This is an annotated bibliography of books I own that deal with medieval/renaissance food or foodways. It does not claim to be a complete listing of all that it out there, but rather a reasonable start.
As a safe rule of thumb, any cookbook which gives modern redactions but NOT the original is probably not worth much. Even when the original is given look at the redaction carefully. Why did the author make the decisions he did when redacting the recipe? Don't necessarily assume that the redacted recipe is correct.
Jaelle of Armida / Judy Gerjuoy
Last updated: July, 2007 (with a tiny update to THE ENGLISHMAN'S FOOD on Sept. 29,, 2007)
[Jaelle passed away on February 28, 2013. -- greg]
Achaya, K. T., INDIAN FOOD: A HISTORICAL COMPANION. Oxford University Press. 1994. An fascinating book about Indian food from prehistory to the British rule, with dates and pictures. This is not a cookbook, but a book about food. RECOMMENDED.
Ackerman, Roy, THE CHEF'S APPRENTICE. Headline. Great Britain. 1988. Recipes from 6 period of times, (Roman through late 19th/early 20th century). The original recipes are NOT given; only modern redactions. Some out of period ingredients are used. Lots of interesting information about food/foodways of the time. Still, NOT RECOMMENDED.
Adamson, Melitta Weiss. DAZ BCH VON GTER SPISE (The Book of Good Food). Medium Aevum Quotidianum. Krems, Austria. 2000. A translation of a 15th century German cookbook. No redacted recipes, just a translation of the original recipes. RECOMMENDED
Adamson, Melitta Weiss. FOOD IN THE MIDDLE AGES. Garland Publishing. NY. 1995. This is a series of articles on various aspects of medieval food. Each article has a different focus. No recipes, just information. RECOMMENDED
Adamson, Melitta Weiss. REGIONAL CUISINES OF MEDIEVAL EUROPE. Routledge. NY. 2002. This is a series of articles on medieval food throughout Europe. Each article focuses on a different geographical location. No recipes, just information about the food of the area. RECOMMENDED
Adamson, Melitta Weiss. FOOD IN MEDIEVAL TIMES. Greenwood Press. 2004. This book contains a lot of useful information about medieval food and foodways. There are a few recipes, but this book is primarily about medieval food and how it was used, what it was, etc. RECOMMENDED
Ahmed, Anne. (ED) A PROPER NEWE BOOKE OF COOKERYE. Corpus Christi College. 2002. A facsimile of this 16th century manuscript, which is a collection of recipes, along with a cleaned up easier to read version side by side of the facsimile along with some redacted recipes at the end. RECOMMENDED
Albala, Ken. EATING RIGHT IN THE RENAISSANCE. University of California Press. 2002. This is a fascinating book on the dietary theories of the Renaissance. It helps explain why medieval cooks would combine ingredients. Very well written and interesting. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for anyone who wants to know some of the ÒwhyÓ behind Renaissance cookery.
Albala, Ken. COOKING IN EUROPE 1250-1650. Greenwood Press. 2006. This excellent book contains 171 original recipes, many from sources that have not been translated into English. It also contains a good overview of medieval and Renaissance food as well as one of the best explanations I have read on how to work from primary sources. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Albala, Ken. THE BANQUET. University of Illinois Press. 2007. A history of the banquet during the late Renaissance. It includes a few recipes, but its main value is just the wealth of information on how a Renaissance banquet was conducted. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Aliki. A MEDIEVAL FEAST. Harper & Row. 1983. Written for children, this is a fictionalized account of a lord and lady getting ready for a visitation by the King and Queen and their preparations for the feast. Nice pictures, lots of fun. RECOMMENDED.
Anderson, E.N. THE FOOD OF CHINA. A history of Chinese food from the Bronze age through the 20th century, as well as some general information about cooking Chinese food. RECOMMENDED
Anderson, John L. editor. A FIFTEENTH CENTURY COOKBOOK. Charles Scribner's Sons, NY, 1962. A collection of 15th century recipes. Original recipes only; no modern redactions. RECOMMENDED.
Aresty, Esther B. THE EXQUISITE TABLE. A History of French Cuisine. Bobbs-Merrill. 1980. Very little of this books deal with the pre1600 era. A few redacted recipes with no originals given. Out of period ingredients used. NOT RECOMMENDED.
Aresty, Esther B. THE DELECTABLE PAST. Simon & Schuster. 1964. As one of the earliest books published on food in history - at least in this century, it suffers from most of the flaws of the early books. While the general information about historical food is not too bad, the recipes are, at best, inaccurate. The original recipes are not given, and in many cases the modern redactions contain out of period ingredients. NOT RECOMMENDED.
Arn, Mary-Jo. MEDIEVAL FOOD AND DRINK. Binghamton University. 1995. A collection of articles on various aspects of medieval food and drink including articles by Scully and Milham and translations of some 16th century German recipes. RECOMMENDED
Ballerini, Luigi (editor). THE ART OF COOKING. University of California Press. 2005. This is a translation of a 15th century cookbook by Martino of Como, along with information about the time and place the cookbook came from, and 50 redacted recipes. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Banham, Debby. FOOD AND DRINK IN ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND. Tempus 2004. A good but short book on anglo-saxon food. While Ann Hagen in better, this book is good. RECOMMENDED if you can't get the books by Ann Hagen.
Barber, Richard. COOKING & RECIPES FROM ROME TO THE RENAISSANCE. Allen Lane. London. 1973. An informative book about food and cooking from the stated time period. Unfortunately the recipes do not contain any original recipes, just redactions. RECOMMENDED for the information. NOT RECOMMENDED for the redactions.
Barnes, Donna R. & Peter G. Rose. MATTERS OF TASTE. Syracuse University Press. Syracuse, NY. 2002. This is a catalog from an exhibition on food and drink in 17th century Dutch food and drink, along with useful and well writing essay on Dutch food. A cookbook is also included, but it only contains (in general) redacted recipes, and no originals. RECOMMENDED FOR THE ART AND ESSAY ONLY
Bayard, Tania, translator. A MEDIEVAL HOME COMPANION (Cut version of THE GOODMAN OF PARIS/Le Menagier de Paris). Harper Collins. 1991. Not as complete as the Eileen Power version, and so does not contain as many recipes as the complete version, but better than nothing. RECOMMENDED only if you can't get the Eileen Power edition.
Beebe, Ruth Anne. SALLETS, HUMBLES & SHREWSBERY CAKES. David R. Godine. 1976. Elizabethan era recipes. Contains original and modern redactions plus some general information on food/foodways of the period. RECOMMENDED.
Berriedale, Johnson, Michelle. OLDE ENGLISHE RECIPES. Piatkus. 1981. Modern redactions with information about the original recipe, but without the original recipes in full. NOT RECOMMENDED.
