for potatoes they had to wait much longer. (In most things agricultural Eurasia is one integrated continent.) $\endgroup$
    – AlexP
    Commented Jan 22, 2020 at 2:12
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    $\begingroup$ @AlexP yeah just recently recheck again it exist in medieval era i get mix up wih the risotto invention which happen during renaissance and spread to england $\endgroup$
    – Li Jun
    Commented Jan 22, 2020 at 2:15
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    $\begingroup$ For context: According to this: history.stackexchange.com/questions/23733/…, the average household in the medieval era ranged from 4.4-8.5. So for 2000 adults there should be 2400-6500 children. You would typically see lower ratios in cities and higher ratios in agricultural communities; so... Julian Egner's ballpark of 5000 is actually a really good estimate for a place like this. $\endgroup$
    – Nosajimiki
    Commented Jan 24, 2020 at 20:52

3 Answers 3

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Your culture can survive on these staples, however for what we call complete nutrition today, you would do well to add a leafy green, a root vegetable other than the potato, a cultivated berry (for a more reliable and plentiful supply than foraging), an ungulate like a goat, camel, or cow, and some fish or shellfish.

Your listed foods are going to cover the macronutrients (major sources of calories; carbs, protein and fat) with no problem. Most historical cultures only had one staple carbohydrate source, so to have two makes you that much more protected from famine. The anachronism and cultural difficulties of cultivating rice and potatoes have been covered by other answers, suffice to say, consider wheat instead of rice or yams instead of potatoes.

There are 13 essential vitamins, of which you're only going to have trouble with three. The egg yolks are going to provide you with most of these vitamins, while grains will round out the majority of B-complex vitamins, and you'll get a vitamin here or there across the rest of your listed foods.

Vitamin B9 (folic acid) and Vitamin K are normally produced in ample amounts by the human body, but a little extra of either never hurt, especially for pregnant women and young children. However, the only listed food they'll be found in are the livers of your chickens; one or maybe two chickens will feed quite a large family, but the livers would only be big enough to give each family member a small bite, requiring you to prioritize. Consider a leafy green like a lettuce variety, arugula, mustard greens, spinach or cabbage, depending on average daytime temperature. All of these contain both of these vitamins in abundance and don't require killing too many of your egg-layers just for liver.

That liver is also your best listed source of Vitamin A, though egg yolks have quite a bit of both Vitamin A and of "carotenoid" precursors that can be converted into the vitamin. A red to orange root vegetable like carrots, beets or yams have good carotenoid content, as does the spinach already mentioned, and various gourd-family fruits like zucchini, butternut squash and pumpkin.

The third is Vitamin C, which is found in most species of edible berry, including currants, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries among others, all of which are native to most of the northern hemisphere. Consider cultivating these for a more plentiful supply; as native vines and bushes, they're not hard to grow where you want them, don't require much attention, and can thrive in rockier areas of your farmland that aren't suitable for other crops, or as hedgerows between farmed plots.

There are 16 essential minerals in modern nutrition, most of which you are going to have no trouble with between the chicken and the beans. One major one you're going to miss with what you have is soluble calcium. The most common source today is in milk, and you have no milk producer in your list. Legumes and leafy greens give you a little calcium, but it's a mineral that vegetarians and especially vegans historically struggled with until soybean products became more widespread in Western agriculture and cuisine. A herd of goats don't take much room, can eat a variety of vegetable matter including grass, and produce a milk very rich in calcium and other vitamins and minerals. In addition to the milk, bone meal, made simply by drying and grinding the bones and gizzards of the animals you slaughter for meat, has historically been an important source of calcium, both dietary and as fertilizer (which gets calcium into your crops and thus into your diet).

Also keep in mind that the goats (and other mammals) have to give birth regularly to keep lactating, and that only female goats are really useful for this purpose beyond a couple of rams to keep the female goats pregnant. So, much like your chickens, farmers artificially keep a very female-heavy population by culling the males for meat, giving you a second good protein source (and a red meat like mutton is more nutrient-dense than chicken). The goat skins are also a key source of leather, which is critical to medieval technology above and beyond your nutritional needs. Sheep are another good option especially in colder weather, as you not only get milk, meat, skins etc but also wool (there are hairier breeds of goat, but mohair is a relative niche fiber compared to wool).

