Title

Contributions of Medieval Food Manuals to Spain’s Culinary Heritage

Publication Date

January 2012

Comments

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, http://www.cromrev.com/.

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.

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | Other Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature | Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature

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