Best, Michael R., editor THE ENGLISH HOUSEWIFE by Gervase Markham. McGill-Queen's University Press, 1986. Original recipes - early 17th century. RECOMMENDED.
Bhotr, Tehmina. MEDIEVAL FEASTS AND BANQUETS. Rosen Publishing Group. 2004. Written for children this is a reasonable overview of the subject matter. RECOMMENDED for children only.
Black, Maggie. FOOD AND COOKING IN MEDIEVAL BRITAIN. English Heritage. 1985. Part of a six part series on British historical food. Good basic information about food of the time as well. Original recipes and modern redactions. RECOMMENDED.
Black, Maggie. THE MEDIEVAL COOKBOOK. Thames & Hudson. 1992. Original recipes and modern redactions. General information about food. RECOMMENDED.
Black, Maggie. A TASTE OF HISTORY. English Heritage & British Museum Pubs. London. 1993. This collects all of the ÒFood and CookingÓ series that English Heritage put out in one volume. Good basic information about food of the time, original recipes and modern redactions. RECOMMENDED.
Bloch-Nakkerud (introduction). VIKING COOKBOOK. Egmont Baker. 2001. There are several pages of basic information about Viking food and then 50 recipes. Since there are no extant Viking recipes, all of these recipes are made up, with no attempt to even link them to any Viking sources. NOT RECOMMENDED
Boeser, Knut (editor). THE ELIXIRS OF NOSTRADAMUS. Moyer Bell. 1996. This is a translation of some of Nostradanus' recipes, including over 20 sweetmeat related recipes. RECOMMENDED
Booth, Sally Smith. HUNG, STRUNG & POTTED. A History of Eating in Colonial America. Clarkson N. Potter. 1971. This book deals with food in American in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Lots of recipes from original sources; lots of useful pictures. RECOMMENDED FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN LATER PERIOD FOOD.
Brears, Peters. ALL THE KING'S COOKS. Souvenir Press. London. 1999. An excellent overview of the Tudor kitchens of Henry VIII at Hampton Court Palace, and what was done there. However, the included recipes do not have the originals included, so this is RECOMMENDED for the information, and NOT RECOMMENDED for the recipes.
Brears, Peter. FOOD AND COOKING IN 17th CENTURY BRITAIN. English Heritage. 1985. Part of a six part series on British historical food. Good basic information about food of the time as well. Original recipes and modern redactions. RECOMMENDED.
Brears, Peter. FOOD AND COOKING IN 16th CENTURY BRITAIN. English Heritage. 1985. Part of a six part series on British historical food. Good basic information about food of the time as well. Original recipes and modern redactions. RECOMMENDED.
Brears, Peter. A TASTE OF HISTORY. British Museum Press. 1994. This book brings together under one cover the six part series on Food and Cooking (referenced elsewhere in this article). It contains information about food of the time period as well as period recipes with modern redactions. RECOMMENDED
Brett, Gerard. DINNER IS SERVED. Rupert Hart Davis. 1968. This book deals with how food was served, and what is was served with/on. The text is moderately useful; the pictures are quite useful. RECOMMENDED.
Brown, Michelle. ROYAL RECIPES. Pavilion Books, Ltd. 1995. While it claims to be dishes eaten by British monarchs, no documentation is presented to back up this claim. Instead this contains mostly redacted recipes without any originals. NOT RECOMMENDED
Buxton, Moria. MEDIEVAL COOKING TODAY. The Kylin Press. 1983. A cookbook full of 14th & 15th century recipes from various sorts with modern redactions. Some useful information on foodways, and a number of useful pictures. RECOMMENDED.
Bynum, Caroline Walker. HOLY FEAST AND HOLY FAST The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women. University of California Press. 1987. An interesting book dealing with medieval women and the role food played in their lives. While not much use, per say for the average person, it is quite fascinating, and takes medieval foodways from another vantage point. RECOMMENDED for serious scholars.
Camporesi, Piero. BREAD OF DREAMS. University of Chicago Press. 1989. This deals with bread in our period, with a strong emphasis on its use by the poor. The author maintains that peasants were typically in a state of hallucination because the bread they ate was adulterated with hallucinogenic herbs. While I do not agree with his thesis, there is a lot of useful information especially about peasant life and how it relates to food and eating. RECOMMENDED if used with care.
Capatti, Alberto and Massimo Montanari. ITALIAN CUISINE, Columbia University Press. 2003. A well researched history of Italian food. No recipes are included. While not all of the book deals with our period, a great deal does. RECOMMENDED
Carlin, Martha and Joel Rosenthal. FOOD AND EATING IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE. The Hambledon Press. 1998. This is a collection of articles on assorted aspects of medieval food/eating. RECOMMENDED
Castelvetro, Giacomo. THE FRUIT, HERBS & VEGETABLES OF ITALY. Viking. London. 1989. This is a manuscript written in 1614 by an Italian living in Italy, about how wonderful the produce of Italy is, and why the English should eat more produce. Viking has added a number of pictures from contemporary artists as well. An excellent way of finding out what was eaten when. RECOMMENDED
Caton, Mary Anne. FOOLES AND FRICASSEES: FOOD IN SHAKESPEARE'S ENGLAND. University of Washington Press. Seattle. 1999. Produced in conjunction with an exhibit at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, this contains not only the catalog of the exhibit, but some interesting articles, and a copy of a receipt book from c. 1610 which I had never seen before. There are no redacted recipes, just the original ones. RECOMMENDED
Chang, K.C. (ed) FOOD IN CHINESE CULTURE. Yale University Press. 1977. A fascinating book on the history of Chinese food, broken down by dynasties. RECOMMENDED.
Ciddor, Anna. STICKY FINGERS. Barrie Publishing Pty Limited. 2000. A history of cooking and eating written for children. This book is extremely short, 32 pages, and attempts to cover too much in a short space, therefore, it does not give a lot of useful information. NOT RECOMMENDED
Cinqueterr, Berengario delle. THE RENAISSANCE COOKBOOK. The Dunes Press. 1975. An interesting book all about Renaissance food/foodways with lots of recipes. Unfortunately only modern redactions are given, with no original recipes listed. Because of this, I hate to recommend it, although I do enjoy reading it. NOT RECOMMENDED.
Clifton, Claire. THE ART OF FOOD. The Wellfleet Press. 1988. If you want to have a good idea as to what medieval food looked like and how it was served, this is a good book to look at. Lots of pictures of food being prepared, served and eaten. One caveat. While recipes are included, careful reading shows that most of them are post period. RECOMMENDED for the pictures only.
Coe, Sophie D. AMERICA'S FIRST CUISINES. University of Texas Press. Austin, TX. 1994. A well written and well researched book on New World food. It contains some information on when some new world foods came to the Europe. RECOMMENDED FOR THE COMPLEATEST ONLY.