Another key mineral source you may struggle with in a more inland area is salt, which provides the key electrolyte ions sodium and chlorine. This is normally trivial to get in abundance for any culture with access to the ocean, since all you have to do is boil clean seawater dry and presto, sea salt. However, it can be more of a challenge to get sufficient salt intake in more inland areas. The saltier the soil, the less fertile it is, and while there are salt mines dating back to 5000 BC, these aren't nice places to work for a variety of reasons (historically they were mined by slaves or prisoners with extremely short life expectancies) and aren't found everywhere humanity has settled, so a landlocked haven for a medieval European farming culture is going to produce ample but very low-sodium produce, and will have to trade for its salt. The East Asian answer is soybeans, but these didn't spread out of Asia as a food crop until the late 1700s, and most of their sodium content as a foodstuff comes from boiling them in seawater to extract and neutralize their trypsin inhibitors; boiling anything else in that much salt is going to put plenty of it in the food. You can get enough of these electrolytes with a meat-rich diet, or by drinking a sparing amount of animal blood (blood plasma is by definition an isotonic solution of electrolytes, but human digestive systems don't process whole blood very well), but if chicken is your only animal protein it will be a bit harder to manage. The easiest and least gory answer all around is to make sure you give your fictional community good access to a body of salt water.

The last one you could have some trouble with is iodine. Essential for proper thyroid function, in turn regulating growth and metabolism, you can get enough of it as long as the soil you grow your staples and vegetables in is iodine-rich. Geographical regions to avoid on Earth include sub-Saharan Africa and heavily mountainous regions; almost anywhere else on the planet, especially in coastal wetlands, you'll get sufficient iodine from vegetables and grains grown in the local soil, but fish or shellfish like mussels would be an ideal addition to your group's diet for a little extra.

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  • $\begingroup$ suggesting from the plethora of information given by you, and others, this does give me an idea of having a sea side town that imports to the kingdom things like salts and sea food. i guess i could definitely grow berries in-town, and have goats around for milk and food. btw why can't we just drink human milk? sheep is another good idea to maybe have. moving on, i definitely do think that we could have farms for growing things like lettuce and mustard greens. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 23, 2020 at 6:05
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    $\begingroup$ @michaelgriffin Mother's milk requires mothers. That requires your community to keep their women pregnant pretty much from puberty to menopause, which would make each female in your society the mother of about 30 children, the eldest of which would only be about 12-15 years younger and popping out grandbabies. There's no faster ticket to an exponential growth curve, assuming even half of these children lived to childbearing age themselves, easily outstripping the carrying capacity of the arable land within a few generations (less than a century at this rate). $\endgroup$
    – KeithS
    Commented Jan 24, 2020 at 20:01
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    $\begingroup$ Dairy farmers managing a herd of cattle, sheep, goats etc face the same problem; each of their cattle have to calf every couple of years at least, and that will cause the herd to outgrow his pastures' carrying capacity. Even if the land is there, managing the herd becomes impractical in a number of other ways. To keep the herd at a steady size, the farmer will send most males and older females to the slaughterhouse, keeping only young cows. Translating that back to humans turns the underlying framing of your community's food needs into a horror story all its own. $\endgroup$
    – KeithS
    Commented Jan 24, 2020 at 20:06
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    $\begingroup$ @michaelgriffin so next time i suggest maybe use fantasy medieval instead so they wont get confused with real medieval europe or the general medieval period. oh yeah also i forgot to mention medieval europe also has sausage and product from animal blood too like blood pudding. $\endgroup$
    – Li Jun
    Commented Jan 25, 2020 at 4:54
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    $\begingroup$ There is another good reason for introducing some milk production (like cattle or goats): cheese! If your kingdom experience winters then it needs some source of food that doesn't spoil easily to last those months. And cheese has historically been one of those foods. $\endgroup$
    – Negdo
    Commented Aug 10, 2023 at 10:27
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Yes, but there are some issues

For one thing, potatoes did not appear in Afro-Eurasia until after the Middle Ages, with the Columbian Exchange. When potatoes were introduced to Northern Europe it led to a population boom that may have contributed to the Industrial Revolution. Potatoes are far more efficient in terms of calories per acre than any old world crop.

