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OnlyafewauthorswritingonfoodintheMiddleAgesandinTudortimesseriously
considertheimpactofthetheoryofhumoursonfoodpreparationandconsumption.
Forobviousreasonsthetheoryisgivenmuchattentionanditsrudimentsarealways
presentedbutfewattemptshavebeenmadetoproveitspracticalities.Theprinciples
ofthetheoryofhumoursanditsimpactuponfoodpreparationarediscussedindepth
inChapterVII.AlsointhisChaptertenrecipesforvariousdishesandadrinkare
analysedinordertoseewhethertheiringredientswerebalancedandwhatmethods
wereusedtoachievethisgoal.Ithasbeendemonstratedthatdietarytheorymust
havebeentakenintoconsiderationwhenpreparingmeals.
ChapterVIIIdealswiththeorganisationofgrandmealsandserviceinthegreathall.
Thecommunitygatheredforamealtherereflectedsocietyatlargeanditshierarchy.
Hierarchynotonlydeterminedwhereapersonsat,italsodeterminedhisallocation
offood.Inordertoemphasisethedistinctionsbetweenthesocialranksdifferenttypes
offoodwereservedtothelordandspecialguestsanddifferenttothecommoners.
Everythingtodowitheatingwasritualised.Everyinvitedguestwasexpectedto
observetheritualsandknowtherulesofappropriateconduct.
Itriedtoremainfaithfultotheoriginaltextswheneverpossibleandpreservethe
originalspellingofearlymanuscriptsandbooks.Recipesandquotationsessential
todepictingtheargumentspresented,aswellastobroadeningthecontextofthe
proposedtheses,havebeenusedintheirfullversion.Appendix3containsalistof
foodswiththeircharacteristichumoralqualities,whichshouldfacilitatecomprehen-
sionoftheirhumoralanalysis.Thetermsandphrasesrelatedtofood,cookingmeth-
odsandkitchenequipmentmostcommonlyfoundinhouseholddocuments,suchas
accountbooks,inventories,andcookerybooks,areexplainedinAppendices4and
5.Appendix6containsnineselectedmedievalfeastanddinnermenusaswellas
aweddingbanquetmenu.