Article
Contributions of Medieval Food Manuals to Spain’s Culinary Heritage
Cincinnati Romance Review
(2012)
Abstract
This article examines and compares the contributions of five Medieval Muslim and Christian recipe manuscripts to Spain‘s culinary history. Specifically, it explores notions of authorship and implied reader; the works ‘structures and shared culinary lexicon; strategies of imitation from vague, shared cultural tastes to exact ―borrowings‖ of recipes; and diverse narrative voices that express pride, satisfaction or even disappointment in describing different recipes. In addition, it examines unique features that contribute to Spain‘s culinary history. For example, it points to Jewish contributions as recorded in the Kitab al-tabij, unique bread recipes from the Fadalat found in no other medieval or early modern Spanish cookbook, the development of spices and use of seeds and nuts from Hispano-Muslim traditions into the Christian cooking manuals, among others.
Keywords
- Spain,
- medieval food manuals
Disciplines
Publication Date
Winter 2012
Publisher Statement
The Cincinnati Romance Review is a peer-reviewed, open access electronic journal published by the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures of the University of Cincinnati. For more information on this journal please visit the Cincinnati Romance Review online.
Citation Information
Carolyn A Nadeau. "Contributions of Medieval Food Manuals to Spain’s Culinary Heritage" Cincinnati Romance Review Vol. 33 Iss. 2012 (2012) ISSN: 2155-8817 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/carolyn_nadeau/34/