Food and society
More general subjects:
Cultivating the Earth, Nurturing the Body and Soul: Daily Life in Early Medieval England
Essays in Honour of Debby Banham
How did food impact social relationships in early medieval England? What cultivation practices were followed to produce the best possible food supplies? What was the cultural significance of bread? How was the human body nourished? When sickness inevitably occurred where did one go and who was consulted for healing? And how was spiritual health also protected? The essays gathered together in this exciting volume draw on a range of different disciplines from early medieval economic and social history to experimental archaeology and medieval medicine to offer a unique overview into day-to-day life in England nearly two millennia ago.Taking as their starting point the broad research interests of the volume’s honorand Dr Debby Banham contributors here offer new insights into the reproduction and ritual use of vernacular charms examine the collation and translation of medieval medicine elucidate monastic economies and production and uncover the circumstances behind the production and transmission of medical manuscripts in early medieval England. Presenting new insights into agricultural practices and animal husbandry monastic sign language and materia medica plant knowledge and medical practices the chapters within this volume not only offer a fitting tribute to Banham’s own groundbreaking work but also shed new light on what it meant to nurture both body and soul in early medieval England.
La fabrique des bébés dans l'Antiquité
Enquête sur les « biberons » gallo-romains
Du sein au biberon s’intéresse à de curieux petits vases qui ont la particularité de présenter un bec sur leur panse et de se trouver principalement dans des tombes d’enfants. Les archéologues les ont baptisés “biberons” ou parfois “tire-laits”. Se concentrant sur la Gaule romaine cet ouvrage fait le point sur la fonction encore débattue de ces vases en s’appuyant sur des analyses biochimiques révélatrices de leur contenu. Montrent-elles que les vases ont contenu du lait comme leur nom le suggère ? Pas toujours et pas seulement. L’étude approfondie des sources écrites anciennes (d’Hippocrate et Aristote à Pline Soranos et Célius Aurélien) ainsi que de l’iconographie permet de mieux approcher le contexte d’emploi et la fonction de ces vases en les inscrivant dans le cadre global de l’alimentation et des pratiques de soin. La physiologie de l’enfant sujet à des besoins et des maladies particulières qui le distingue de l’homme et de la femme adultes le rapproche au contraire de certaines catégories sociales comme l’atteste l’usage de ces vases. Ainsi en combinant témoins archéologiques archives iconographiques et textuelles et analyses biochimiques cet ouvrage éclaire certaines représentations du corps et certaines stratégies alimentaires et sociales. À la croisée de l’histoire matérielle de l’histoire culturelle et de l’histoire du corps il propose à partir de l’étude des rapports entre lait et enfant et l’usage des “vases-biberons” en Gaule une réflexion plus large sur la physiologie et la santé.
Gut Feeling: Digestive Confections according to Medieval Arabic Cookery Literature
In medieval times like today digestive drinks were used to relieve various symptoms. The presence of digestive recipes in Arabic cookery manuals highlights their cardinal role in the meal and in soothing other conditions not only related to digestion. A careful look at these recipes reveals their abundance in number and variety made from various ingredients. Also notable is the consistency of these digestives; it is clear from the recipes that this was a wide category that encompassed not only liquid remedies but also hard candy drops syrups and conserves. This paper explores the differences and similarities in recipes’ composition and hence purpose taking quince as a case study. Lastly by examining historical records that comment on the actual use of digestives this paper establishes links between the prescriptive and practical realms.
La recette du bonheur parfait: Les publications culinaires du gouvernement québécois à l’intention des femmes au début du XXe siècle
In 1901 the Quebec government launched a culinary initiative aimed at women with the publication of La bonne ménagère. The Ministry of Agriculture concerned about the rural exodus that had been going on since the middle of the nineteenth century tried with this publication to keep people in the countryside. To do so it used laudatory imagery of rural life particularly visible in the prefaces or introductions of the recipe books. Governmental concerns were growing and various in the early decades of the twentieth century. High infant mortality rates the spectre of the loss of the French-Canadian nation women’s paid work the economic crisis of the 1930s and the world wars were of great concern to Quebec’s elites. An argumentative and normative discourse was disseminated during these years with the aim of reforming behaviours deemed inappropriate as well as encouraging housewives to consume certain food products.
