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Med-Fsts-CPHP-art - 12/26/10

 

"Medieval Feasts - culinary creativity, pageantry, honour and prestige"

by Lady Dominica de Zeragoza.

 

NOTE: See also the files: French-Tbl-Srv-art, Medieval-Cook-art, Medievl-Feasts-art, p-feasts-msg, p-menus-msg, fst-entertain-msg.

 

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NOTICE -

 

This article was submitted to me by the author for inclusion in this set of files, called Stefan's Florilegium.

 

These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

 

Copyright to the contents of this file remains with the author or translator.

 

While the author will likely give permission for this work to be reprinted in SCA type publications, please check with the author first or check for any permissions granted at the end of this file.

 

Thank you,

Mark S. Harris...AKA:..Stefan li Rous

stefan at florilegium.org

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In looking at the relationship between gender and race within eating practices in Western cultures, this paper will focus on the their involvement in medieval feasts, using Joffé's Vatel [[1]] as the visual reference.  Aspects of culinary creativity, pageantry, honour and prestige will be discussed both within the medieval context and their evolution to modern day.  While it cannot be said that medieval times set the stage for the importance of food which has played a role in social and religious interaction [[2]] since the creation of man himself. [[3]] It did raise the status of both food and it's cooks to a new level. [[4]]

 

Vatel is honest in his "desire for the absolute, the sublime, the perfect," [[5]] he is portrayed as having a true belief in his abilities: forbidding the ice to melt, [[6]] and his power to create and astonish. [[7]] How many housewives and chefs over time have created wonders with no less a belief, and a desire to try?  He does all these feats for the honour of his master and the opportunity to restore him to his proper place in society. [[8]]  

 

It is Vatel's standing as House Steward that has him seen as the functioning head of the house by all but the nobles, and it is he who deals with all matters of the house. [[9]]  This delegation leaves the Prince to deal with the King. It could be said that House Stewards of the Middle Ages became the wives of the 20th century and good ones had great value. [[10]]

 

The power that comes with this responsibility is demonstrated through the pageantry and entertainment of the festivities.   Their importance is established in the opening lines of Vatel; The King "wants no fuss, merely the simple pleasures of life in the country, in other words, if you value his Majesties favour, you will set no limit to the extravagance and ingenuity of the festivities." [[11]] While this pressure is on a larger scale it bares striking similarities to twentieth century wives who prepared functions for their spouses employers and co-workers. [[12]]

 

Pageantry has always played a role within festivities, viewed through the ages as a way of linking the past, present, future, and creates occasions, [[13]] it has also been used to impress and outdo each other. [[14]] Louise XIVs court may have reached new heights, but was not alone during history in its excesses. [[15]] Vatel's three feasts depict a tribute to the glory of the sun, [[16]] the sun banishing the night, [[17]] and Neptune's tribute to Helios the sun god. [[18]] Within these extravaganzas it is not merely the food, but its presentation, the settings and the entertainment that enhance the banqueting experience.

 

One could not fail to be impressed by the visual splendour of the feasts. [[19]]  Each is presented scene after scene until the food was finally revealed. [[20]] The entertainments are not mere spectacle, but introductions to what will be served. This excess of the eye is not merely for entertainment, subtitles: ice sculpture, [[21]] centrepieces such as the peacock's [[22]] table linen and eating utensils, [[23]] the impromptu candle holders, [[24]] and unusual dishes [[25]] all add to the effect.  This attention to detail is not lost on smaller meals; be it the teas and lunches served as finger foods with hot chocolate, [[26]] the delicacy of a readily peeled and segmented orange presented as a whole, or the pear, pealed and cored but reformed to be presented whole. [[27]] Even the gardens created from candles give additional mystery. [[28]]

 

While modern cooks, and even chefs do not have the multitude of workers seen within Vatel, or people willing to work around the clock, many still put hours, days and weeks into functions or dinner parties.  Though fewer are likely to spend 6000 pounds on fireworks to entertain the masses and kill a groom, [[29]] or bankrupt themselves in the hope of patronage. [[30]] One has to wonder how many would agree that going to war would be easier than putting on some functions as Gouville states. [[31]]

 

Examples of such visual pageantry can be found from Ancient Rome [[32]] to Catherine de Médici's progress through France, which aside from its politically generated motive, aided in the spread of new kitchen techniques and menus from Italy. [[33]]  Policing of festivities has also occurred throughout history with attempts to regulate and control both the types and quantities of food consumed. [[34]] It is clear that these attempts were not successful, and even adherence to the religious fast days could allow for excess.  Vatel's feast of Neptune's tribute to Helios, is but one example, and Chaucer provides us with a menu of what was placed before Sir Gawain  on Christmas eve – another day of fish:

 

Several fine soups, seasoned lavishly

Twice-fold, as is fitting, and fish of all kinds –

Some baked in bread, some browned on coals,

Some seethed, some stewed and savoured with spices,

But always subtly sauced, and so the men like it.

