Product details
Biographical note
Ken Albala is Professor of History at the University of the Pacific, USA and author of many books, including Eating Right in the Renaissance; Food in Early Modern Europe; The Banquet: Dining in the Great Courts of Late Renaissance Europe; Beans: A History; and The Lost Art of Real Cooking. He is editor of Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia and coeditor of the journal, Food, Culture & Society.[T]he six volumes of A Cultural History of Food provide an enlightening and fascinating insight into the history of food and its development throughout history in an authoritative and accessible style.
- Louise Ellis-Barrett, Social Sciences
Food and attitudes toward it were transformed in Renaissance Europe. The period between 1300 and 1600 saw the discovery of the New World and the cultivation of new foodstuffs, as well as the efflorescence of culinary literature in European courts and eventually in the popular press, and most importantly the transformation of the economy on a global scale. Food became the object of rigorous investigation among physicians, theologians, agronomists and even poets and artists. Concern with eating was, in fact, central to the cultural dynamism we now recognize as the Renaissance.
A Cultural History of Food in the Renaissance presents an overview of the period with essays on food production, food systems, food security, safety and crises, food and politics, eating out, professional cooking, kitchens and service work, family and domesticity, body and soul, representations of food, and developments in food production and consumption globally.
Series Preface
Introduction
Ken Albala, University of the Pacific, USA
1 Food Production 29
Allen J. Grieco, Villa I Tatti, The Harvard University Centre for Italian Renaissance Studies, Italy
2 Food Systems: Pepper, Herring, and Beer
Michael Krondl, Independent Scholar, USA
3 Food Security, Safety, and Crises
Philip Slavin, McGill University, Canada
4 Food and Politics
Eric R. Dursteler, Brigham Young University, USA
5 Eating Out
Paul Freedman, Yale University, USA
6 Professional Cooking, Kitchens, and Service Work
Ken Albala, University of the Pacific, USA
7 Family and Domesticity
Alison A. Smith, Wagner College, USA
8 Body and Soul
Joan Fitzpatrick, Loughborough University, UK
9 Food in Painting
Gillian Riley, Independent Scholar
10 World Developments
Fabio Parasecoli, The New School, NYC, USA
Notes
Bibliography
Notes on Contributors
Index
The Cultural Histories are multi-volume sets that survey the social and cultural construction of specific subjects across six historical periods, broadly:
- Antiquity
- The Medieval Age
- The Early Modern Age
- The Age of Enlightenment
- The Age of Empire
- The Modern Age
The subjects covered range from Animals to Dress and Fashion, from Sport to Furniture, from Money to Fairy Tales. Each volume discusses the same themes in its chapters so that readers may gain an understanding of a period by reading an entire volume, or follow a theme through history by reading the relevant chapter in each volume. Each six-volume set is illustrated.
Titles are available as printed sets for libraries needing just one subject or preferring a one-off purchase and tangible reference for their shelves, or as part of a fully searchable digital library available to institutions by annual subscription or perpetual access (see www.bloomsburyculturalhistory.com).
PRAISE FOR THE SERIES
A Cultural History of Dress and Fashion
“Intriguing, surprising, and thought-provoking essays covering many cultural layers of dress history.”
CHOICE
A Cultural History of Fairy Tales
“A comprehensive treatise that belongs in every academic library concerned with a form of literature that has had broad appeal for centuries and continues to do so.”
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A Cultural History of Hair
“A thick, tangled and deliciously idiosyncratic history of hair.”
Times Literary Supplement
A Cultural History of Law
“These introductions should be of great use to scholars from across the periods.”
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A Cultural History of Peace
“The set is a good introduction to the study of peace and encourages looking at world history in a new way.”
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A Cultural History of Theatre
“All six volumes are aesthetically attractive, with well-chosen cover illustrations in color and numerous halftones throughout. Page layouts with wide margins, good paper, subtitles, generous bibliographies, notes, and index all add to the appeal.”
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A Cultural History of Tragedy
“A highly contemporary work, alert to politics, social theory and sexuality.”
London Review of Books
A Cultural History of Western Empires
“Students seeking a comparative, interdisciplinary, and compelling account of the spread of Western empires will find much of interest here.”
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A Cultural History of Work
“[Programs] such as economics, American and world history, women’s studies, and art history will benefit from the information herein.”
American Reference Books Annual