A Multidisciplinary Analysis of Early Modern Plant Food Consumption Based on Vegetal Ingredients in Culinary Texts and Subfossil Plant Remains from Cesspits
This paper aims to assess if historians and archaeobotanists have a comprehensive overview of the vegetal food items prepared and eaten by early modern Dutch urban consumers. It does so by taking a multidisciplinary approach comparing the vegetal ingredients present in the recipes of four printed cookbooks and a herbarium to the edible plant species present in 191 archaeobotanical cesspit samples. The research shows that the vast majority of edible plant species found in both printed cookbooks and cesspits overlaps. However a select number of plant species is represented solely in either cookbook or cesspit. This bias in representation can be explained by for instance sample sizes identification methods or regional preferences. The produced overview helps mitigate underrepresentation of certain plant species in culinary historical and archaeobotanical research. Thereby nuancing the picture of which plant foods were consumed in the past on a daily basis by different layers of society.
Les produits alimentaires au cœur de la guerre et de la paix en Côte d’Ivoire au début de l’ère coloniale (1887-1920)
Prior to and in the beginning of the colonial period food played an important in establishing either adversarial or peaceful relations between French troops and local people. In effect the need for food was crucial for those who had been given the job of establishing French dominion in Ivoirian land. The favourable reaction of the populations to this pressing need was interpreted as a sign of hospitality and a token of peace. In contrast any refusal would lead to the use of threatening and brutal force to obtain the much-needed food supply. Besides following the wars a tribute was exacted from the defeated party as a sign of allegiance and a condition for further peaceful relationships between belligerents. Depending on the way they were used food products became either instruments of peace or instruments of war.
Chocolate Manufacturing in Spain, 1850-1925
Spain failed to establish a significant presence in the nineteenth-century chocolate manufacturing revolution despite having held a central position as the gateway for cocoa into Europe. Notwithstanding their advantageous position in the cocoa supply chain Spanish chocolate producers were impeded by obsolete practices and a dearth of innovation largely due to the controlling influence of powerful guilds. Moreover governmental protectionist policies including high tariffs on colonial products also obstructed progress. In addition the industry’s growth was curtailed by a gradual shift in dietary preferences which limited chocolate consumption to being an exclusive luxury item for the affluent.
Despite the sluggish modernization of the Spanish chocolate industry a select group of manufacturers adopted mechanization through the construction of up-to-date factories and the use of technological advancements. Subsequently these prosperous entrepreneurs employed marketing tactics to popularize chocolate as a sought-after commodity for the working classes emphasizing its nutritional advantages.
Recommander et choisir un aliment dans l’Occident islamique médiéval: L’exemple du poisson
The textual documentation of medieval Islam collects a set of injunctions prescriptions and advice regarding food. Related to religious health or culinary reasons these recommendations clearly go beyond the simple dichotomy between wholesome/noxious (ṣāliḥ/radī’) and licit/illicit (ḥalāl/ḥarām) food. Among the documented foods fish (ḥūt samak) is a complex object to study because of the great diversity of species and preparations (fresh salted roasted poached dried fried smoked soused …). This contribution mainly draws on medical and culinary treatises from the Islamic West (Maghreb and al-Andalus) dated between the ninth and fourteenth centuries to interrogate norms and practices concerning fish consumption.
