Cooking and Eating in Renaissance Italy [electronic resource] : From Kitchen to Table

ISBN:

9781442227194

Title:

Author:

McIver, Katherine A.

Personal Author:

McIver, Katherine A.

Publication Information:

Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2014.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (219 p.)

Series:

Rowman & Littlefield Studies in Food and Gastronomy

General Note:

Description based upon print version of record.

Contents:

Contents; List of Figures; Acknowledgments; 1 The Renaissance Kitchen and the Experience of Dining; Culinary Treatises, Cookbooks, and Their Authors; A Cook and a Steward; Contemporary Voices: A Personal View; 2 From Kitchen to Table in the Late Middle Ages; The Medieval Cook and His Kitchen; Meals, Mealtimes, and Menus; The Orchestration of Dining; Maestro Martino, Cookbooks, and Recipes; 3 The Renaissance Cook and His Kitchen; The Renaissance Cook; The Kitchen; What Inventories Tell Us about Actual Kitchens and Equipment; The Cook's Resources; Putting the Resources to Work

4 Meals, Mealtimes, and MenusEating Habits and Mealtimes; Meal Planning and Menus; The Cost of a Meal; From Meal Planning to Fine Dining; 5 From the Kitchen to the Table; The Dining Room; The Dining Table: Seating Arrangements; The Orchestration of Dining; 6 The Next Century in the Kitchen and at the Table; Changes in Living Arrangements and the Impact on Cooking and Dining; The Baroque Cook and His Kitchen; Meals, Mealtimes, and Menus; The Art of Dining; The End of an Era; Notes; Works Cited; Index; About the Author

Subject Term:

Cooking, Italian.

Food habits -- Italy.

Italy -- Social life and customs.

Renaissance -- Italy.

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

Click here to view book

Publication Date:

2014

Publication Information:

Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2014.

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
394.1	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ON-DEMAND	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Renaissance Italy's art, literature, and culture continue to fascinate. The domestic life has been examined more in recent years, and this book reveals the preparation, eating, and the sociability of dining in Renaissance Italy. It takes readers behind the scenes to the Renaissance kitchen and dining room, where everyday meals as well as lavish banquets were prepared and consumed. Katherine McIver considers the design, equipment, and location of the kitchen and food prep and storage rooms in both middle-class homes and grand country estates. The diner's room, the orchestration of dining, and the theatrical experience of dining are detailed as well, all in the context of the renowned food and architectural scholars of the day.

Author Notes

Katherine McIver is a professor emerita of art history at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is the author of Women, Art, and Architecture in Northern Italy, 1520-1580: Negotiating Power (winner of a Society for the Study of Early Modern Women Book Award), the editor and contributor of Wives, Widows, Mistresses, and Nuns in Early Modern Italy: Making the Invisible Visible through Art and Patronage (2012), and has also written about dining in Gastronomica and New Perspectives on the Early Modern Italian Domestic Interior.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

A professor emerita of art history at the University of Alabama, McIver sets her culinary history in the late-medieval period and concludes in the 1600s. The author explores the roles and duties of cook, steward, under cook, and apprentice. She takes readers through upper- and middle-class kitchens, pantries, wine cellars, and dining spaces. McIver cites historical documents to highlight how favored foods were prepared and served. Despite the strength of McIver's many factual account, the book may disappoint the general reader. The large cast of characters is overwhelming, and the textbook style, with each chapter beginning with an introduction detailing what's to follow, may grate on a non-academic audience. Nevertheless, McIver's research is impressive. She does a does a good job recounting culinary changes across time, such as how, in the 16th century, a festive meal's "sweet pastries, candied fruit, confectioneries, and sweet wines" were replaced by a cold salad course; her descriptions of wedding feasts and banquets are also remarkable, especially the one held in honor of Emperor Charles V in 1536. (Dec.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Choice Review

As the title suggests, this book is a general overview of the habits of cooking and eating in Renaissance Italy. McIver (emer., art history, Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham) includes useful citations to letters, menus, inventories, and other historical documents from the period. The authorial style is unusual in that sections are frequently introduced with questions such as "How did the cooks at Castel Gandolfo or at the Palazzo del Te come up with their menus?" Then selected citations from historical documents are used to answer and expand on the topics raised in the questions. Although the examples are compelling, the author often extrapolates from single examples to make broad generalizations. This approach is informative, but it undermines the book's legitimacy as accurate historical analysis. The details about the eating habits of well-known historical figures (such as the Duke of Urbino) and menus for significant events are interesting and accompanied by black-and-white illustrations of fair quality. Much less information is provided regarding eating habits of the populace. The book also contains many details about methods of serving and the relative cleanliness of plates. Unfortunately, no recipes are included. Summing Up: Recommended. With reservations. General readers. --Elena Bertozzi, Quinnipiac University