Reviews for Banquet: Dining in the Great Courts of Late Renaissance Europe

The average rating for Banquet: Dining in the Great Courts of Late Renaissance Europe based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-03-05 00:00:00 Shirley Macduff The author starts out with an interesting conceit: that development of renaissance banquets (in the case appx. 1520-1660) paralleled and reflected the changes in art from the mannerist to baroque movements. I'm not 100% sold on this, but he does make a compelling case. Further, banquets from that period were less about eating than they were about what image a host wished to project to his guests - and, in fact, to non-guests (sometimes even in foreign countries) through the publication of menus after the fact. For this reason, the principle figure in a banquet was the "scalco", essentially a stage manager for the production, rather than the actual cook. He was both producer and director for the event, combined with accountant and doctor (in the sense that he had to take into account his patron's humors when choosing the dishes). In addition, Albala deals with many of the changes in upper-class foods between the medieval period and the late 17th Century (e.g. the shift from game to farmed animals- especially "white" meats such as capon and veal -, wild plants to garden vegetables, the increase in the use of sugar, distilled alcohol, and dairy products, as well as changes in spices used) and the rise of "national cuisines". Interestingly, even though this period begins a quarter century after Columbus' voyage, based on published accounts and cookbooks. there is still little use of "New World" foods by the upper classes. The author also includes a section of recipes, a chapter on carving (a much more physical pursuit than I had previously considered), as well as one of publications condemning the luxuriousness of these extravaganzas. Overall, the Banquet is an excellent book of food history.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-02-08 00:00:00 Robert Hernandez Great research book. I do wish it had a chapter on the elaborate sweets of the period but I'll happily take all the lovely sensuous details it did have.