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constancemn's review against another edition
3.0
This is a series of essays on food preferences in various medieval areas and times. I found it a helpful read--there are a lot of "medieval" cookbooks around and it can be difficult to understand from reading those how people actually ate--monks versus royalty versus normal people, early versus middle versus late. The essays also help add some perspective on the reasons people ate as they did (e.g. religious motivations, health concerns, taste and gastronomy as it was perceived at the time). New World versus Old World food was also covered from a somewhat unusual perspective--rather than discussing how amazing and revolutionary the potato was, for instance, this book concentrates on the quite similar foods which the potato gradually replaced, and why. So that was all pretty cool. All that said, the book is super dry reading, and it isn't really organized very cohesively. I would say it's a good supplement to understanding European cookery from about a thousand years ago, to help you identify what's silly or made-up or inaccurate in more "fun" types of books on the topic.
alexinwonderland12's review against another edition
4.0
A bit dense, but with a little patience you'll reap a bounty of fun facts about Medieval food and cooking. I always wished we delved deeper into cultural topics in my history classes; this is a book that scratches that itch.
glennisleblanc's review
2.0
I picked this thinking it would have some recipes as well as talking about the food culture during the medieval era. Instead what I got was a very detailed and heavily footnoted book about food and some of the reasons behind what was eaten during that time frame. The book did leave more to the Italian side since it seems the few cookbooks from that time frame were from that area. Every part of food is covered in here along with how some dining customs changed as food changed. An interesting read , but the book is more for someone doing research during that time frame and less for the average foodie. Lots of reference sources listed if you do decide to fall down that rabbit hole.
Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley
Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley
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