Love, Lust, and Libido: Aphrodisiacs in Medieval Europe

Love, Lust, and Libido: Aphrodisiacs in Medieval Europe

Talk by Ken Albala and Larisa Grollemond

Held by the Getty Museum on February 14, 2021

Abstract: Add some spice to your love life and unravel the mysteries of late medieval aphrodisiacs with food historian and author Ken Albala and Getty manuscripts curator Larisa Grollemond. Delve into the period cookbooks, artworks, and courtly feasting cultures of northern Europe to discover ingredients, recipes, and customs thought to arouse the libido, heighten pleasure, increase potency or, conversely, kill the mood.

Ken Albala is Professor of History at the University of the Pacific and is the author of Eating Right in the Renaissance. Larisa Grollemond is Assistant Curator of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts at the Getty Museum.