Cooper, John. EAT AND BE SATISFIED. Jason Aronson Inc. Northvale, NJ. 1993. A Social history of Jewish food, this contains a lot of information about what Jews ate in the middle ages, and therefore what was done in the middle ages. RECOMMENDED
Cosman, Madeliene Pelner. FABULOUS FEASTS. George Brazlier. 1976. A lot of good general information about medieval food/foodways, redacted recipes without originals. Some of the recipes contain out of period ingredients. NOT RECOMMENDED.
Cosman Madeleine Pelner. MEDIEVAL HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS. Charles Scribner's & Sons. 1981. This book goes through the medieval year with holidays and/or celebrations for each month. This book shares the same flaws as FABULOUS FEASTS in as much as the only recipes given are modern redactions without the original ones given. Furthermore, the modern redactions contain out of period ingredients. NOT RECOMMENDED.
Crossley-Holland, Nicole. LIVING AND DINING IN MEDIEVAL PARIS. University of Wales Press. 1996. This is an examination into the life of a knight in Paris in the 14th century, using Le Menagier de Paris as its basis. Additionally the author in the book makes claim to who the anonymous author is. The book is full of useful information about food and foodways of the 14th century. RECOMMENDED
Dalby, Andrew. DANGEROUS TASTES. University of California Press. Berkeley. 2000. A fascinating book about spices, where they came from, how they spread into use, how they were used, etc. RECOMMENDED.
Dalby, Andrew. FLAVOURS OF BYZANTIUM. Prospect Books. 2003. A well researched and well written book about food in Byzantium. It includes some recipes from our period that quite likely were used in Byzantium as well. RECOMMENDED
David, Elizabeth. ENGLISH BREAD AND YEAST COOKERY. Penguin. 1979. The book on bread, this contains a great deal of historical information on grain, ovens, shapes of loaves, etc. If you want to try and recreate medieval bread, this is where you should start. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
David, Elizabeth. HARVEST OF THE COOL MONTHS. Viking. 1994. This is a social history of ice and ices. Lots of information about the history of ice cream, sherbets, and the like, iced drinks, and the use of ice for cooling. RECOMMENDED FOR COMPLETEST ONLY.
Dawson, Imogen. FOOD AND FEASTS IN THE MIDDLE AGES. New Discovery Books. 1994. Written for children, this is a good short overview of medieval food, with lots of pictures. There are a few recipes, without original sources and some contain out of period ingredients. RECOMMENDED FOR COMPLETEST ONLY.
Dawson, Thomas. THE GOOD HOUSEWIFE'S JEWEL. Southover Press. East Sussex, England. 1996. A reprinting of an original work from 1596/1597. Original recipes only, no redactions. RECOMMENDED
Dembinska, Maria. (Translated by Magdalena Thomas Revices and Adapted by William Woys Weaver) FOOD AND DRINK IN MEDIEVAL POLAND. University of Pennsylvania Press. 1999. This book has two main parts. Information about food in medieval Poland and recipes. The information is interesting and useful, though one would wish it was longer. However, the recipes, while looking to be quite tasty, are only modern ones with no medieval source for them. (In fact, to the best of our knowledge, there are no extant medieval Polish cookbooks). While we hesitate to recommend anything that has recipes without a period source, there is so little available in English on Eastern European cookery, that we feel we must recommend the food information only. RECOMMENDED FOR FOOD INFORMATION ONLY. NOT RECOMMENDED FOR THE RECIPES.
Dobney, Keith, Deborah Jaques & Brian Irving. OF BUTCHERS & BREEDS. This is a report and analysis of the vertebrate remains from various sites in the City of Lincoln, England. This reports shows what was being slaughtered, proportions of different species, age at death, etc. RECOMMENDED FOR THE SPECIALIST ONLY
Driver, Christopher and Michelle Berriedale-Johnson. PEPYS AT TABLE. University of California Press. 1984. Quotes from Pepys diary mentioning food and more or less contemporary recipes with modern redactions. This book is small and does not contain much, and there are better books around that cover this time period. Still, there is nothing wrong with it except for the size. RECOMMENDED.
Drummond & Wilbraham. THE ENGLISHMAN'S FOOD. J. Cape. 1957. An analysis of what the English eat by time period. Breakdown of amount of calories consumed, vitamins, etc. Not of use to most people but quite interesting just the same. One caveat. While the facts are all accurate, some of the conclusions have been superseded in the last fifty plus years. Therefore this book should be used with care. RECOMMENDED for the facts ONLY and not necessarily the conclusions.
Effros, Bonnie. CREATING COMMUNITY WITH FOOD AND DRINK IN MEROVINGIAN GAUL. Palgrave Macmillian. 2002. A collection of articles on assorted aspects of food and eating in Merovingian Gaul. There are no recipes, since there are no extent recipes from that time and place. However, the information in the articles is quite interesting. RECOMMENDED
Elliott, Lynne. FOOD AND FEASTS IN THE MIDDLE AGES. Crabtree Publishing. 2004. Written for children, a decent overview. RECOMMENDED for children only.
Ellwanger, George H. THE PLEASURES OF THE TABLE. Doubleday Page & Co. 1902. While not a bad piece of scholarship for its time, it has been superseded by modern books. Still, can be interesting to the completest. But, for the average medieval cook, NOT RECOMMENDED.
Feret, Barbara L. GASTRONOMICAL AND CULINARY LITERATURE. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. 1979. Not a book on food or foodways per say, but rather a book about collections of food ways. Very useful bibliographies of book on/about food in the appendices. RECOMMENDED for completest only.
Fisher, M.F.K. HERE LET US FEAST. North Point Press. 1986. A collection of excerpts from literature and factual sources. There is one chapter on the middle ages and one on the Renaissance. RECOMMENDED
Flandrin, Jean-Louis and Massino Montanari. FOOD. Penguin Books. 2000. An interesting history of food from a European perspective, well researched. However, this was originally written in French, and it has been translated into English. Unfortunately, the translator has made some errors in translations in some cases. RECOMMENDED, but use with care.
Fletcher, Nichola. CHARLEMAGNE'S TABLECLOTH. Phoenix 2005.
This is a history of feasting. While it does contain useful information about feasting in our period, it covers a lot of time and space that is not part of our period. There are better books around, such as the one by Ken Albala. RECOMMENDED ONLY if you can't get something better.
Freeman, Margaret B. HERBS FOR THE MEDIEVAL HOUSEHOLD. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Information taken from original sources on how herbs were used. RECOMMENDED.
