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Fabulous Feasts: Medieval Cookery and Ceremony Paperback – 1999

by Madeline Pelner Cosman (Author)

24 customer reviews

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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.

Fabulous Feasts: Medieval Cookery and Ceremony

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Product Details

Series: Medieval Cookery and Ceremony
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: George Braziller; First Edition edition (1999)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 080760898X
ISBN-13: 978-0807608982
Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.2 x 0.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,107,989 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #536 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Cooking Methods > Cooking for One or Two
- #1131 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Cooking Education & Reference > Essays
- #1465 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Cooking Education & Reference > History

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Customer Reviews

3.3 out of 5 stars

5 star		25%
4 star		38%
3 star		4%
2 star		12%
1 star		21%

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 68 people found the following review helpful

Not at all accurate!

By MemElaina on August 21, 2000

Format: 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.

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29 of 30 people found the following review helpful

Medieval - It's Not

By robertwestfall on March 3, 2003

Format: 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.

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31 of 33 people found the following review helpful

Information of varying accuracy, no supporting documents.

By A Customer on December 3, 1997

Format: 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.

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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

If you're interested in Medieval Cookery, there are better places to start

By J. L. R. Reed on July 24, 2007

Format: Paperback

I cook, a lot. I am a historical interpreter and a 15th century re-enactor, and I love the taste of really good food. For those who don't care if this is historically accurate or not, then I think you've missed the point of owning a "medieval cookbook". If you like odd mixes of spices and experimentation, then have at it. For me, I'll pass having sampled several of these recipes that I found totally unpalatable.

So that you don't think it's all wine vinegar, I will offer up a few excellent titles for your approval. If you're interested in ceremony and how things are done at the table regarding manners and how to serve the high table, read the following:

The Babees Boke of Manners
The Boke of Keruynge (Book of Carving) 1508 (Southover Press Historic Cookery & Housekeeping): The Book of Carving (Wynkyn de Worde)

If you want real medieval cookbooks with the documentation to back up the recipes contained between the covers, then I'd like to suggest the following cook books:

Pleyn Delit: Medieval Cookery for Modern Cooks, an excellent beginners book (1996)
The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy (2000)
Early French Cookery: Sources, History, Original Recipes and Modern Adaptations(2002)

There are others, but these are the three that I use often, and most new comers to the world of medieval cookery will discover that many of the recipes are very pleasing to the modern palate.

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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

Buy it for the Bibliography

By Francis Poong on December 17, 2000

Format: Paperback

Most of the book is a disucssion of various aspects of food in medieval society. The writing style is light and quick to read while giving a lot of information. Her foot notes and bibliography are EXTENSIVE. The recipes at the end are not the main point ofthe book. Many of them are delicious but they are not what you want if complete authenticity is what you are looking for. If you want a "flavor" of the middle ages, they are fine. Again, the best thing about the book are the references.

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19 of 22 people found the following review helpful

Who cares if it is absolutely authentic?

By Kevin Hagen on October 7, 2000

Format: Paperback

Another reviewer has taken the author to task for not being absolutely authentic in every detail. I have been cooking from this book for 20 years and with very few exceptions each recipe has been very well received by the literally hundreds of people I have served. Some of my favorites - the Roste (a beef roast cooked in a lovely goo of fruits, honey and beef juices) the Fruytes Ryal Rice (sounds ghastly but beautiful and tasty), and the Blak Perys (my favorite dessert of any time or place).

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24 of 29 people found the following review helpful

What good eating is all about (for Chaucer...)

By J. Angus Macdonald on June 1, 2000

Format: Paperback

My background is in Medieval History. I have always been fascinated with flavours and sounds in addition to kings and social movements. This, of course, led to the discovery of Fabulous Feasts.
Now as to the 100% accuracy of the recipes, I am unable to vouch. I can say, however, that they are all clearly discribed and easy to follow. I have a particular fondness for the arbolyetts and the parsley bread. I have cooked, at one time or another over the past 15 years, about 2/3 of the recipes -- some are definitely acquired tastes and some are pure show-stoppers.
Cosman also does a marvelous job of giving you food lore and manners of the latter half of the Middle Ages. From the salacious to the practical, all sorts of information is here. Her bibliography is helpful for those who want to follow further in her footsteps and her list of where to get the ingredients is good, but a bit dated. WARNING: at least one of the spice stores listed has shut since this book was first released.
This is a book for cooks and amateur historians. It is not a HISTORY book, but rather a cookbook that gets into a bit of history and allows you to sample the tastes of another time and place.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Fabulous Feasts

Fascinating book and unusual recipes, lots of information

Published 11 months ago by Lavonne H. Hayden

Don't waste your money

UGH. Nothing about this epic mistake for a book is worth reading. There are too many other books out there that put this one to shame. Read more

Published 24 months ago by Caylee G

It is what it is

If you need period recipes, look elsewhere. No recipe within is even remotely documented, so scholarly redactions are impossible. But this book is not all about the recipes. Read more

Published on October 22, 2013 by R. Tannahill

Great book

I bought this for my sister who is involved with Medieval Cooking and Fighting. She was very excited, that it gave Original type recipes

Published on March 5, 2013 by Victoria

Interesting History and Recipes

I actually bought this copy for my sister for Christmas, but I did use a library copy for a Renaissance dinner I had. Read more

Published on December 29, 2011 by Dawn

Bit Bland!

It wasn't informative enough for me, nor relative to my requirements(which is to cook medieval banquet meals).
Not an easy read with no colour, so no not for me!

Published on January 17, 2010 by Ms. Nikki Watson

Medieval Manners and More

An astonishingly complete compilation of Medieval food-related traditions, ceremonies, utensils, recipes, ingredients, manners, and even systems of garbage disposal! Read more

Published on August 21, 2009 by J. Grambo

Crackpot Cookery

Rabid anti-immigrant right winger who lied and claimed this book was nominated for both the Pulitzer Prize AND National Book awrd. Neither was true.

Published on October 19, 2006 by L. Dowling

Add a medieval flair to your modern party

I acquired this book many years ago in the 1970's. I am not sure what may or may not have changed between that edition and the edition (2003) currently being sold. Read more

Published on September 25, 2005 by Barbara Nostrand

A good starting point for medieval cooks

This book is quite a good starting volume for the medieval chef. Unfortunately the recipes are undated or sourced and the info is quite general. Read more

Published on November 15, 2001

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