Medieval Tastes

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.

Introduction: Invitation to the Voyage
1. Medieval Near, Medieval Far
2. Medieval Cookbooks
3. The Grammar of Food
4. The Times of Food
5. The Aroma of Civilization: Bread
6. Hunger for Meat
7. The Ambiguous Position of Fish
8. From Milk to Cheeses
9. Condiment/Fundament: The Battle of Oil, Lard, and Butter
10. The Bread Tree
11. The Flavor of Water
12. The Civilization of Wine
13. Rich Food, Poor Food
14. Monastic Cooking
15. The Pilgrim's Food
16. The Table as a Representation of the World
17. The Fork and the Hands
18. The Taste of Knowledge
Notes
Bibliography
Index