Gayre, Robert. BREWING MEAD. Brewers Publications. 1986. A useful history of mead. RECOMMENDED
van Gelder, Geert Jan. GOD'S BANQUET. This deals with food in classical Arabic literature. How it is viewed, dealt with, etc. This does not contain recipes, but is about how food is depicted. RECOMMENDED FOR THE COMPLETEST ONLY
Gitlitz, David and Lind Kay Davidson. A DRIZZLE OF HONEY. St. Martin's Press. 1999. This book purports to be recipes from the lives of Spain's secret Jews (Jews that pretended to be Christian in order to avoid the Inquisition). However, while they do include quotes from period sources for dishes, the use only modern redactions, and don't give a period source for their recipes. Because of this, even though it has some lovely historical material about Jews in Spain, I must rate it NOT RECOMMENDED for anyone but a completest.
Glants, Musya & Joyce Toomre. FOOD IN RUSSIAN HISTORY AND CULTURE. Indiana University Press. Bloomington, IN. 1997. A collection of articles by different authors. However, only one article is clearly about medieval food. For that reason, I must label it NOT RECOMMENDED for our purposes.
Grewe, Rudolf & Constance B. Hieatt. LIBELLUS DE ARTE COQUINARIA. Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. Tempe, Arizona. 2001. This is a critical edition of 35 13th recipes found in two different sources in Denmark, and once each in Germany and Iceland. The recipes are not exactly the same in all four sources, but quite similar. The recipes are translated, but not redacted. RECOMMENDED.
Guy, Christian. AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF FRENCH CUISINE. Bramhall House. 1962. General information on the history of French food. Some translations of period recipes. A few good pictures. All in all not terribly useful. NOT RECOMMENDED for anyone but a completest.
Hagen, Ann. A HANDBOOK OF ANGLO-SAXON FOOD. Processing and Consumption. Anglo-Saxon Books. 1992. This is not a cookbook per say, but a book about Anglo-Saxon food and foodways. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Hagen, Ann. A SECOND HANDBOOK OF ANGLO-SAXON FOOD & DRINK: PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION. Anglo-Saxon Books. 1995. An excellent book about the foods available in that time period, and information on how they were eaten. Not a cookbook, but good information about the food and foodways. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Haglund, Ingrid Larsson. COUNT PETER'S RECEIPT BOOK. Flth & Hssler. Visings, Sweden. 2000. Translations and redactions of some early to mid 17th century Swedish recipes. RECOMMENDED
Hale, William Harlan & the Editors of Horizon Magazine. THE HORIZON COOKBOOK and Illustrated History of Eating & Drinking through the Ages. Doubleday & Co. 1968. This is found as a two volume slipped case set or a one volume combined set. It is divided into Illustrated History and recipes. The recipes do not include the originals and a lot of the ingredients used are at best, suspect. The historical half is reasonable with a lot of good pictures. However, because the recipes are so flawed, I hate to recommend this just for the historical information. NOT RECOMMENDED.
Hammond, P.A. FOOD AND FEAST IN MEDIEVAL ENGLAND. Alan Sutton. 1003. A very good comprehensible book on food and foodways of the middle ages. Plenty of good pictures. RECOMMENDED.
Hartley, Dorothy. FOOD IN ENGLAND. Macdonald. 1954. A well written, interesting book about English food that, alas has no dates, which makes it pretty useless for our purposes. NOT RECOMMENDED.
Hattox, Ralph S. COFFEE AND COFFEEHOUSE. The origins of a Social Beverage in the Medieval Near East. University of Washington Press. 1985. This is not a cookbook, but as the title says, this is a book about the use of coffee in the Near East. It deals with the history of the spread and use of coffee in the Near East and how it became socially acceptable. I find the book very interesting, but it is on a very specialized subject. RECOMMENDED FOR COMPLETEST ONLY.
Henisch, Bridget Ann. CAKES AND CHARACTERS. An English Christmas Tradition. Prospect Books. 1984. This book by the author of the truly excellent "Fast and Feast" deals with the history of the English Christmas traditions; where they came from and how they evolved. As such, most of it is after the time period of this discussion, but what is there is well researched and useful. RECOMMEND FOR SERIOUS SCHOLARS ONLY.
Henisch, Bridget Ann. FAST AND FEAST. The Pennsylvania State University Press. 1976. An excellent book dealing with food in England 13-15th centuries. General information, no recipes. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Herman, Judith & Marguerite Shalett Herman. THE CORNUCOPIA. Harper & Row. 1973. A collection of recipes dating between 1399 and 1890 from historical cookbooks written in English. They have, in some instances modernized the spelling/grammar. Still, all in all RECOMMENDED.
Hess, Karen. MARTHA WASHINGTON'S BOOKE OF COOKERY. Columbia University Press. 1981. A late 16th/early 17th century cookbook owned, not written by Martha Washington. Original recipes plus lots of commentary on food. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Hieatt, Constance B. and Terry Nutter, with Johnna Holloway. CONCORDANCE OF ENGLISH RECIPES THIRTEENTH THROUGH FIFTEENTH CENTURIES. Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. 2006. This is a listing of the names of hundreds of English recipes, and what cookbook (source) they appear in. No recipes are included. RECOMMENDED for the compleatest only.
Hieatt, Constance & Sharon Butler. CURYE ON INGLYSCH. Oxford University Press. 1985. 14th century English recipes. Originals only, no redactions. Good glossary. RECOMMENDED.
Hieatt, Constance B. AN ORDINANCE OF POTTAGE. Prospect Book. 1988. 15th century recipes with both original and redacted recipes. RECOMMENDED.
Hieatt, Constance B. and Sharon Butler. PLEYN DELIT. University of Toronto Press, Toronto. 1979. 14th & 15th century recipes with the complete original recipe and a modern redaction. Recipes come from English and French sources; the French have been translated. The type face that the original recipes are printed in can be difficult to read. RECOMMENDED.
Hodgett, G. A.J. STERE HTT WELL. Mary Martin Books. (no date). A facsimile of a 15th century cookbook owned by Samuel Pepys. There is a modern rendition of the period hand, however it is not a word for word retyping and is therefore suspect. The facsimile will take some work to read. RECOMMENDED only for people who are willing to use the facsimile.
Hope, Annette. LONDONERS' LARDER. Mainstream Publishing. Edinburgh. 1990. This covers food in England from the time of Chaucer to the present days. It contains many interesting quotes from primary sources. However the included recipes do not contain the originals, only redactions. RECOMMENDED for the information, NOT RECOMMENDED for the recipes.
Hosking, Richard. PROCEEDINGS OF THE OXFORD SYMPOSIUM ON FOOD AND COOKERY 2005. Authenticity in the Kitchen. Prospect Books. 2006. While most of the articles do not deal with medieval food/foodways, there are a few articles on medieval usage. (Though I have to mention that one article in the proceedings is by me.) Still, all in all RECOMMENDED FOR THE SERIOUS SCHOLAR ONLY.
Howe, Robin. MRS GROUNDES-PEACE'S OLD COOKERY NOTEBOOK. David & Charles. 1971. A fascinating book on English food/foodways, edited and published from the author's notes after her death. It is incomplete because of that; but what is left shows what a monumental work it would have been. Even in its incomplete form it is still quite useful. RECOMMENDED.