The gentle knight generously judged it a feast,

And often said so, while the servants spurred

him on thus

               As he ate

               'This present penance do;

               It soon shall be offset.'" [[35]]

               It should be noted that feasts the size of those shown in Vatel were not unusual for their time, [[36]] larger and more lavish events would have occurred at the royal palace itself. It is almost un-imaginable to calculate the quantities for produce required for these festivities.  However Labarge's Mistress, Maids and Men [[37]] provides a breakdown of the average requirements for the daily running of a large medieval household.  In any such documentation it is always difficult to substantiate items that would have been home produced; fruit, vegetables, eggs, dairy and bread.  As seen in Vatel, much of this produce was taken from the Princes own lands.  Turner's Spice [[38]] provides a full history of how precious the spices used were and the role they played in economic and cultural growth.

 

Within these festivities how food was eaten was just as important as what was served. Modern day manners while evolved over time are different to those of the medieval period.  Catherine de Médici, noted for her refinement and taste, was celebrated for her appetite and indigestion. [[39]] People were elevated or ridiculed for their table manners; La Bruyére's 'The Table Boar' provides the less desirable behaviour; pawing the food, eating in haste, spilling food, and making a mess of oneself. [[40]]   Chaucer proves an example of proper etiquette:

 

"At meat her manners were well taught withal;

No morsel from her lips did she let fall

Nor dipped her fingers in the sauce to deep;

But she could carry a morsel up and keep

The smallest drop from falling on her breast.

For courtliness she has a special zest.

And she would wipe her upper lip so clean

That no trace of grease was to be seen

Upon the cup when she had drunk; to eat

She reached a hand sedately for the meat."  [[41]]

 

Combined with this, it is essential to note that incorporated amongst all this festivity, was a strict social setting for interaction.  Your social standing within court was unstable and could change on a whim.  Your position to the King dictated who could sit and eat at festivities, [[42]] how far you sat from the King, [[43]] who you could speak to directly, whom you had to bow to, and who bowed to you. [[44]]  Many of these rituals have remained in the modern day: who will sit at the head of the table, who carves the meat, and preference for who is served first, the order in which people enter rooms at formal occasions. [[45]]

 

What made a desirable appearance also took another form; modern day thinness is very much a late twentieth century construct. Prior to the dominance of Twiggy "Eating made one handsome.  "A thin wife brought disgrace to a peasant.  But of a plump wife it is said that ' a man will love her and not begrudge the food she eats'.  Men too ought to be stout." [[46]] Food was a desirable commodity to be enjoyed and savoured.

 

Vatel provides a visual representation of this embodiment with food in the Marquis de Lauzun's request for a sugar creation of flowers in the colours of flesh and blood to represent his desire for Anne de Montausier. [[47]]    This likening of the body to food and flowers is not new and has occurred throughout time with poets and laymen substituting body parts with food: milk and honey complexions, cherry lips, ripe melons for breasts. [[48]] Modern authors such as Bynum [[49]] look at the historical aspects of this in feasting and fasting and its relation to social and religious factors of the time.

 

The Marquis request also demonstrates how the social order can be brought into line.  Vatel's initial decline to be his partisseure is changed when the Prince brings his power to bear and instructs him to accommodate him. [[50]]   This social order within the court meant that no one refused the king, and all waited on his pleasure. [[51]] Down from this is the Kings brother, who is allowed every frivolity with no room for complaint, the Queen, [[52]] and so on through the list of precedence.

 

Cox states "Festivity and fantasy are not only worthwhile in themselves, they are absolutely vital to human life." [[53]] Feasts to the scale of Vatels may no longer be created, but every grand function, and social dinner attempts to create a small measure of their mystery.  If this were not so, cookbooks would not be the growing publishing market it is, [[54]] and Cable TV providers would not have multiple channels dedicated to cooking programs. [[55]] While the public role of women in Vatel's world was limited and subservient, it is clear that they played a part.  The role of women in kitchens both professional and private has evolved and now expands to new heights.  Female chefs are no longer a novelty, and many excel in their fields.

