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Course begins February 24, 2025
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Live sessions with the instructor every week
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Sessions from 1:00 - 3:00pm Eastern U.S. Time
Week 1
THE CLASSICAL HERITAGE
We start with the foundations of Western dietetics and cookery with Hippocrates and Galen. We’ll examine their theories on humoral balance and dietary recommendations, and trace their influence through late-antique cuisine. Discover how classical ideas about nutrition and cooking techniques have a left a lasting mark on Western culinary traditions and medical practices.
Week 2
THE ROMANO-GERMANIC WORLD
Focus is on the fusion of Roman and Germanic food traditions, examining how this blend shaped early medieval diets. We'll dive into Anthimus's De observatione ciborum, a key text linking ancient dietary wisdom to Merovingian practices. Discover how the Merovingian court's eating habits reflected political power, cultural exchange, and evolving medical theories in this transitional period.
Week 3
GOD AND THE TABLE
We’ll look into the profound impact Christianity had on medieval food culture. We'll examine fasting traditions and their spiritual significance, analyze monastic rules shaping daily meals, and uncover food symbolism in Christian hagiography. Discover how Christian beliefs transformed eating habits, cooking methods, and attitudes toward food across medieval Europe, creating a distinct culinary culture that was based on Mediterranean products and balanced spiritual devotion with bodily nourishment.
Week 4
MEDIEVAL BANQUETING
Get immersed in the vibrant world of medieval banqueting halls. We'll explore the etiquette and social rituals that governed dining, including the layout and furnishings of dining spaces, the evolution of tableware, and the roles of various food professionals. Discover how table manners reflected social hierarchies and how the spectacle of dining became a powerful tool for displaying wealth and status in medieval society.
Week 5
THE AGE OF COOKBOOKS
The flourishing of culinary literature in late medieval Europe. We'll examine the surge of cookbook production from the 13th to the 15th century, analyzing key texts and peculiar recipes. Discover how these works reflect changing tastes, cooking techniques, and social dynamics. We'll also explore how the spread of literacy and the rise of urban elites contributed to this culinary renaissance, shaping European gastronomy for centuries to come.
Week 6
THE MAGICAL USES OF FOOD IN THE MIDDLE AGES
In our final week, we'll explore the uncommon and taboo aspects of medieval food culture. We'll discuss practices such as graphophagy — the practice of consuming sacred texts for spiritual or magical purposes — and cannibalism, both real and imagined, and their social implications. Finally, we'll analyze recipes found in magical handbooks and collections of charms, uncovering how food was believed to possess supernatural properties. Discover how these practices blurred the lines between nourishment, medicine, and magic in medieval society.
Meet Your Instructor
Andrea Maraschi
Andrea Maraschi has a PhD in Medieval History (University of Bologna), and has been a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Iceland. He teaches Anthropology of Food at the University of Bologna and is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bari. His research interests touch, among other things, on the history of food, the history of magic, and the history of medicine. His latest monograph, co-written with Francesca Tasca, is entitled Food, Heresies, and Magical Boundaries in the Middle Ages (Amsterdam University Press, 2024).