Ishige, Naomichi. THE HISTORY AND CULTURE OF JAPANESE FOOD. Kegan Paul. London 2001. This is an extensive history of Japanese food. Well written and interesting with a large bibliography. No recipes, just information about food. RECOMMENDED FOR THE COMPLETEST ONLY
Isitt, Verity. TAKE A BUTTOCK OF BEEFE. Ashford Press. 1987. A badly flawed book dealing with 17th century food. While there is a lot of interesting information about the food/foodways of the period, and the original recipes are given, the modern redactions bear so little resemblance to the original recipes that the cookbook is extremely inaccurate. Lots of out of period ingredients are used in the modern redactions. NOT RECOMMENDED.
Jacob, H.E. SIX THOUSAND YEARS OF BREAD. Lyons & Burford. 1997. A history of bread with an extensive bibliography, but no footnotes/endnotes or other forms of citations. He makes statements that I find dubious. A good starting point, but it should be viewed with caution. RECOMMENDED but use with care.
Jacobs, Jay. GASTRONOMY. Newsweek Books. 1975. This history of food is full of good pictures, but has little else to recommend it. It is too short a book to do justice to its subject. NOT RECOMMENDED.
Jeanneret, Michel. A FEAST OF WORDS. University of Chicago Press. 1991. This is about banquets and table talk in the Renaissance. It includes information about diet, manners, conversation, etc. While Ken Albala's book on the subject is better, this has a lot of useful information. RECOMMENDED
Johnson, Sylvia A. TOMATOES, POTATOES, CORN, AND BEANS. Atheneum 1997. Written for Òyoung readersÓ this book is a reasonable overview of New World foods and how they influenced and more importantly when they influenced Europe. RECOMMENDED
Lambert, Carole. DU MANUSCRIT A LA TABLE. Universite de Montreal. 1992. 24 fascinating articles all dealing with medieval food/foodways. However, about 2/3rds of them are in French. RECOMMENDED only if you read French.
Laszlovsky, Jzsef. TENDER MEAT UNDER THE SADDLE. Medium Aevum Quotidianum. Krems, Austria. 1998. A collection of articles about eating and drinking among the conquering Hungarians and Nomadic Peoples. No recipes, but information about Hungarian food of that time. RECOMMENDED
Layton, T.A. FIVE TO A FEAST. Gerald Duckworth & Co. 1948. The first part of this book is a fictional account of an actual banquet given in 1363. Appendix II takes some interesting and useful extracts from The Booke of Nurture, circa 1420. RECOMMENDED FOR THE COMPLETEST ONLY.
Lewicki, Tadeusz. WEST AFRICAN FOOD IN THE MIDDLE AGES. Cambridge University Press. 1974. This is the only book I have seen that deals with African food during the middles ages. It uses Arabic sources for its information, thereby also helping give a better understanding of medieval Arabic food. There are no recipes, just information about the food. RECOMMENDED FOR COMPLETEST ONLY
Lorwin, Madge. DINING WITH WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. Atheneum. 1976. A lot of good, general information on Elizabethan era food, as well as a number of useful pictures. Original recipes and modern redactions. Its only flaw in my eyes is that it groups the recipes by menus instead of by category, so that if you are looking, for instance, for all the vegetable recipes, if have to keep going back to the index. That is, however, a small price to pay for this informative book. RECOMMENDED.
Lysaght, Patricia. MILK AND MILK PRODUCTS FROM MEDIEVAL TO MODERN TIMES. Canongate Academic. Edinburgh. 1994. A collection of articles by assorted authors on milk and milk products. Only a couple of articles deal with milk in the middle ages/Renaissance. RECOMMENDED FOR COMPLETEST ONLY.
Magennis, Hugh. ANGLO-SAXON APPETITES. Four Courts Press. 1999. This book takes a look at Anglo-Saxon food and drink in literature of the period. Well researched, but of limited use to most people. RECOMMENDED only for people interested in that time period and culture.
Marks, Henry. BYZANTINE CUISINE. Self published. 2002. Information on Byzantine foods, dining customs, and redacted recipes. While I can recommend the first two parts, the redacted recipes come from descriptions of food, and not from any extant Byzantine cookbooks, since to the best of my knowledge, there aren't any. RECOMMENDED for the information but NOT RECOMMENDED the recipes.
Martell, Hazel Mary. FOOD AND FEASTS WITH THE VIKINGS. New Discovery Books. 1995. Written for children, this is a good short overview of Viking food, with lots of pictures. There are a few recipes, without original sources (there aren't any). RECOMMENDED FOR COMPLETEST ONLY.
May, Robert. THE ACCOMPLISHT COOK. Prospect Books. Devon, UK. 2000. A facsimile of his May's cookbook, which was printed in 1685. RECOMMENDED FOR COMPLETEST ONLY.
Mckendry, Maxime. SEVEN HUNDRED YEARS OF ENGLISH COOKING. Exter Books. 1993. NOTE: this has been published under a number of different names and with at least one other author! Most, but not all of the recipes include the period source as well as the modern redaction. Some of the redactions are flawed in as much as they use non‑period ingredients. RECOMMENDED only if you can't find something better - but be VERY cautious when using the redactions.
Mead, William Edward. THE ENGLISH MEDIEVAL FEAST. Barnes and Noble. 1967. Despite the publishing date, this was written over 80 years ago. Nevertheless there is a surprising amount of useful information in this book. While some of his conclusions are suspect, the data is not. RECOMMENDED but use with care.
de 'Medici, Lorenza. FLORENTINES. Pavilion Books. 1992. If you want to have a good idea as to what late food looked like and how it was served, this is a good book to look at. It has a number of pictures done by Giovanna Garzon 1600-1670. Lots of pictures involving food. One caveat. Some of the quotes included are period, some are not. The recipes appear to be modern. RECOMMENDED for the pictures only.
Milham, Mary Ella. PLATINA. ON RIGHT PLEASURE AND GOOD HEALTH. This is a critical edition and translation of Platina's DE HONESTA VOLUPTATE ET VALETUDINE. Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies. 1998. This is a critical edition of a 15th century Italian cookbook. No redactions are included, but the entire text is included as well as a translation. RECOMMENDED.
Montanari, Massimo. THE CULTURE OF FOOD (translated by Carl Ipsen). Blackwell. 1994. A history of food written by a professor of medieval history. He deals with Europe in general. RECOMMENDED
Norman, Barbara. TALES OF THE TABLE. Prentice-Hall. 1972. Mostly a history of food, there are a few original recipes; no modern redactions and menus from actual medieval feasts in the back. Some interesting information not readily available elsewhere; some useful pictures. RECOMMENDED if the better food in history books are not available.
