Short Exposé of my PhD thesis
„Culina Historica – Possibilities and Problems in reconstructing a historic World of Taste“
by Andreas Klumpp M.A
Since the 18th century many linguists und historians have edited a great number of historic recipe collections.[1] To get an impression of the taste of historic dishes, scientists and non-academics tried to interpret medieval recipes and published cookery books containing those interpretations.[2] But most of these were severally adapted to modern habits, so I got to think about the possibilities and problems of a reconstruction of kitchen and taste customs of late medieval times as close to the historic sources as possible and with ingredients as historic as possible. The time limit was set because of the multitude of available sources. For the late middle ages there is much more written evidence as before that.
During my thesis I want to give a brief view into the base of sources, especially recipe collections. From these I want to take a representative selection of dishes and try new interpretations with historic ingredients.[3] Here, as in all aspects of my thesis, I want to answer the question, which problems will occur on the path and which justifiable solutions can be applied.
Historic cooking instructions are quite different from modern recipes. For that reason there are many uncertainties which have to be eliminated with the help of linguistic and through connecting with contemporary menus, health instructions and other sources.[4] But some of these uncertainties will always remain and the result will be different kinds of interpretation. Not only this range of possible implementations but also the kitchen facilities and equipment can have influence on preparation methods and taste,[5] which will be part of the project, too. I also intend to give examples of differences between medieval cuisines of different countries as well as to modern habits.[6] The most important point of research will be, to determine whether there is a significant difference in taste by using historic ingredients and facilities in comparison to modern equivalences. Some experiments on taste change of spices during transport and storage may be involved, too.
Until now I have, i.a., begun to sight the scientific literature and to search for editions of historic recipe collections. I could establish contact to scientists of different disciplines and to the open-air museum „Fränkisches Freilandmuseum Bad Windsheim” as location for my cooking experiments. Because of the interdisciplinary character of my project, I need to get in contact with other academics and institutions researching aspects of medieval live and food production. To get the historic ingredients needed, I am currently searching contact to all kinds of associations and organisations specialized on projects on preservation of endangered historic cultivated plants and domesticated animals.[7]
This project is realized at Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg and supervised by Prof. Klaus van Eickels, head of the chair for medieval history (Lehrstuhl für Mittelalterliche Geschichte), and Prof. Ingolf Ericsson, head of the chair for medieval and post-medieval archaeology (Lehrstuhl für Archäologie des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit).
[1] According to Redon, O./ Sabban, F./ Serventi, S.: Die Kochkunst des Mittelalters wiederentdeckt für Genießer von heute. Frankfurt a.M. 1993, 13, there are still over 100 medieval recipe collections and cookery books remaining. See also: Winter, J. M. van: Kochbücher. Lexma V, Sp. 1245f. Concerning recipients: Hundsbichler, H.: Nahrung. In: Kühnel, H. [Hrsg.]: Alltag im Spätmittelalter. Augsburg Lizenzausgabe 2003, 196-231, espesially 230f; Winter, J. M. van: Kochen und Essen im Mittelalter. In: Herrmann, B. [Hrsg.]: Mensch und Umwelt im Mittelalter. Stuttgart 2. Auflage 1986, 88-100; dies.: Spices and Comfits. Collected Papers on medieval Food. Blackawton 2007, 33f, 36-40, 61-63.
[2] e.g.: Black, M.: Küchengeheimnisse des Mittelalters. Würzburg 1998; Ehlert, T.: Kochbuch des Mittelalters. Rezepte aus alter Zeit. Düsseldorf, 2000; Redon (1993). Fahrenkamp, H. J.: Wie man ein teutsches mannsbild bey Kräfften hält. Muro/ Mallorca 2009; Lutz, P.: Mein New Kochbuch. Würste vom Salm, Salbeimäuschen und weitere Rezepte aus der mittelalterlichen Burgküche. Nidderau 2005.
[3] e.g.: Körber-Grohne, U.: Nutzpflanzen in Deutschland. Von der Vorgeschichte bis heute. Hamburg Lizenzausgabe o.J. der Auflage 1995; Pasda, K.: Tierknochen als Spiegel sozialer Verhältnisse im 8.-15. Jahrhundert in Bayern. Praehistorika, Monographien 1. Erlangen 2004.
[4] e.g.: Hirth, W.: Die Diätetik im Kochbuch des Küchenmeisters Eberhart von Landshut und eine deutsche Regel der Gesundheit nach Arnold de Villanova. Ostbairische Grenzmarken, Passauer Jahrbuch für Geschichte, Kunst und Volkskunde. Passau 1966, 273-281; Laurioux (1992), 12f., 18-28, 33-59, 126-133; Dünnebier, A./ Paczensky, G. von: Kulturgeschichte des Essens und Trinkens. München, genehmigte Sonderausgabe 1999 der Ausgabe 1994, 141-152, 493-497; Ehlert (2000), 9-11, 13-24; Hundsbichler (2003), 229f; Winter (2007), 42, 59f, 104f, 341-360.
[5] Ehlert (2000), 22f.; Rumm-Kreuter, D.: Heizquellen, Kochgeschirre, Zubereitungstechniken und Garergebnisse mittelalterlicher Köche. In: Bitsch et al. (1997), 227-244; Klein U./ Jansen, M./ Untermann, M. [Hrsgg.]: Küche – Kochen – Ernährung. Archäologie, Bauforschung und Naturwissenschaften. Mitteilungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Archäologie des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit, 19. Paderborn 2007; Kaspar, F.: Feuerstelle und Herd. Die Herstellung von fester und flüssiger Nahrung für den Haushalt: Kochen und Bierbrauen. In: Klein (2007), 233-246; Laurioux (1992), 95, 99; Redon (1993), 31f.; Hundsbichler (2003), 196f.
[6] Adamson, M. W. [Hrsg.]: Regional cuisines of medieval Europe. A book of essays. Routledge medieval casebooks. New York 2002; Laurioux (1992), 13, 35, 36-52; Hundsbichler (2003), 230f; Winter (1986), 95-106; dies. (2007), 33-40, 58f, 67-79. Menus: Redon (1993), 23-26, 67-71; Ehlert (2000), 235; Bitsch et al. (1997), 9, 277-293.
[7] e.g.: http://www.arche-noah.at/etomite/; http://www.prospecirara.ch/; http://www.oekokreis.org/produkte.html; http://www.monitoring.eu.com/; http://www.slowfoodfoundation.org/eng/arca/lista.lasso.
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