Medieval Tastes

Food, Cooking, and the Table
Erscheinungsjahr 2015
ISBN: 978-0-231-16786-4
Verlag: Columbia University Press

Buch, Englisch, 280 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 519 g

Reihe: Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History

In his new history of food, acclaimed historian Massimo Montanari traces the development of medieval tastes both culinary and cultural from raw materials to market and captures their reflections in today's food trends. Tying the ingredients of our diet evolution to the growth of human civilization, he immerses readers in the passionate debates and bold inventions that transformed food from a simple staple to a potent factor in health and a symbol of social and ideological standing.

Montanari returns to the prestigious Salerno school of medicine, the "mother of all medical schools," to plot the theory of food that took shape in the twelfth century. He reviews the influence of the Near Eastern spice routes, which introduced new flavors and cooking techniques to European kitchens, and reads Europe's earliest cookbooks, which took cues from old Roman practices that valued artifice and mixed flavors. Dishes were largely low-fat, and meats and fish were seasoned with vinegar, citrus juices, and wine. He highlights other dishes, habits, and battles that mirror contemporary culinary identity, including the refinement of pasta, polenta, bread, and other flour-based foods; the transition to more advanced cooking tools and formal dining implements; the controversy over cooking with oil, lard, or butter; dietary regimens; and the consumption and cultural meaning of water and wine. As people became more cognizant of their physicality, individuality, and place in the cosmos, Montanari shows, they adopted a new attitude toward food, investing as much in its pleasure and possibilities as in its acquisition.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Montanari, Massimo

Weitere Mitwirkende

Brombert, Beth Archer

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Sport | Tourismus | Freizeit Kochen, Essen, Trinken
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Ökotrophologie (Ernährungs- und Haushaltswissenschaften)

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: Invitation to the Voyage1. Medieval Near, Medieval Far2. Medieval Cookbooks3. The Grammar of Food4. The Times of Food5. The Aroma of Civilization: Bread6. Hunger for Meat7. The Ambiguous Position of Fish8. From Milk to Cheeses9. Condiment/Fundament: The Battle of Oil, Lard, and Butter10. The Bread Tree11. The Flavor of Water12. The Civilization of Wine13. Rich Food, Poor Food14. Monastic Cooking15. The Pilgrim's Food16. The Table as a Representation of the World17. The Fork and the Hands18. The Taste of KnowledgeNotesBibliographyIndex

Leseproben

Read chapter 1, "Medieval Near, Medieval Far":

Über Autor(innen)

Massimo Montanari is professor of medieval history and the history of food at the Institute of Paleography and Medieval Studies, University of Bologna. He has authored and coauthored more than a dozen books on the history of cuisine and the cultural values of food, including Let the Meatballs Rest: And Other Stories About Food and Culture; Cheese, Pears, and History in a Proverb; Food Is Culture; Italian Cuisine: A Cultural History; Food: A Culinary History; and Famine and Plenty: The History of Food in Europe.

Beth Archer Brombert is the author of two widely acclaimed biographies: Cristina: Portraits of a Princess and Edouard Manet: Rebel in a Frock Coat, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Her most recent work is a memoir of her decades of living, traveling, and cooking in Italy, Journey to the World of the Black Rooster. Her many translations from French and Italian include Italo Svevo's Senilità (Emilio's Carnival) and Erri De Luca's Tu, Mio (You, Mine).