O'Hara-May, Jane. ELIZABETHAN DYETARY OF HEALTH. Corondo Press. 1977. Lots of information mostly taken from primary sources (although obsolete orthographic symbols have been modernized) on the Elizabethan view of food. While of limited interest to most people, it can be quite interesting and useful for the serious scholar of this time period. RECOMMENDED.
Paston-William, Sara. THE ART OF DINING. The National Trust. 1993. This books covers food and dining from the medieval through the Victorian era. Many good pictures, good information about food of the time, and recipes with the original and a modern redaction. RECOMMENDED
Peterson, T. Sarah. ACQUIRED TASTE. Cornell University Press. 1994. A history of food and how it influenced French cooking and therefore modern cooking. A lot of interesting information, though I don't agree with all her conclusions. RECOMMENDED
Pleij, Herman (Translated by Diane Webb). DREAMING OF COCKAIGNE. Columbia University Press. 2001. This book deals with the medieval fantasies of the perfect life, which includes vast amounts of food. The author draws his information from literature, art, history and folklore. RECOMMENDED for compleatest only.
Pollington, Stephen. THE MEAD-HALL. Anglo-Saxon Books. 2003. This deals with feasting in Anglo-Saxon times – not just what was eaten, but physical aspects such as the hall itself, tableware, entertainment, etc. RECOMMENDED for people interested in that time period and place.
Pouncy, Carolyn Johnston. THE DOMOSTROI RULES FOR RUSSIAN HOUSEHOLDS IN THE TIME OF IVAN THE TERRIBLE. Cornell University Press. 1994. This is a translation of a Russian household manuscript from the 16th century. While there is not much on Russian food of the time, there are a few recipes. It is the only book I know of in English with any information on period Russian food. RECOMMENDED for people wanting information on Russian food.
Power, Eileen. THE GOODMAN OF PARIS (Le Menagier de Paris). Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1928. A Translation of late 14th century treatise written by a man for his young wife to instruction her on running their household. It contains not only recipes, but instructions on all areas of domestic life. RECOMMENDED
Quayle, Eric. OLD COOK BOOKS. An Illustrated History. E.P Dutton. 1978. An interesting book about historical cookbooks with some original recipes included. RECOMMENDED.
Redon, Odile, Sabban, Francoise, & Serventi, Silvano. THE MEDIEVAL KITCHEN. RECIPES FROM FRANCE AND ITALY. The University of Chicago Press. 1998. A good book with 14th and 15th century recipes, both in translation and redacted. Good information about food and cooking of the time. RECOMMENDED.
Renfrow, Cindy. A SIP THROUGH TIME. Privately printed. 1995. This is an extensive collection of old brewing recipes. Unfortunately, the vast majority are post 1650. Therefore this book should be used with care. RECOMMENDED but check the dates on the recipes.
Renfrow, Cindy TAKE A THOUSAND EGGS OR MORE, VOLS 1 & 2. Privately printed. Original 15th century recipes plus a lot of modern redactions. Good information on how to do your own redactions. RECOMMENDED.
Riley, Gillian. RENAISSANCE RECIPES. Pomegranate Artbooks. 1993. Pictures involving food and redacted recipes to go along with the picture. No original recipes are given. The pictures can be useful to see how Renaissance food looked like. Without the originals of the recipes, I do not trust them. NOT RECOMMENDED except for the pictures.
Riley, Gillian. THE DUTCH TABLE. Pomegranate Artbooks. 1994. Pictures involving food and redacted recipes to go along with the picture. No original recipes are given. The pictures can be useful to see how late period food looked like. Without the originals of the recipes, I not trust them. NOT RECOMMENDED except for the pictures.
Ritchie, Carson I.A. FOOD IN CIVILIZATION. Beauford Books, Inc., 1981. This book attempts to show how history has been affect by human tastes. It is, unfortunately, more of a "pop" overview of food history, and how it interacts with history in general. There are much better books around. NOT RECOMMENDED.
Rivera, Oswald. THE PHARAOH'S FEAST. Four Walls Eight Windows. 2003. This book claims to be about cooking through the ages with 110 simple recipes. The recipes may be simple, but no original recipes are included so I cannot not call them authentic. NOT RECOMMENDED
Roberts, Enid. FOOD OF THE BARDS. Image Publishers, 1982. A "period Welsh" cookbook, the author took period references to food from Welsh sources, and found medieval English recipes that were for those foods. Original recipes and modern redactions. RECOMMENDED.
Rodinson, Maxime, A. J. Arberry, and Charles Perry. MEDIEVAL ARAB COOKERY. Prospect Books. 2001. A collection of essays on medieval Arabic cooking as well as translations of some Arabic cookbooks. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Rose, Peter G. THE SENSIBLE COOK. Syracuse University Press. 1989. A translation of a 1683 Dutch cookbook that was used in the America during the 17th century. Translations of original recipes plus about 24 modern redactions. RECOMMENDED.
Rozin, Elisabeth. BLUE CORN AND CHOCOLATE. Knopf. 1992. While this is carried as a book about the history of American food, it is primarily modern recipes with very little historical information. NOT RECOMMENDED.
Santich, Barbara. THE ORIGINAL MEDITERRANEAN CUISINE. Prospect Books. 1995. A lovely book on medieval food with the original recipes, their translations and modern redactions, as well as some good information about food of that period in general. What is especially nice is that a lot of the recipes I had never seen translated before. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Sass, Lora. J. TO THE QUEEN'S TASTE. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1976. One of the earlier decent redacted cookbook, this book which focus on Elizabethan era food contains both original recipes and their modern redactions as well as some basic information about food of the time. RECOMMENDED.
Sass, Lora. J. TO THE KING'S TASTE. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1975. Contains original recipes as well as modern redactions. Focus on the food/recipes from the time of Richard II, and uses Form of Cury for the source of the recipes. RECOMMENDED.
Sass, Lorna J. CHRISTMAS FEASTS FROM HISTORY. Irena Chalmers Cookbooks, Inc. 1981. Five different "Christmas" feasts from 5 different time periods. Original recipes as well as modern redactions. Some information about food from the period. RECOMMENDED.
Savelli, Mary. TASTE OF ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND. Anglo-Saxon Books. Norfolk, England. 2002. There are no extant Anglo-Saxon cookbooks, so all the recipes in here are made up by the author, based on what is known of Anglo-Saxon food. NOT RECOMMENDED
Scully, Terence. THE ART OF COOKERY IN THE MIDDLE AGES. The Boydell Press. 1995. Not recipes, but a very good book about medieval food. It covers a large area including food habits, food preparation, foods for the sick, etc. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Scully, Terence. CHIQUART'S 'ON COOKERY'. Peter Lang. 1986. A translation of a 15th century Savoy culinary treatise. Original recipes only, RECOMMENDED.
