Melitta Weiss Adamson Bücher

Exploring the culinary landscape of a specific historical period, the book delves into common foodstuffs, regional cuisines, and the dining habits of various social classes. It highlights how people cooked, ate, and celebrated, while also addressing health and faith-related dietary restrictions. The narrative is enriched with intriguing details about imitation food, kitchen humor, and contemporary medical beliefs, complemented by period recipes and quotations that bring the era to life.

The book explores the connection between cooking and preventive medicine by centering on the food and drink section, cibus et potus , in 23 medieval Latin and German regimina sanitatis . A brief history of the four-humor theory and the six non-naturals is followed by the analysis of each regimen , including information on the text, the role of cibus et potus within the non-naturals, its contents (general guidelines on nutrition, dietetic lists of foodstuffs, and culinary recipes), use of the gradus -system, as well as sources and dependencies with other regimina . In the conclusion the results are arranged in chart-form; an appendix contains the transcription of a 15th-century German translation of Anthimus' «De observatione ciborum.»