Content area
Full Text
More than thirty years ago Claude Levi-Strauss convincingly argued that the universal transformation of nature into culture takes place through the cooking of food and that gastronomy "is a language in which each society codes messages which allow it to signify a part at least of what it is."1 Food is an element that can differentiate among cultures and societies. By studying food one can understand social and cultural phenomena of those who consume it.
From the earliest times food has occupied a prominent place, first in the oral and later in the written literary tradition. In literature, food by its very presence fulfills a multi-layered function: first, it invariably colors with shades of authenticity the actions narrated. Second, food becomes a sign encompassing more elaborate ideological, political, and cultural concepts. As Louis Marin cogently argues, it is through this metamorphosis that the comestible is transformed into the signified and the speakable is transformed into the edible.2 A more important observation made by Marin is that in its resulting function of "transsignificance,"3 food becomes a metaphor, acquiring new meaning completely dissociated from its original physical significance. Thus food-along with the setting in which it is consumed-serves to identify the complex motifs connecting individuals to their historically, economically, and philosophically determined environments.
The discourse on food in the Renaissance is articulated along the lines of a growing medical-therapeutic science. This novel field of study engaged doctors as well as philosophers,4 a point made clear by the abundance of commentaries and treatises written on food during the period. This new interest in the therapeutic qualities of food attracted among others Marsilio Ficino5 and Erasmus of Rotterdam.6 In their works both incorporated discussions on food, detailing the curative and strengthening qualities of particular alimentation in relation to specific areas of the body and spirit. The consistent inclusion of foods in Renaissance literary texts attests to the writer's expressed sense of the historical and political coordinates shaping the age.
Whether the writer's intent is to capture the dionysiac festivities celebrating desire and power or to valorize the frugality that favors intellectual and spiritual growth, eating in the Renaissance is in direct relation to the humanistic concern with moralistic prescriptions and with perfect education. Food now acquires a value implicit...