Feast on Roast Turkey Legs, Mead, and Rustic Homemade Bread. This dinner menu inspired by How to Train Your Dragon will satisfy the Viking in you.
This year, our Family Dinner Book Club theme is Books and Movies Through the Ages. This month is the 2000s with How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell. Growing Book By Book has a booklist and conversation starters for you. Sunny Day Family has a cute craft just for the occasion!
How to Train Your Dragon is a large series of books about a Viking boy named Hiccup who is coming into his own and learning how to be the person he wants to be. The series was then made into a series of movies. There is no shortage of books and movies on this theme for you to enjoy with your family.
While this series of books and films is based on a fictitious Viking community, the Vikings were a very real group of Norse people who traveled by sea in the 8th through 11th centuries. Maybe that means dragons are real, too?! We can dream.
The Vikings lived in small villages where everyone contributed to the community. Perhaps my favorite thing I learned about the Vikings is that there was not much hierarchical distinction between male and female. They were pretty much even and considered just as good as the other. I think we can learn a thing or two here!
This group of people likely ate a lot of fish as they traveled by and lived near the sea. Once they settled they lived on the land and what they could grow and harvest themselves. Berries, nuts, and other fruits were plentiful.
Viking communities would grow wheat and potatoes to use in a variety of dishes. They probably didn’t actually eat huge turkey legs unless they were able to raise their own turkeys. It’s just such an iconic image, which even appears in these films, so of course I had to include turkey legs in our menu.
Mead was their preferred fermented beverage for adults. The “mead” we’re serving here is apple cider, and I thought that big jug looked perfectly fit for any Viking, or dragon!
How to Train Your Dragon
Family Dinner Book Club
Menu
Mustard Braised Turkey Legs
-with carrots and onions-
Garlic Parmesan Roast Potatoes
Whole Grain Sourdough Boule
-with honey and freshly churned butter-
Fruits and Nuts
-apples, berries, walnuts-