Fabulous Feasts: Medieval Cookery and Ceremony [Paperback]

Madeline Pelner Cosman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1999

Foods are cultural insifnia. Few indicators define people so well as its foodlore. Food taboos and food celebrations are important to a culture's notions od sacrement and sin, praise and punishment, deprivation and indulgence, vigilant discipline and sustained extravagance. Medieval England's courtly appetites for splendour are evident in cookery books, courtesy manuals, household and court documents, legal records, medieval texts, and in surprising profusion, in works of art ranging from marginalia of prayer books through literary romances. This culinary excursion will introduce the English banquet hall, its furnishings, its table adornments, and its noble seritors. The 'art' of the kitchen is explored and the all important ingrdients are scrutinised. The book concludes with over 100 recipes from medieval manuscripts.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Any even faintly literary types, be they cook or history buff, should be absolutely delighted with this book. -- Julia Child, Boston Globe

About the Author

Madeleine Pelner Cosman is Director of the Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the City College of City Universoty in New York

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: George Braziller (1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080760898X
• ISBN-13: 978-0807608982
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #773,172 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not at all accurate!, August 21, 2000

By 

MemElaina (Colorado Springs, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fabulous Feasts: Medieval Cookery and Ceremony (Paperback)

Buy this book for the illustrations if you want, but don't be lured into believing that the scholarship is accurate! Cosman does NOT document her recipes (as a matter of fact, she has admitted in lectures to making some of them up), she does not give original recipes and sources, and she continually substitutes ingredients and methods unknown in Europe in the Renaissance. This book is old and the "fantasy" research is long outdated by the excellent work of Hieatt, Santich, Redon, Scully, and the like.

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Information of varying accuracy, no supporting documents., December 3, 1997

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fabulous Feasts: Medieval Cookery and Ceremony (Paperback)

Lots of information about food preparation and laws in medieval Europe, including modern "adaptations" of medieval recipes. Unfortunately, many of these adaptations are extremely loose, e.g. not showing the original recipe being "adapted", and using ingredients that don't remotely resemble anything available in medieval Europe. Enormous bibliography, but no indication of which source any given recipe or statement came from, so there's no way to check their accuracy.

On the positive side, the book includes many quotations from sumptuary and sanitation laws, which give insight into medieval food practices.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Medieval - It's Not, March 3, 2003

By 

robertwestfall (NY,) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fabulous Feasts: Medieval Cookery and Ceremony (Hardcover)

Although this book claims to be a historical reference about 1500c cookery it is not an accurate reference. The recipies are not historically accurate, and the book does not provide the original recipes. [bad], "exploitive", "fantasy" are words that my wife (a food historian) uses to describe this book.

Recommend anything by terrance scully.