Italian Renaissance Food

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caption: The Marriage at Cana, from the Spiegel menschlicher Behältnis, Basle 1476. From Gode Cookery

What one eats is always influenced by what is available and how much money you have. Renaissance Italy is no exception. I am sure there were significant regional differences – just as there are today, although I can not find any reference to the “olive oil/butter line”. I did find references to olive oil used “for flavor and as a cooking medium”.

The Renaissance was a time of “awakening” and changes and food was not exception. Although Marco Polo is unlikely to have gone to China, people did and their influence was seen in many places.[1] One site said that China was responsible for spices, certain stewing/cooking preparations and the custom of eating fruit before a meal. Italians started stewing foods in fruits, wine and spices during the Renaissance. Multi-colored gelatin was seen in Florence - at least at their exclusive cooking academy.

Before refrigeration everyone was much more aware of what was in season and ate fresh when they could, and dried items out of season according to what was available.

caption: Line illustration and A Last Supper picture from Gode Cookery

Most Europeans were still Catholic and feast/fast days were observed. At one point in the late Middle Ages about half of the days of the year were designated fast days when no meat could be eaten. Of course this was not much of an issue for the poor who could not afford to eat meat as often as every other day! Fish was popular, fresh, dried, and salted, especially in the Lenten season.[2]

Common Foods

Almonds and onions were both very common in general, but I can’t say much about them for Italy in particular. (Please check for food allergies if you are feeding a group!) Common in Italy:

• Vegetables
  
• Bread, pizza (no tomato sauce) & hard biscuits
• The middle class at this time was responsible for the popularity of pasta, lasagna, and ravioli (without tomatoes)[3]
• Soups and stews
• Rice/risotto
• Cheese: including brie, cheddar, gouda, buffalo mozzarella cheese
• Omlettes
• Meatballs, pork, small birds, pike (fish) and game
• Wine (Water was used for coking when it was known to be safe)

Search for Cooking Methods for Vegetables on Gode Cookery's How to cook Renaissance foods for details - but boiling when the water was safe, and eating raw salads were both common. That page also discusses use of water & wine & alcohol, elsewhere the site lists foods to never use for Renaissance cooking like corn, tomatoes, turkey (which had not yet reached them from the New World), rhubarb and bananas (probably know but not used), potatoes, and yams (which traders would bring from Africa). Check out the illustration of a spit from Historic Food.

At Home in Renaissance Italy says “During the Renaissance it was common for meals to have four courses, which could consist of one entrée, two meat courses and one course of fruit or cheese. Meat was expensive and eaten regularly only by the wealthy. Short pasta, which would be boiled, became increasingly popular during the sixteenth century and soon dominated the Italian diet.”

From The Food Timeline

Cuisine of Christopher Columbus
He was born in Genoa where a diet with lots of herbs and salads - but no or few spices and no coffee was common. Read more about cuisine of his Genoa days. Recipes - for his whole life - are here.

Recipes Online

• At home in Renaissance Italy recipes. Note: the recipes are by weight in grams, not cups of ingredients. Got a scale?
  
  
• From Gode Cookery: A Renaissance Cookery Book – with recipes ( but in the original…) and the recipes - in the original & “translated” to modern English
  

• Menu & Recipes from Alabama Renaissance Faire: The 2005 Feast
  

• French Renaissance Menu: http://saint-esprit.freeservers.com/food.htm

• Food of the Renaissance from the Virtual Renaissance Team includes "tidbits" and recipes for breads, cheese & eggs, soups, vegetables (did you know the beginning of autumn was the best season for celery?), staples and desserts. They even have the script of a veggie presentation!

• Editure's Renaiassance Food Worksheet includes a recipe for gingerbread and sample menus.

• Renaissance Peas, Sausage, or gingerbread (more like candy)
  
• Renaissance-style Pasta
• 16th century Italian Carrots in Vinagrette from De Honesta Voluptate et Valetudine by Platina and a Cariota
  
• 16th century Italian Peach Compote
• 16th century Italian Pear Pie
  
  
• Janis Herbert's Leonardo da Vinci for Kids has a recipe for Vegetarian Minestrone (p. 46) and Salai's Aniseed Sweets (p.49). da Vinci probably ate minestrone - but not this one with tomatoes! Spanish explorers brought kidney beans back from Peru in the 15th century so he may have eaten them. While we know that Salai liked anise seed; I am not sure we know if he ate this date sweet recipe. (For more on minestrone, see Richard Calhoun's piece).
  

I also enjoyed reading "What Foods are Period When?" by Marieke. Although I was confused by her referring to Protestants in Medieval Times - since they did not exist until the Renaissance in Italy (while it was still "High Middle Ages" elsewhere).

References for this page included:
Victoria & Albert's At Home in Renaissance Italy
Goode Cookery
Thinkquest's library

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[1] Last week I was told that daVinci was responsible for the “modern” spinning wheel, and he was influenced to do this by information on pulleys – from China. I want to check that out.

[2] Salt was a major trade item, probably from at least the time of Viking invasions. I can’t remember when salt flats were created in Europe.

[3] Remember tomatoes were from the New World and originally thought to be poisonous. Extra credit: tell us when tomatoes arrived in Europe and when people started eating them. Make your own food timeline.