Small restaurants or shops where people could buy prepared hot food and meals to eat on the premises or take away.
From Middle English 'cook' (one who prepares food) and 'shop' (a place of business). These establishments became common in medieval towns where not everyone had access to cooking facilities, especially among laborers and urban poor.
Cookshops were the original fast-food restaurants—medieval cities had them everywhere, and they played a crucial role in urban life because most apartment-style dwellings didn't have kitchens. Archaeologists find their remains all over London and other old cities.
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