During the Elizabethan times the water was not very clean, and so people drank ales and wines. Apparently during a day one person would drink a gallon of ale. The upper class people would drink wines and ales, whereas the poor would just drink ale.
During this period of time, new foods were being brought over to England such as peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, paprika and chilli. If you used spices in your foods this was a sign of wealth and good social status. Oriental spices were very profitable for traders. The meat was preserved by salt, so the spices were used to disguise the strong taste of salt in the cooking.
Any imported food were expensive, and so not used or bought by the lower class. Sugar was very expensive and so only usually used by the upper class, honey was cheaper as it was produced in England so this was used by the lower class people.
*Will add more as I research this more*