Scully, D. Eleanor and Scully, Terence. EARLY FRENCH COOKERY. University of Michigan Press. 1995. A good book on medieval French cookery, with the original recipes (in French), and modern redactions, as well as a lot of useful information about medieval French food. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Scully, Terence. THE NEAPOLITAN RECIPE COLLECTION. University of Michigan Press, 2000. A critical edition of 15th century cookbook from Naples. Complete with information about the food and cooking of the time, and an English translation. RECOMMENDED
Scully, Terence. THE VIANDIER. Prospect Books. England. 1997. A critical edition of a 15th century French cookery manuscript. Note: this is not the same as the VIANDIER OF TALLIEVENT, but a different manuscript. Translations of the original recipes only, no redactions. RECOMMENDED
Scully, Terence. THE VIANDIER OF TAILLEVENT. University of Ottawa Press. 1988. An edition of all extant manuscripts (Taillevent lived in the 14th century), with a complete translation into modern English. A few redacted recipes and some information on food of the time. RECOMMENDED.
Scully, Terence (translator and editor). LA VARENNE'S COOKERY. Prospect Books. 2006. This is a translation of La Varenne's The French Cook (1651), The French Pastry Chef (1653), and The French Confectioner (1660). These three books are all collections of recipes. La Varenne helped shape French cooking. RECOMMENDED
Segan, Francine. SHAKESPEAR'S KITCHEN. Random House. 2003. the cover says this is ÒRenaissance recipes for the contemporary cookÓ. Unfortunately, some of the redactions do not include an original recipe, and at least several have out of period ingredients. Even when an original recipe is included, a bunch are from Robert May, whose book of recipes was published in 1660, a fair bit after Shakespeare. NOT RECOMMENDED
Sim, Alison. FOOD AND FEAST IN TUDOR ENGLAND. St. Martin's Press. 1197. A reasonable book on 16th century English food and foodways. No recipes, but lots of pictures. Its main drawback is its length. RECOMMENDED.
Simeti, Mary Taylor. POMP & SUSTENANCE: 25 Years of Sicilian Food. Alfred A. Knopf. 1970. General information about food with recipes; modern redactions only, no period recipes given. NOT RECOMMENDED.
Smallzried, Kathleen Ann. THE EVERLASTING PLEASURE. Influences on American's Kitchens, Cooks and Cookery from 1565 to the year 2000. Appleton-Century-Crofts. 1956. While only vaguely in the period of this bibliography, this book has a lot of interesting things to say about the development of food/foodways in America. While I frequently disagree with her conclusions, especially from my vantage point of 40 years later, it is an interesting and informative book. RECOMMENDED FOR COMPLETEST ONLY.
Shephard, Sue. PICKED, POTTED AND CANNED. Headline Book Publishing. 2000. This is a fine history of food preservation. While it goes beyond out period, a great deal of the book deals with our period. RECOMMENDED
Sokolov, Raymond. WHY WE EAT WHAT WE EAT. Summit Books. 1991. This deals with the impact of new world foods on the old world and visa versa. RECOMMENDED
Soyer, Alexis. THE PANTROPHEON. Paddington Press. 1977. This book was originally printed in 1853. Alexis Soyer was a renowned French cook of the time. This book deals primarily with Roman times, but goes up to the 17th century. Some interesting information comparing the prices of some foodstuffs throughout the medieval time. All in all, while amusing and containing some interesting information, this book has been superseded by more accurate and useful books. NOT RECOMMENDED.
Spencer, Colin. THE HERETIC'S FEAST. University Press of New England. Hanover, NH. 1995. A history of vegetarianism, including information on what was eaten when. RECOMMENDED FOR COMPLETEST ONLY.
Spencer, Colin. BRITISH FOOD. Columbia University Press. 2002. The first five chapters of twelve deal with food from our period. A good overview of British food. RECOMMENDED.
Spurling, Hilary. ELINOR FETTIPLACE'S RECEIPT BOOK. Elizabethan Country House Cooking. Viking Penguin, 1986. A transcription of slightly more than 200 recipes from a book dated 1604 and commentary. RECOMMENDED.
Stevenson, Jane and Davidson, Peter. (ed) THE CLOSET OF SIR KENELM DIGBY OPENED. Prospect Books. 1997. Edited from the first edition of Kenelm Digby's work, which was published, posthumously, in 1669. This is gives a good picture of 17th century food and drink. RECOMMENDED for people interested in late period food only.
Stewart, Katie. THE JOY OF EATING. Stemmer House. 1977. A history of food along with a collection of redacted recipes at the back. Unfortunately, the recipes do not contain any original sources, just the redaction, which makes them questionable. RECOMMENDED for the food in history information only. NOT RECOMMENDED for the recipes.
Storck, John and Teague, Walter Dorwin. Flour for Man's Bread. University of Minnesota Press. 1952. An interesting history of flour and the technology for grinding it. RECOMMENDED for completest only.
Strong, Roy. FEAST. Harcourt. 2002. A history of feasts and banquets; what was eaten, when it was eaten, the social environment, etc. Lots of good pictures. RECOMMENDED
Tannahill, Reay. THE FINE ART OF FOOD. A.S. Barnes & Co. 1968. A short history of food with some LOVELY illustrations. Some interesting information; and some of the pictures I have never seen elsewhere. However, like her FOOD IN HISTORY, it is still pretty much a "pop" history of the subject. RECOMMENDED FOR THE PICTURES ONLY.
Tannahill, Reay. FOOD IN HISTORY. Stein and Day. 1973. NOTE: there is a revised edition that came out in the past several years, but this is what I grabbed from my shelves. In 448 pages she tries to cover food throughout the world and throughout time. By the very nature of her subject and the size of the book, it is, at best, a cursory covering of the subject. OK for a start, but there are much better books out there. RECOMMENDED only if you can't get anything better.
Toussaint‑Samat, Maguelonne. HISTORY OF FOOD. Blackwell. 1992. A 800 page history of food originally written in French. However, as in all books that try to cover a large amount of time/space there are errors. RECOMMENDED.
Trager, James. THE FOOD CHRONOLOGY. Henry Holt and Company. 1995. A pop history of food full of undocumented and inaccurate information. NOT RECOMMENDED
Unger, Richard W. BEER IN THE MIDDLE AGES AND THE RENAISSANCE. University of Pennsylvania Press. 2004. A serious history of beer, how it was made, used, transported, etc. No recipes are included. RECOMMENDED
la Varenne, Francois Pierre. THE FRENCH COOK. Southover Press. 2001. This is an English translation from 1653 of la Varenne's classic cookbook, which was published in 1651. Additionally there is a comprehensive glossary of terms used in the recipes. RECOMMENDED
Vence, Celine & Robert Courtine. THE GRAND MASTERS OF FRENCH CUISINE. G. P. Putnam & Sons. 1978. Some basic information about French food, as well as a few good pictures. As a cookbook, versus a historical cookbook, it is very good with color photos on how the food should look, as well as many tasty recipes. However, the original recipes are not given, just the modern redactions. While I like this book a lot, and have used a few of the modern redactions, after tracing them back to the original source, I must downgrade it because the originals aren't given. NOT RECOMMENDED.
