Eateries and Drinkeries: The Oldest Food Heritage Sites Around

Reader Contribution by Meredith Sayles Hughes

Food heritage fans quickly are drawn to the category “drinkeries,” parallel with the category “eateries,” of course, and why not? Every colonial town in the US boasts it is the home of America’s “oldest tavern,” and some of these claims are dubious indeed, dare we say. But we are not here to choose a winner. Rather, we want to underscore that places where people have long gathered to eat and drink are among the most pleasing, and most easily identified food heritage sites.

Salzburg, Austria

One of the oldest such places we know of is in Salzburg, Austria, built inside a monastery, and welcoming custom since 803, apparently. In its earliest days, this ancient beer cellar, St. Peter Stiftskeller, may have served up a brew or two to Charlemagne, king of the Franks, and later, Chris Columbus, the 1492 guy. Since then, it has expanded well beyond the cave level and features a range of banquet rooms, as well as “lavish” public dining areas. It offers a Mozart lunch and dinner special menu with musical performers, though, curiously, does not assert in any write-ups that that most famous of Austrians supped or imbibed here.

Edinburgh, Scotland

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