If the Historia should not be used to accurately retrace the history of Britain, it nonetheless features some of those tiny hints historians must seriously attend to.
St. Brendan and his miraculous food: heavenly meals for a legendary voyage
January 25, 2014 By
Therefore, the so called Navigatio Sancti brendani abbatis features real persons in an imaginary world, where credible details and legendary traits mingle with each other
Lactose Intolerance in the Middle Ages
January 24, 2014 By
New research suggests that medieval people had a similar level of lactose intolerance as modern day people, meaning they could drink milk and eat yogurt and cheese without problems.
The magnificent banquets for the wedding of Annibale II Bentivoglio and Lucrezia d’Este
January 13, 2014 By
The banquet started at 20 o’clock and lasted for 7 hours. After some sweets as starters, the very protagonist of the dinner is meat: veals, peacocks, game and fowl of all sorts, followed by further sweets and cakes.
The Middle English culinary recipes in MS Harley 5401: an edition and commentary
January 10, 2014 By
The culinary manuscripts of the Middle Ages are increasingly a concern of those interested in social history — among others;(1) yet a significant impediment to research on Middle English culinary matters remains in the remarkable fact that there are still at least six sizeable collections of recipes that have never been edited and/or printed at all, as well as about a dozen more that have been only selectively collated in editions of material taken primarily from other manuscripts.
Medieval Cookbooks: Something to Inspire the Medieval Cook in all of us!
January 5, 2014 By
Baby it’s cold outside. Brrrrr! It’s January, snow is blowing, frost is nipping at your toes – it’s a great time to cook a hearty, hot meal. Want to make it even better? Try a medieval menu! Here are a few books to inspire the medieval cook in all of us.
Elemental theory in everyday practice: food disposal in the later medieval English countryside
December 22, 2013 By
For medieval rural communities the story of food did not necessarily end in its eating.
Brewing, Politics and Society in an Early Modern German Town – a case study of Görlitz in Upper Lusatia
December 16, 2013 By
In the Middle Ages, the Upper-Lusatian town of Görlitz – today situated on Germany’s Eastern periphery close to the Polish border – was at the heart of a wider European trading network.
Food and the North-Icelandic Identity in 13th century Iceland and Norway
December 9, 2013 By
Now food is becoming globalized, but we still recall how food could be used to construct a national identity, with the aid of the institutions of the national state.
The Brewer, the Baker, and the Monopoly Maker
November 24, 2013 By
This paper seeks to examine how productive entrepreneurial activities, such as innovation, influence unproductive entrepreneurial activities, such as regulatory rent seeking.
‘Take almaundes blaunched …’ Cookbooks in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times
November 24, 2013 By
What is a cooking recipe, what is a manual to good, healthy food in the epoch of the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Age?
Baking Bread in a Reconstructed Bread-Oven of the Late Iron Age
November 17, 2013 By
In 2003 and 2004 ‘Senas vides Darbnica’ (Latvia) built a late Iron Age (9th -12th century AD) bread oven based on archaeological finds and test baked bread and traditional Latvian pastries.
Fasting Girls: Then and Now
November 1, 2013 By
Fasting Girls: Then and Now Lecture by Joan Jacobs Brumberg Given at Cornell University, on February 16, 2012 Why do we hear about – and see – so much anorexia nervosa these days? Once a medical curiosity of only anecdotal significance, the disorder may now afflict as many as one million young women a year […]
The King’s Table: A Semiotic Analysis of a Medieval Noble Banquet
October 26, 2013 By
During the Middle Ages, aristocratic banquets were common and often grandiose affairs. The function of a banquet went beyond mere celebration of an event or holiday and became a tool for demonstrating a person’s wealth, influence, piety, and generosity.
Food in medieval Sicily
October 6, 2013 By
And in truth this food, of which they are fond and which they eat raw, ruins their senses. There is not one man among them, of whatsoever condition, who does not eat onions every day, and does not serve them morning and evening in his house.
The Festive Beverages of the Khans
August 9, 2013 By
Festivities held with yearly regularity are a stable feature of nomadic life. Each nomad tribe seems to have had a ceremony connected with eating and drinking on which the leaders were presen
Bread in the Middle Ages
July 4, 2013 By
Bread was the staple of life in the Middle Ages. You could also be called a heretic or go insane if you ate the wrong one. Includes medieval bread recipes.
A Feast for Aesculapius: Historical Diets for Asthma and Sexual Pleasure
June 28, 2013 By
Throughout Western history, people of all social classes have insisted that particular foods and drinks affected their bodies-purifying or contaminating them, and stimulating or tranquilizing their sensual spirits.
Flavor Pairing in Medieval European Cuisine: A Study in Cooking with Dirty Data
June 19, 2013 By
In this work, we collect a new data set of recipes from Medieval Europe before the Columbian Exchange and investigate the flavor pairing hypothesis historically.
The Pear in History, Literature, Popular Culture, and Art
June 16, 2013 By
The history of the pear is traced from antiquity to the present emphasizing its role in popular culture and art.
Food Representation in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
June 16, 2013 By
He uses food and drink as the means to express people’s characters, look, but also mood and situation.
Feasting with Early Medieval Chiefs: Locating Political Action through Environmental Archaeology
May 18, 2013 By
This excellent paper was the first given in the session on Early Medieval Europe. It looked at various archaeological excavations in Iceland and Denmark and the political role feasting played in pre-Christian Viking societies.
Female brewers in Holland and England
May 7, 2013 By
I also want to know why women worked in those professions, what the background of these women was and if changes occurred over time.
Food Recipes from the 12th-century discovered in manuscript
April 16, 2013 By
Scholars have found a collection of food recipes dating back to the twelfth-century, making them the oldest western medieval culinary recipes known to exist.
The Roots of Rhythm: The Medieval Origins of the New Orleans’ Mardi Gras Beignet
April 15, 2013 By
This paper argues that the beloved Mardi Gras beignet, eaten in advance of the Lenten fast, derives from deep-fried pastries used to break the Ramadan fast by medieval Muslims living in Spain.
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