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Creating Community With Food and Drink in Merovingian Gaul

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During the Dark Ages kings and Christians exploited every resource available to gain and institutionalize power. "Creating Community with Food and Drink in Merovingian Gaul" provides some good insights into the importance of food in shaping human relationships, and how customs related to food were engineered to help establish order in Merovingian society.

The subject matter is of general interest but Dr. Effros did not write to a wide audience. This is a minimal book of 5 short essays written in an academic style. The essays end on page 91, followed by 52 pages of footnotes (mostly citations), with the bibliography and index taking the book to 174 pages.

So much is missing from this book! For example, the feasts of Pre-Christians (Romans and Barbarians) and Christians are contrasted in the abstract but never described in any detail. What was on the table? Dr. Effros explains that she didn't write about the food that was eaten or how it was prepared in Merovingian Gaul because "these questions had already been addressed elsewhere more capably than I could have undertaken myself." Yet her footnote directs the reader to multiple sources, none of which address the questions directly.