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Eating Right in the Renaissance
A01=Ken Albala
anise
aphrodisiacs
arugula
Author_Ken Albala
Category=JBCC9
Category=MBNH3
Category=NHDJ
cucumbers
dangerous food
dietary advice
diets
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
europe
european history
folk medicine
food and nutrition
food and sex
food culture
food history
food medicine
food studies
herbs
historic food research
historical diets
melons
mint
nonfiction
nutrition
nutritional anthropology
parsley
renaissance
renaissance culture
renaissance food
renaissance history
renaissance life
sexual prowess
wine
Product details
- ISBN 9780520229471
- Weight: 680g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 01 Feb 2002
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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Eating right has been an obsession for longer than we think. Renaissance Europe had its own flourishing tradition of dietary advice. Then, as now, an industry of experts churned out diet books for an eager and concerned public. Providing a cornucopia of information on food and an intriguing account of the differences between the nutritional logic of the past and our own time, this inviting book examines the wide-ranging dietary literature of the Renaissance. Ken Albala ultimately reveals the working of the Renaissance mind from a unique perspective: we come to understand a people through their ideas on food. Eating Right in the Renaissance takes us through an array of historical sources in a narrative that is witty and spiced with fascinating details. Why did early Renaissance writers recommend the herbs parsley, arugula, anise, and mint to fortify sexual prowess? Why was there such a strong outcry against melons and cucumbers, even though people continued to eat them in large quantities? Why was wine considered a necessary nutrient?
As he explores these and other questions, Albala explains the history behind Renaissance dietary theories; the connections among food, exercise, and sex; the changing relationship between medicine and cuisine; and much more. Whereas modern nutritionists may promise a slimmer waistline, more stamina, or freedom from disease, Renaissance food writers had entirely different ideas about the value of eating right. As he uncovers these ideas from the past, Ken Albala puts our own dietary obsessions in an entirely new light in this elegantly written and often surprising new chapter on the history of food.
Ken Albala is Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of the Pacific.
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