Contains 131 pages of well researched material on medieval cooking and over 100 recipes claimed to have come from original manuscripts. Thus far, no one has found the original source for any of the recipes. The SCA has been searching since 1976 for the sources. However, the recipes are tasty and are similar to known manuscripts. They resemble recipes from multiple cultures, including Arabic.

This was a fun book. I bought this way back when to make a medieval dinner for a boyfriend. It has basically sat on my shelf since then but now as I look through it, I see it has some interesting chapters that deserve another look through. ( )

Good overview on food customs from farm to table. Nice 'walk thru' of Chaucerian food procurement practices (marketing) and safety regulations regarding food vendors (citation of laws and practices of public shaming for those who broke them). Less detail on specific kitchen practices and utensils, but I didn’t read all 100+ provided recipes so perhaps this is covered in that section in greater detail. While engaging, not a ‘smooth’ read, somewhat verbose in making the point at times and occasionally confusing as to “when” one is on the timeline of the content (given the rather broad range of dates covered). ( )

Nice bit of history about service and Medieval Life-don't care for redactions ( )

Unreliable. Some recipes just made up. Even some of the illos are by a "19th century forger".