 

Food still creates passion in those who indulge, be it simply enjoying warm food on a cold day, the luxury of a special treat or the pleasure of a favourite dish that holds memories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Attachments:

 

A)  Web Sites of interest:

http://www.latourdulac.com/Feast/index.html (A modern group doing period feasts, their menus are a larger than the basic menu I provided)

 

http://www.silk.net/sirene/ (A modern day supplier of period herbs and subtleties, handy for re-enactors and food historians)

 

http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/food.html (A base website that provides links to medieval cookbooks, articles, recipes and information)

 

http://www.sca.org.au/lochac/ (The Australian homepage of a world wide Medieval Recreations group.  These people recreate feasts all over Australia all year round)

 

http://jeru.huji.ac.il/crusaders_food.htm (A web site provided researched recipies from the crusader era)

 

B)  A light Menu

 

1st

Bread

Grand Salad (Platter of assortments: Olives of at least two types, dates, figs, apricots, cheeses of at least four types, marinated fish on a green salad, nuts of at least four types, salami of at least three types

Roast pork with a pomegranate sauce

Sauteed mushrooms wit spices

Onion and shallot tart

 

2nd

Asparagus with Saffron

Chicken Ambrogino with dried fruit

Grilled fish with herbs and spices

Vegetable-cheese tourte

Tourtel: herbed egg tart

 

3rd

Pear tarts

Syrup dipped fritters

Marzipan tart

Sylibub

(Options taken from Rendon et.al.[56] except for the pear tarts, Sylibub and Grand Salad)

 

Bibliography:

 

hhtp:// www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/sunking.htm Site on Inside the court of Lois XIV.

 

http://www.restaurant.org/rusa/magArticle.cfm?ArticleID=631) Statistics on cookbook sales in the US

 

Bynam, Caroline Walker. Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women, University of California Press, 1987.

 

Chaucer, Geoffrey, The Canterbury Tale, 'The Nun's Priests Tale, (Century Hutchinson, London, 1986), pp 135-143

 

Cox, Harvey, "The Feast of Fool: A Theological Essay on Festivity and Fanntasy", Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 4th Edition, 1971

 

Douglas, Mary. "Deciphering a Meal" in Implicit Meanings, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1975.

 

Gunew, Sneja. "Introduction: multicultural translation of food, bodies, language" in the Journal of Intercultural Studies, Dec 2000, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 227-237

 

Henisch, Bridget Ann,  "Fast and Feast: Food in Medieval Society" Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State University Press, 6th Edition, 1997

 

Labarge, Margaret Wade, "Mistress, Maids and Men: Baronial Life in the Thirteenth Century", London, Phoenix, 2003

 

Mennell, Stephen, "All Manners of Food: Eating and Taste in England and France from the Middle Ages to the Present", USA, University of Illinois Press, 1996

 

Mennell, Stephen, Murcott, Anne, Van Otterloo, Anneke H.,  The Sociology of Food: Eating, Diet and Culture. London, Sage, 1992.

 

Redon, Odile, Dabban, Francoise,, and Serventi, Salvano, "The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy", Translated y Edward Schneider, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1998

 

Smith, Joan, exerpt from 'Sexing the Cherry', in her book "Hungry for You.  From Cannibalism to Seduction: A Book of Food", Chatto & Windus, 1996, pp. 83-87, 91-93, 103; as found in WST210 Reading Gender into Everyday Life, Booklet of Readings, E1, 2005, pp.86-90

 

Turner, Jack, "Spice: The History of Temptation", Hammersmith, London, Harper Collins Publishers, 2004

 

Vatel, Directed by Roland Joffé, Columbia Tristar, 2002

 

Visser, Margaret, "Much Depends on Dinner: The Extraordinary History and Mythology, Allure and Obsessions, Perils and Taboos, of an Ordinary Meal", Toronto, Ontario, McClelland and Stewart, 1987

 

Visser, Margaret. The Rituals of Dinner: The Origins, Evolution, Eccentricities, and Meaning of Table Manners. Penguin Books, 1991.

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Copyright 2009 by Willhameena Power, PO Box 247, Jesmond, NSW, Australia, 2299. <Willhameena15 at optusnet.com.au>. Permission is granted for republication in SCA-related publications, provided the author is credited.  Addresses change, but a reasonable attempt should be made to ensure that the author is notified of the publication and if possible receives a copy.

 

If this article is reprinted in a publication, I would appreciate a notice in the publication that you found this article in the Florilegium. I would also appreciate an email to myself, so that I can track which articles are being reprinted. Thanks. -Stefan.

 

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Endnotes:

[[54]] http://www.restaurant.org/rusa/magArticle.cfm?ArticleID=631) says cookbook sales in the U.S. rose from 27.5 million in 1991 to 41.8 million in 1995. Cookbooks are a $400 million a year industry, according to the NRA article.