Book Reviews / Comptes rendus
Maryann TEBBENSavoir-Faire. A History of Food in France (London: Reaktion Books 2020) 340 pp ISBN 978-17-8914-332-4 reviewed by Denis Saillard
Elisabeth TOWNSENDCod: A Global History (London: Reaktion Books 2022) 180 pp 48 colour plates 12 halftones ISBN 178-9-14598-8 reviewed by Jean-Christophe Fichou
Martha M. DAASMedieval Fare: Food and Culture in Medieval Iberia (Lanham MD: Lexington Books 2022) 182 pp 37 illus ISBN 978-1-498-58959-8 reviewed by Juan Vicente García Marsilla
Hélène Jawhara PIÑERJews Food and Spain. The Oldest Medieval Spanish Cookbook and the Sephardic Culinary Heritage (Boston: Academic Studies Press 2022) 302 pp ISBN 978-1-644-69918-8 reviewed by Manuela Marín
Madeline BASSNETTHillary NUNN (eds)In the Kitchen 1550-1800. Reading English Cooking at Home and Abroad (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press 2022) 294 pp ISBN 978-9-463-72164-6 reviewed by Chloe Fairbanks
Charlie TAVERNERStreet Food: Hawkers and the History of London (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2023) 244 pp 17 illus ISBN 978-0-19-284694-5 reviewed by Beat Kümin
Garritt VAN DYKCommerce Food and Identity in Seventeenth-Century England and France: Across the Channel (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press 2022) 214 pp ISBN 978-9-463-72017-5 reviewed by Troy Bickham
Stefano MAGAGNOLIPhilippe MEYZIE (dir.)Réputation et marché. Produits origines et marques : perspectives historiques (Lille: Presses universitaires du Septentrion 2022) 292 pp ISBN 978-2-7574-3560-1 reviewed by Marie-France Garcia-Parpet
Helga MÜLLNERITSCHThe Austrian Manuscript Cookery Book in the Long Eighteenth Century: Studies of Form and Function (Berlin/Bern/Brussels/New York/Oxford/Warsaw/Vienna: Peter Lang 2022) 276 pp 31 illus. b/w ISBN (hardcover) 978-3-631-85657-4 reviewed by Lino Mioni
Jonathan K. REESThe Fulton Fish Market: A History (New York: Columbia University Press 2022) 312 pp ISBN 02-3120-256-3 reviewed by Richard Stott
Fish, Wine and Fruit Juice in Medieval Soapstone Cooking
Pots made of soapstone were among the most commonly used kitchen equipment for many centuries in Norway widely assumed to be the basic cookware for daily porridge. New and improved biochemical methods of content analysis suggest that a variety of dishes were made in these vessels in the medieval period. The soapstone vessels were used by a wide range of people from different social strata in Norway. We have studied vessels found at six different urban and rural find contexts. Preserved organic residues found on the inside of the vessels revealed biomarkers of fish meat fungi fruits and fermented juice. Some of these have been found in archaeological samples for the first time. Even if these pots can provide only a limited insight into the town’s food culture the results have the potential to throw new light upon early consumption. We discuss their role and function in a cultural historical context.
Allaiter de l’Antiquité à nos jours
Histoire et pratiques d’une culture en Europe
Aujourd’hui l’allaitement est au centre des préoccupations des organismes internationaux en ce qui concerne les soins destinés aux nouveau-nés et la santé des femmes. Ces questions occupent une place importante dans les débats autour de la maternité et du travail féminin. Mais les pratiques et les représentations de l’allaitement sont traversées par des tensions politiques économiques et religieuses. Pouvons-nous éclairer les controverses par une mise en perspective historique large de leurs enjeux socio-culturels ? Faire l’histoire de l’allaitement en Europe est une manière de contribuer à une approche globale de la question de la reproduction. Emboîtant le pas aux recherches récentes sur la maternité les quatre sections de cet ouvrage proposent les résultats d’une vaste enquête collective pluridisciplinaire et ouvrent des pistes pour une réflexion critique sur les enjeux actuels de la parentalité et de la reproduction. Les chapitres de ce volume associent les investigations historiques anthropologiques et archéologiques à l’histoire de l’art et aux études littéraires. L’ouvrage présente également une riche documentation visuelle et des focus conçus comme outils pour la recherche la divulgation scientifique et la didactique.
La dîme du corps
Doctrines et pratiques du jeûne
Pratique thérapeutique et rituelle universellement répandue le jeûne est un acte éminemment culturel qui semble être associé à la médecine à la religion et aux conflits dans la société. Envisagé du point de vue de ses finalités il peut prendre trois visages : thérapeutique politique et religieux. Dans ce triptyque le jeûne motivé par des considérations religieuses est le plus important. Il comporte un trait caractéristique : la scission du sujet entre une part qui recherche la vérité profonde de l’existence - esprit âme intellect - et une part qui recherche des satisfactions finies - corps physique âme concupiscente. Pour réduire l’affrontement entre les deux parties la seule solution est de lutter contre les passions physiques et on peut dire qu’au cœur du jeûne religieux il y a une psychomachie. Si la pratique du jeûne alimentaire n’est en soi guère complexe - une privation de nourriture - les sens et la portée morale que lui donnent ceux qui partout s’y appliquent sont en revanche innombrables. Infinie variété dont le présent volume veut donner l’illustration en multipliant les types d’approches et les points de vue dans l’espace et le temps. Si l’histoire de la sexualité a donné lieu à des recherches abondantes force est de constater que l’histoire de l’alimentation n’a quant à elle trouvé sa place que dans la mesure où elle était associée à la gastronomie et que la pratique du jeûne qui compte au nombre des « techniques de soi » les plus fondamentales n’a jamais pu accéder au statut d’objet majeur des études historiques. Les travaux ici rassemblés entendent combler une lacune qui n’est restée que trop longtemps béante dans le champ des investigations relatives aux pratiques alimentaires.