Beans are very nutritious, and chickens provide extremely valuable protein.

Rice feeds billions for a reason. It stores very well and is a good source of carbs. But the issue with growing rice and potatoes is that they usually don’t grow in the same conditions. Rice needs a lot of water and doesn’t like the cold. Potatoes on the other hand don’t do as well in very wet and hot places. But this is not insurmountable, as with the right strains of rice and the right strain of potatoes alongside field management you would be able to have plenty of both.

You also really don’t have that many people at all, it’s absolutely tiny for a kingdom.

The hunting and foraging is extremely dependent on the environment. If it’s a rich temperate or subtropical forest with plenty of water access than they would be absolutely golden. If it’s the Sahara or Siberian tundra things would be harder

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    $\begingroup$ @Michaelgriffin Yes, you should mention landscape and climate, they are of paramount importance when it comes to agriculture and general survival. May I suggest having sweet potatoes or yams in place of normal potatoes if you want it to be hot and humid? $\endgroup$
    – user71781
    Commented Jan 22, 2020 at 3:16
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    $\begingroup$ @Michaelgriffin Ok, in that case you’ve actually got very reasonable conditions for growing rice and potatoes $\endgroup$
    – user71781
    Commented Jan 22, 2020 at 3:24
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    $\begingroup$ yesss my place actually works! $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 22, 2020 at 3:24
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    $\begingroup$ also thank you cause you actually made me ask things i've never asked before, related to the what the place is actually like. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 22, 2020 at 3:25
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    $\begingroup$ @Michaelgriffin Glad to be of assistance $\endgroup$
    – user71781
    Commented Jan 22, 2020 at 3:26
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Technically a person can survive well into adulthood without any major health issues off of just eggs and potatoes; though, cholesterol may become an issue when older. I addressed this in a bit more detail in this previous question: How long can humans survive on this diet?

If you are adding on top of this general hunting and foraging then your people will definately be fine. Since people will instinctively seek out any nutrients they may be lacking when looking for food; so, if you've missed something, there is a good chance you will get enough of it to remain healthy in the things you forage for.

Frankly, what you've described is actually a very idealized situation for a medieval settlement. The population is big enough to discourage raiders, but small enough to maintain good sanitation without modern plumbing. You have nearby access to wetlands, highlands, and forests; so, you have a great diversity of natural resources at your disposal. These people will probably be a lot more well off than your average medieval folks.

Two issues I see though:

1: The region is probably too wet and temperate to support potatoes. I've tried growing potatoes in a climate similar to what you are describing, and if the random heat wave doesn't kill them, temperate zone fungi will. Sweet potatoes however are much more suited to the tropical and temperate zones; so, if your swap potatoes for sweet potatoes, you'll add a lot of plausibility to your setup.

2: This is a likely size for a fiefdom, but not a kingdom. Settlements that size would have been large enough to ward off the standard Viking raid, but they would not have been large enough to maintain their independence. In the medieval feudal system, this place is probably governed by a well-to-do knight, sheriff, or lesser lord who would have "king like authority" over the people, but would himself be subservient to higher ranking lords.

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  • $\begingroup$ Cholesterol issues has little to do with consumed cholesterol. Majority of cholesterol is produced by your own body. In your eggs and potatoes diet the potatoes would probably be more likely reason for cholesterol issues (as being overweight DOES contribute to high cholesterol) $\endgroup$
    – Negdo
    Commented Aug 10, 2023 at 10:30
  • $\begingroup$ @Negdo The issue is actually your Omega-3/Omega-6 balance. Yes, your body can produce Omega-6 from anything, but the Omega-3 which your body uses to break down and manipulate Omega-6 must come from food; so, you either need to be cautious not to over-consume Omega-6 or include enough Omega-3 rich foods; so, by adding a good source of Omega-3 like fish or unprocessed grains, the cholesterol issue should be avoidable. $\endgroup$
    – Nosajimiki
    Commented Aug 10, 2023 at 13:09

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