Verrill, A. Hyatt. FOODS AMERICA GAVE THE WORLD. L.C. Page. 1937. If you ever wanted to have one book to check if a food source was old or new world, this will do it. While the histories of the various foods are not always 100% accurate, it is a useful reference book. RECOMMENDED.
Waines, David. IN A CALIPH'S KITCHEN. Riad El-Rayyes Books, London. 1989. This book tells where the original recipe came from, gives it in translation, and gives the modern redaction. A fair bit of general information on medieval Arabic cooking. Additionally it is very good from a modern viewpoint, with lovely color pictures showing what the finished product should look like. RECOMMENDED.
Walker, Harlan. OXFORD SYMPOSIUM ON FOOD & COOKERY 1988 – The Cooking Pot. Prospect Books. 1989. While most of the articles do not deal with medieval food/foodways, there are a few articles on medieval usage. Still, all in all RECOMMENDED FOR THE SERIOUS SCHOLAR ONLY.
Walker, Harlan. OXFORD SYMPOSIUM ON FOOD & COOKERY 1990 - Feasting & Fasting. Prospect Books. 1991. While most of the articles do not deal with medieval food/foodways, there are a few articles on medieval food. Still, all in all RECOMMENDED FOR THE SERIOUS SCHOLAR ONLY.
Walker, Harlan. OXFORD SYMPOSIUM ON FOOD & COOKERY 1992 - SPICING UP THE TABLE. Prospect Books. 1991. While most of the articles do not deal with medieval food/foodways, there are a few articles on medieval food. Still, all in all RECOMMENDED FOR THE SERIOUS SCHOLAR ONLY.
Walker, Harlan. OXFORD SYMPOSIUM ON FOOD & COOKERY 2001 – The Meal. Prospect Books. 2002. While most of the articles do not deal with medieval food/foodways, there are a few articles on medieval food. Still, all in all RECOMMENDED FOR THE SERIOUS SCHOLAR ONLY.
Watson, Betty. COOKS, GLUTTONS & GOURMETS. Doubleday & Co. 1962. One of the earliest books on the history of food/foodways. Very inaccurate, with no original recipes given. NOT RECOMMENDED.
Wheaton, Barbara Ketcham. SAVORING THE PAST. The French Kitchen and Table from 1300 to 1789. University of Pennsylvania Press. 1983. A well written and put together book on French food/foodways. A small number of original recipes with modern redactions. RECOMMENDED.
White, Eileen. THE ENGLISH COOKERY BOOK. Prospect Books. 2004. This is a collection of essays about English cookbooks. Three of the essays deal with our period. RECOMMENDED for compleatest only.
White, Eileen. FEEDING A CITY: YORK. Prospect Books. Devon. England. 2000. A collection of articles about how food was provided to and in York from Roman to the beginning of the twentieth century. No recipes, but a lot useful information. RECOMMENDED
Willan, Anne. GREAT COOKS AND THEIR RECIPES From Taillevent to Escoffier. Little Brown and Company. 1992. Information about the food of the time, original recipes and modern redactions. Lots of good pictures. RECOMMENDED.
Wilson, C. Anne. BANQUETTING STUFF. Edinburgh University Press. 1990. A collection of papers on the fare and social background of the Tudor and Stuart Banquet. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Wilson, C. Anne. THE APPETITE AND THE EYE. Edinburgh University Press. 1991. A collection of papers on the visual aspects of food and its presentation with their historic context. Not all are medieval. RECOMMENDED.
Wilson, C. Anne. FOOD AND DRINK IN BRITAIN From the Stone Age to Recent Times. Penguin. 1984. the best history of food that I know of. It's only drawback is that is it from a British perspective only. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Wilson, C. Anne. FOOD FOR THE COMMUNITY. Edinburgh University Press. 1993. A collection of papers on food eaten by people living together in a community. There are seven papers, one of which is on monastic food in our period, and two more include our period in its discussion. RECOMMENDED FOR COMPLEATEST
Wilson, C. Anne. WATER OF LIFE. Prospect Books. 2006. An interesting and well researched history of distilled beverages. RECOMMENDED
Wilson, C. Anne (editor). A BOOK OF FRUITS AND FLOWERS. Prospect Books. 1984. A facsimile of a 1653 book of recipes. The recipes are for cookery, confectionery, preserves, and medicines. RECOMMENDED
Wood, Ed. WORLD SOURDOUGHS FROM ANTIQUITY. Ten Speed Press. Berkeley, California. 1996. The cover claims that these are ÒAuthentic recipes for modern bakersÓ. However, no original recipes are given. NOT RECOMMENDED
Wood, Jacqui. PREHISTORIC COOKING. Tempus Publishing. Gloucestershire, Great Britain. 2001. This deals with prehistoric cooking methods and recreations of foods done at a research settlement in Cornwall. There are no original recipes given, since there are no extant ones from that time period. RECOMMENDED FOR COOKING TECHNIQUES ONLY
Woolgar, C. M., D. Serjeantson, and T. Waldron (editors). FOOD IN MEDIEVAL ENGLAND. Oxford University Press. 2006. A fascinating collection of articles on food stuffs, diet. and nutrition in medieval England. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
de Orde, Wynkyn. THE BOKE OF KERUYNGE. Southover Press. 2003. A facsimile plus a modern translation of this early 15th century book, along with an excellent glossary. This is not a cookbook, but rather a book about how to serve and how to carve. RECOMMENDED
Wright, Clifford A. A MEDITERRANEAN FEAST. William Morrow and Company. New York. 1999. While this contains some historical information, and some copies of period pictures the recipes are modern, with modern ingredients. NOT RECOMMENDED
Young, Carolin C. APPLES OF GOLD IN SETTINGS OF SILVER. Simon & Schuster. New York. 2002. Stories of 12 different dinners from 1132 to 1932. Four of the dinners are from 1600 or before. Pictures of dining and primary sources descriptions. Useful information on how food was served and presents. RECOMMENDED FOR COMPLETEST ONLY
Zyvatkauskas, Betty & Sonia. EATING SHAKESPEARE. Prentice Hall. Toronto. 2000. Original recipes more or less contemporary with Shakespeare and redactions thereof. Some the redactions do not seem to be quite faithful to the originals, so you need to compare them and use with care. If used carefully RECOMMENDED if used with care.
Copyright 2007 Judy Gerjuoy / Jaelle of Armida
Another bibliography can be found here.
Webbed by Gregory Blount of Isenfir