Flavours of Byzantium Andrew Dalby

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dalby, Andrew, 1947-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cooking--Byzantine Empire.

Cooking.

Cooking, Greek.

Food habits--Byzantine Empire.

Food habits.

Gastronomy--Byzantine Empire.

Gastronomy.

Physical Description:

268 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

Totnes : Prospect, 2003.

Summary:

This is a study of the food that was eaten at the court of the Eastern Roman Empire at Constantinople in the Middle Ages. For centuries it has tempted and fascinated the West, yet very little has been written in English about the foods they ate or the recipes they cooked from. Dalby gives an entertaining account of the dining customs of the Emperors as witnessed by the Greeks and by foreign visitors. He tells of the medical theories that underlay their diet; of their opinions of the raw materials available; and stretches in a calendar of the seasons and how they affected the food on the table. This is underpinned by new translations from the Greek of important medieval treatises on diet, flavors, raw materials and cookery.

Contents:

An Introduction to Byzantium

Tastes and Smells of the City

Foods and Markets of Constantinople

Water and Wine, Monks and Travellers

Rulers of the World

The Texts: The Eight Flavours

The Texts: Categories of Food

The Texts: Humoral and Dietary Qualities of Foods

The Texts: A Dietary Calender

Instructions and Recipes

A Phrase-Book of Byzantine Foods and Aromas.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

HSP Historic Culinary Arts Collection

Other Format:

Online version: Dalby, Andrew, 1947- Flavours of Byzantium.

ISBN:

1903018145

9781903018149

OCLC:

52396183