Long before fast food joints along the highway or coolers full of snacks, people grappled with how to eat and drink while on the road. In the Middle Ages, this often meant stopping at inns and roadside taverns or packing provisions on horseback. We are given a fascinating glimpse into historical road food by physician Gugliermo Grataroli, who penned a book of eating advice for fellow travelers. His Regimen Omnium Iter Agentium (Diet for Everyone on the Road), published in 1556, instructed travelers on how to stay healthy on the go. But did people heed such advice? Diaries of medieval travelers suggest that though they tried, the seduction of fast food and junk food proved difficult to resist—even then. After this lively talk, join historian Ken Albala for a food and wine experience guaranteed to satisfy your medieval munchies with a sampling of Grataroli’s “health foods” and other more decadent sweets and savories, along with a curated selection of three period-inspired wines.
Medieval Road Food: Eating and Drinking on the Go
The Temperate and the Intemperate, about 1475–80, Master of the Dresden Prayer Book. Tempera colors and ink, 6 7/8 × 7 5/8 in. Getty Museum, Ms. 43 (91.MS.81), recto
About
Ken Albala
Historian
Ken Albala is Tully Knoles Endowed Professor of History at the University of the Pacific. He has authored or edited 29 books on food including Eating Right in the Renaissance, Food in Early Modern Europe, Cooking in Europe 1250–1650, The Banquet, Beans (2008 IACP Jane Grigson Award), The Lost Art of Real Cooking, The Lost Arts of Hearth and Home, Three World Cuisines (Gourmand World Cookbook Award 2012) and Noodle Soup. Most recently are The Great Gelatin Revival and Opulent Nosh. He has served as editor for A Cultural History of Food: The Renaissance, the Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia, The Sage Encyclopedia of Food Issues, and edited several food series with over 100 titles in print. His courses, Food: A Cultural Culinary History and Cooking Across the Ages, are available from The Great Courses and Audible, which also feature his History of Bourbon. Forthcoming is An Atlas of Fermented Foods and Beverages.
Know Before You Go
Duration
Approximately 3 hours.
Planning your arrival
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Event Check-In
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Doors open 30 minutes before program start time.
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