Feeding the Byzantine City
The Archaeology of Consumption in the Eastern Mediterranean (ca. 500-1500)
This book offers new and innovative perspectives on the archaeology of consumption in Byzantine cities and their hinterlands. Case-studies range from towns in eastern Macedonia north-western and central Greece and Crete to urban centres in Serbia Bulgaria and western Turkey. The archaeological data and historical insights presented in this volume are always of great interest often exciting and more than once outright astonishing. The commodities discussed in the volume are dated between the 6th and the 16th century CE and include pottery (e.g. glazed table wares amphorae cooking pots storage jars) textile fragments metal objects bronze and golden jewellery marble carved slabs and columns.
Feeding the Byzantine City sheds compelling light on a world which was much more complex and interconnected than has often been assumed which makes it essential reading for scholars and a larger audience alike.
Consumption, Ritual, Art, and Society
Interpretive Approaches and Recent Discoveries of Food and Drink in Etruria
Food determines who we are. We are what we eat but also how we eat with whom we eat where we eat and in some cases even why we eat. Food production and consumption in the ancient world can express multiple dimensions of identity and negotiate belonging to or exclusion from cultural groups. It can bind through religious praxis express wealth manifest cultural identity reveal differentiation in age or gender and define status. As a prism through which to investigate the past its utility is manifold. The chapters gathered together in this ground-breaking book explore the intersections between food consumption and ritual within Etruscan society through a purposeful cross-disciplinary approach. It offers a unique and innovative selection of up-to-date analysis from a variety of Etruscan food-related topics. From banqueting feasting fish rites and symbolic consumption to bio-archaeological data this volume explores a new and exciting field in ancient Italian archaeology.
Three Thousand Dishes on a Georgian Table: The Data of Royal Eating in England, 1788-1813
This data paper introduces and contextualizes a new digital resource in food history that includes a digitization and interpretation of two substantial kitchen ledgers from the palaces of King George III and his son (future) George IV of Great Britain between 1788 and 1813. These bills of fare contain the daily food allocations of every table in the two palaces. They include more than 3000 unique dish constructions and more than 40000 served dishes. Each dish has been classified by a number of categories related to cooking from details of key ingredients to cooking method resulting in over 1.3 million points of scholarly data about daily eating in Georgian Britain. Importantly the volumes digitized include two periods in which George III was suffering acutely from his mental health crises raising significant questions about dietetics in the period. The dataset is released openly with this article.
The Court and the Gut
In this article I aim to outline the peculiarity of Giulio Cesare Croce’s adaptation of literary sources and to explain the contradictions in his carnivalesque depictions of greasy food and immoral behaviour: although they portray entertainment and leisure they also criticize and condemn deviation from the norm. In particular I reconsider how the Bolognese storyteller represents Carnival’s festivities and their unavoidable end as Lent approaches. My analysis delves into the functions of Croce’s popular and cultivated references in relation to his extensive descriptions of food provisions. Hence I wish to shift the focus from the dichotomy between high and low literature to the intertwining of the material aspects of the diets of Carnival and Lent and their symbolic value.
Dreaming of Cockaigne, Dreaming of Distant Worlds
In this article I analyse a French text portraying a fictional Sumatra with features of the marvellous land of Cockaigne: the Letres des ysles et terres nouvellement trouvées par les portugalois (1537). The article focuses on the representation of food. By comparing the Letres with other previous and contemporary examples of Cockaigne literature I aim to show that although the work describes an island far from Europe only few non-European foods are involved and that the representation mainly relies on typical cockaignesque food in order to recreate a utopian environment according to European canons. Furthermore I show that the Letres have two different functions: besides a recreative or escapist purpose the work also ridicules its own content by embedding it in a deceptive context. By considering the deceitful dimension of the Cockaigne tales I explore the possibility that the Letres are a mocking parody of travel narratives.