Fooles and Fricassees : Food in Shakespeare's England

by Caton, Mary Anne; Thirsk, Joan; Thirsk, Joan; Folger Shakespeare Library

• ISBN13: 9780295979267
• ISBN10: 0295979267
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-01-01
• Publisher: Univ of Washington Pr

Summary

People today assume that the diet of Shakespeare and his contemporaries was limited and rather dull. This book demonstrates, however, that 16th-century Englishmen were familiar with a wide range of foodstuffs and seasonings and had strong opinions about the flavour and quality of what they ate.Fooles and Fricassees provides a glimpse into gardens, kitchens, butteries, and cellars of the past. It contains a fascinating array of manuscript and printed materials documenting not only what people ate but where the food came from, how it was grown, preserved, seasoned, and served, and what people believed about various foods' benefits to their health. Included in full is a transcription of Sarah Longe's "Receipt Booke" compiled around 1610.Mary Anne Caton is curator of Fraunces Tavern Museum in New York City.Until her retirement, Joan Thirsk was reader in economic history at the University of Oxford and professorial fellow of St. Hilda's College.

Table of Contents

Foreword	6	(3)
Rachel Doggett
Introduction: ``For Profit and Pleasure'': Changes in Food and Farming	9	(4)
Mary Anne Caton
Food in Shakespeare's England	13	(14)
Joan Thirsk
Catalogue of the Exhibition	27	(72)
Mary Anne Caton with
Ronald W. Fuchs, II
The Way to Health	29	(6)
Daily Brad and Ale	35	(6)
``The Spice and Salt that Season a Man,''	41	(6)
``A Pot of Good Double-Beer,''	47	(4)
Indian Nectar	51	(6)
Points of Good Husbandry	57	(4)
``Feed Him with Apricocks,''	61	(4)
The Profitable Art of Gardening	65	(4)
Markets and Merchandise	69	(4)
The Accomplished Cook	73	(4)
All Manner of Rare Receipts	77	(4)
Speak of Your Courtesy	81	(6)
To Please the Palate with a Delicate Ho-goo	87	(4)
Christmas Feasts and Fancies	91	(4)
All Those Who Wait at Table	95	(2)
Drawings and Broadsides	97	(2)
Appendix I: Mrs. Sarah Longe Her Receipt Booke, C1610	99	(22)
Heidi Brayman Hackel
Appendix II: ``To Serve in Noble or Great Houses'': Selections from Hannah Woolley's The Queen-like Closet, 1675	121	(4)
Glossary	125	(1)
Selected Bibliography	126