Medieval Food Before "Medieval Food" (Culinary Historians of Southern California)

By convention, the concept of "Medieval Food" has long been limited to the centuries—starting in the thirteenth century—or during which we have cookbooks. But the Middle Ages themselves began in the fifth century, and in or near France, a great deal of information survives on the food of the centuries from then until the thirteenth century—in archaeology, monastic rules, histories, supply lists, statutes, poems, travelers' accounts, etc. This talk will provide an overview of food from the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties and the early Capetian dynasty, before the advent of cookbooks in France.

Jim Chevallier's food history career began with exploring the history of the croissant and the baguette, soon expanding into the wider subject of French bread history, and then the history of Parisian and early medieval food. In 2019, Choice magazine named his A History of the Food of Paris an Outstanding Academic Title for that year. His book, History of French Bread, Before the Baguette, is a Gourmand World Cookbook Award Winner for 2020. His most recent book is They Came Bearing Bread: The Hard Lives of the Porteuses de Pain. He has been cited by CNN, the BBC, Atlas Obscura, Medium, Suitcase, National Geographic, the New York Times, the New Yorker, Liberation, Le Monde, and Le Figaro, as well as in several books.