Art, Culture, and Cuisine: Ancient and Medieval Gastronomy (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: emmer wheat, Ancient Rome, Middle Ages, Late Gothic (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Using gastronomy (not "cookery"!) as its focus, lacy language as its style, and illustrations to enchant, Art, Culture, and Cuisine researches exactly those subjects from the time of the "first hominids" to the 15th century. The chapters in this academic work by a humanities professor follow a time line: prehistory, ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, the "Hellenic Experience," ancient Rome, the early Middle Ages, and "Late Gothic International Style," which covers the Crusades to 1400. There is so much historical fact that only Bober's steady fidelity to her theme keeps this book from being too diffuse. Although we are dealing with solid scholarship (there are many pages of notes and bibliography), the writing is extremely witty, and the dinner menus with recipes are esoteric, delightful, and mostly doableAeven if one must accept substitutes like sheep's stomach in the absence of an available "sow's womb." Highly recommended for large public, special, and academic libraries.AWendy Miller, Lexington P.L., KY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

"Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are," quipped the eighteenth-century gastronomer Brillat-Savarin. Indeed, cooking and eating transcend mere alimentary necessity--how we define, prepare, and consume our daily bread can detail a full range of social expression. In Art, Culture, and Cuisine, Phyllis Pray Bober examines cooking through the dual lens of archaeology and art history. She shows that cuisine--the higher, skilled, and creative manifestation of cooking--is an art that should be elevated to the level of those more generally termed "fine."

Bober describes prehistoric eating in ancient Turkey; traditions of the great civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome; and rituals of the Middle Ages and the "Late Gothic International" period. To satisfy the adventurous reader, Bober has included old menus with contemporary adaptations.

With strong humor and deep love for her subject matter, Bober shows, for the first time, cuisine and dining's place at the heart of cultural, religious, and social activities that have shaped Western sensibilities.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 462 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (June 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226062538
• ISBN-13: 978-0226062532
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #967,035 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superb book on culinary history, August 24, 1999

By A Customer

Phyllis Bober has long been a pioneer in the history of cooking/foodways. Her thesis is that we can learn as much about a culture by examining it through the lens of its cuisine as by studying its art, literature, etc. This book is at once highly learned and well written--erudite and witty, like Fisher. An important work for anyone interested in the history of food and eating, the book covers "the prehistory of cuisine," the food culture of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, and Europe in the Middle Ages. Good illustrations. Can't wait to read the second volume covering the Renaissance through modernism that Bober is now writing.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Amazing Book, July 18, 2001

By	Stephanie Manley (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

I feel in love with this book. This book is well written, keep it in mind it is much more of an informational book that contains a few recipes. Let me note that the recipes are platable towards modern day tastes. It gives enough recipes for each time ara so you can sample cuisines from the times she has written about. The book is filled with details and gives background to where others have only touched the surface. The book covers ancient history, prehistory, Eygptian, Rome, Greece, the Early Middle ages through the late Gothic, and stops around the 1450s. This is a definate must have for anyone looking to expand their ancient cooking library.