Farm labor was physically demanding, its intensity not low in the slightest. Consequently, the workers had hearty appetites, especially after a night's digestion.
Although they couldn't truly indulge in a lavish meal, this life was already beyond what they had dared to dream of before.
Whether working as serfs for a farm owner back in their old homes or laboring for the local Lord, having black bread to eat was considered quite good.
One method the farms used to control rodent infestations was to tell the serfs that any rat they caught was theirs to keep. Those starving serfs would go to any lengths to catch those rats.
On this land, everything belonged to the master. Being allowed to eat rats was already considered a blessing; one could say that rat meat was the only meat they ever got.
And because rats in those days weren't fat, once skinned, they were as thin as chicken necks—just a layer of skin with hardly any meat. So, the serfs would call rat meat "chicken necks."
