Food and Health in Early Modern Europe

Food and Health in Early Modern Europe is the essential introduction to the relationship between food, health and medicine for history students and scholars alike. Changing patterns of diet, food consumption, and food fashions are examined and are seen through the prism of medical advice and understanding. David Gentilcore probes the changing medical meanings of food and drink and looks at the myriad links between this period's food history and the society and culture of which it was a part. The book also evaluates the complex dialectic between diet and health as perceived by early modern Europeans and goes on to identify and discuss key factors for dietary change and continuity throughout Europe and its colonial settlements elsewhere. There are 30 illustrations, maps and extensive chapter bibliographies with web links included, while a number of key questions will be addressed throughout the text, such as: -Did medical advice shape dietary habits or was it shaped by them? -How did food changes affect the diet and health of Europeans living in the New World during the early colonial period, socially and culturally? -What impact did New World plants have on European food culture during the early modern period? -What effects did social privilege have on food consumption, in theory and in practice? -How can we explain the shift in attitudes towards vegetables, from dismissal as food of the poor to praise as the basis of a healthy 'Pythagorean diet'? The early modern period was a crucial turning point in the history of the production and consumption of food and drink in Europe and this book is the authoritative analytic survey of the subject that has been lacking until now.