{"product_id":"kitchens-cooking-and-eating-in-medieval-italy-9781442248946","title":"Kitchens Cooking and Eating in Medieval Italy","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe modern twenty-first century kitchen has an array of time saving equipment for preparing a meal: a state of the art stove and refrigerator, a microwave oven, a food processor, a blender and a variety of topnotch pots, pans and utensils.  We take so much for granted as we prepare the modern meal  not just in terms of equipment, but also the ingredients, without needing to worry about availability or seasonality.  We cook with gas or electricity  at the turn of the switch we have instant heat.  But it wasn't always so.  Just step back a few centuries to say the 1300s and we'd find quite a different kitchen, if there was one at all.  We might only have a fireplace in the main living space of a small cottage.  If we were lucky enough to have a kitchen, the majority of the cooking would be done over an open hearth, we'd build a fire of wood or coal and move a cauldron over the fire to prepare a stew or soup.  A drink might be heated or kept warm in a long-handled saucepan, set on its own\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKatherine A. McIver’s  Kitchens, Cooking, and Eating in Medieval Italy offers a multifaceted view of food preparation, consumption and organization in Medieval Italy. It is well-written and well-researched. It is a delightful prequel to her earlier work, Cooking and Eating in Renaissance Italy. -- Andrew F. Smith, culinary historian\u003cbr\u003eCombining a novelist’s eye for evocative detail with an historian’s close study of primary sources, many of which are unavailable in English translation, Katherine McIver transports us to Italy’s late medieval kitchens and dining spaces. From the material culture needed for a meal, through the foodstuffs and culinary techniques employed, to the persons involved—whether as diners, supervisors, cooks, or scullery workers—the bustle, arduous labor, and often elegant results are vividly illuminated in this meticulous portrait of gastronomic life. -- Cathy Kaufman, president, Culinary Historians of New York; adjunct professor of Food Studies, The New School University\u003cbr\u003eThis remarkable book transports the reader's imagination back to the smells, tastes, and sounds of medieval kitchens. Focusing on the practical, technical needs of a late medieval cook, McIver reconstructs the fascinating world of practices, ingredients, and techniques used by cooks in a wide range of medieval kitchens.  The book \toffers an especially valuable and detailed study of the kitchens and food ways of the Datini merchant family in Prato in the later fourteenth century. -- Alison A. Smith, Professor of History, Wagner College\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1  Cooking in the Middle Ages: An Introduction \tThe Cook and the Written Word: Medieval Cookbooks \tThe Literary Sources: Poems, Short Stories, Household Inventories and  \t\tPersonal Letters 2  The Cook and his Staff \tHierarchy in the Kitchen \tThe Datini Cook or Women in the Kitchen 3  The Cook and his Kitchen \tThe Kitchen \tKitchen Equipment \tThe Datini Kitchens 4  The Cook and his Resources \tThe Ingredients \tFood Preparation Techniques \tCooking Methods and Techniques 5  Bringing the Meal Together \tPlanning and Making a Meal \tOrchestrating and Serving the Meal \tCooking and Eating with the Datini","brand":"Rowman \u0026 Littlefield","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51039937298775,"sku":"9781442248946","price":67.5,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781442248946.jpg?v=1750945296","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/kitchens-cooking-and-eating-in-medieval-italy-9781442248946","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}