Entre alimentos e drogas: especiarias da Antiguidade até o início da Idade Moderna

From 1st to 17th centuries, spices have been a commodity as well as a necessity for the Western Europe. These “aromatic items of commerce with a high unit cost... imported from distant lands”, as they are defined by Paul Freedman, included many dry products that were mainly culinary ingredients, but also perfumes of high quality which could be used in cooking. Most of spices were supposed to have medical properties too: they were drugs, in the wide meaning that the Ancient Medicine gave to this term. The medical impacts of spices partly explain how, in 14th and 15th centuries, Far East spices offered the wider range of tastes and scents that European cuisine has ever known. But even when the French Cuisine has got rid of eastern spices from the middle of the 17th century, these ones remained quite important in a medicine that kept alive the principles of the Ancient Medicine. How the changing tastes affected the discourse on spices? We will answer this question through a long-term study of cook recipes, medical instructions and travel writings.&nbsp

Textes sur l’alimentation du Moyen Âge et de la Renaissance

Programme de l'année 2006-2007 : Textes sur l’alimentation du Moyen Âge et de la Renaissance

Cuisine et médecine au Moyen Âge

Concilier santé et bon goût est un idéal largement répandu dans la société actuelle, sans pouvoir être si souvent atteint tant les exigences gastronomiques et médicales semblent contradictoires. À première vue, cette contradiction n’apparaît pas au Moyen Âge, ce qui a fait dire à certains historiens de l’alimentation – et non des moindres (Jean-Louis Flandrin, Ria Jansen-Sieben, Terence Scully et bien d’autres) – que, au fond, la cuisine médiévale n’était qu’une diététique en action. Lorsqu’o..

Le prince des cuisiniers et le cuisinier des princes : nouveaux documents sur maestro Martino

Bien connu pour avoir été l'inspirateur du versant culinaire du De honesta voluptate de Platina, Maestro Martino a vu son existence et sa carrière progressivement dévoilées au gré de la réapparition des manuscrits de son livre de recettes, le Libro de arte coquinaria. Les notations contenues dans les archives de la papauté, et notamment dans les comptes de menues dépenses de la maison pontificale, permettent de compléter son parcours avec un long séjour à Rome, au service des papes Paul II puis Sixte IV. Cuisinier secret engagé par le pape avant même la mort de son précédent patron (le patriarche d'Aquilée), Maestro Martino a joué un rôle de premier plan dans la préparation de la collation du carnaval de 1466, un des temps forts du pontificat de Paul II.Cocus Secretus of the Pope. Well known for having been the inspiration of the section on cooking in the De honesta voluptate of Platina, Maestro Martino's existence and career have been progressively revealed with the reappearance of the manuscripts of his book of recipes, the Libro de arte coquinaria. The notes contained in the archives of the papacy, notably the accounts of the pontifical household, allow us to complete what we know of his career by a prolonged stay in Rome in the service of Paul II and Sixtus IV. A secret cook, engaged even before the death of his previous patron, the patriarch of Aquilea, Maestro Martino played a leading role in the preparation of the collation for the carnival of 1466, a highlight of the pontificate of Paul II

Le festin d’Assuérus : femmes – et hommes – à table vers la fin du Moyen Âge

Textes comme images laissent penser que la plupart des repas médiévaux faisaient coexister hommes et femmes. Mais de quelle manière ? Le traitement par les enlumineurs de trois motifs iconographiques tirés de la Bible, qui n’impliquent pas toujours cette coexistence des sexes – le festin d’Assuérus, le repas des enfants de Job et le banquet de Balthasar –, révèle la banalité d’une mixité dont les modalités d’organisation se révèlent très souples. Les plans de table des banquets de la cour de Bourgogne confirment l’imbrication des mangeurs et des mangeuses mais suggèrent que leur disposition répond à des considérations politiques et familiales plus qu’au souci de l’alternance des sexes.Both writings and images of the period suggest that men and women could be found together at mot medieval feasts. But what was the etiquette of these shared meals ? The study of three illuminations of iconographical motifs taken from the Bible – Assuerus’ feast, Balthazar’s banquet and Job’s children’s shared meal – reveal very casual mixing and flexible forms of organisation – in contrast with other biblical motifs, which do not always demonstrate such coexistence of the sexes. The seating plans of banquets in the Court of Bourgogne confirm the picture of easy mixing between feasting ladies and gentlemen, whose disposition around the table was dictated more by political and family considerations, than by any notion of appropriate sexual mix

Textes sur l’alimentation du Moyen Âge et de la Renaissance

Programme de l'année 2006-2007 : Textes sur l’alimentation du Moyen Âge et de la Renaissance

Food & History, Revue semestrielle publiée par l'Institut européen d'histoire de l'alimentation

Médiévales, qui dès les débuts de son existence a fait une large place aux nourritures, ne pouvait que se réjouir de la naissance d'une revue entièrement consacrée à l'histoire de l'alimentation. Publiée par un jeune Institut qui se donne pour objectif d'impulser et de coordonner les recherches en la matière, Food & History se veut donc résolument multilingue et pluripériodique. Avec cinq articles de fond sur dix, la part qu'occupe le Moyen Âge dans ce premier numéro est dominante – et cela r..

Le paysage sonore de la grande chère dans la France du XVIIe siècle

The soundscape of eating and drinking well in 17th-century France In the 17th century, \u27banquet\u27, which was an old-fashioned term in French, tended to be replaced by \u27festin\u27 or \u27grand repas\u27, and by the expression \u27faire grande chère\u27 (to eat and drink well). Whatever the quantity and quality of the dishes, the pleasures of good food and drink could not have been complete without musical accompaniment and verbal exchanges between the guests. This article sets out to reconstruct and understand the soundscape, as defined in the work of Raymond Murray Schafer, of the lavish meals of the French elites of the 17th century. Consequently,  the question of the particular place of the sense of hearing during festive meals must also be considered; all the more so because the guests showed, perhaps first and foremost, that they were eating and drinking well together through the soundscape that was expected as part of a good meal. It could concern the ever-present music (symphonie) which accompanied the meal, but also the sounds which were the signals for healths to be drunk, by which a social hierarchy was reintroduced. It also concerns the guests\u27 conversations, witty remarks, and stories, as well as songs, drinking songs, and topical songs. This soundscape adapted itself to the various stages of the \u27festin\u27, such as the toasts, the dessert, and the pauses taken during the meal in order to ease digestion, and depended on the number and quality of the guests and the purpose of the food and drink being offered and received