Eating Right in the Renaissance: Food and Feasting in Art

Dr. Laurinda Dixon

Delighting in a good meal is a primal pleasure, and most people construct their diets according to individual preferences. However, in the Renaissance, food carried deep meaning, and eating was more strictly controlled and monitored by history, tradition, and medical theory. The consumption of food was strictly designed to attract the celestial powers of the planets and zodiac, with the ultimate aim of attaining and maintaining a balance of qualities within the body. We will examine how depictions of food and feasting reveal the care and attention individuals employed in constructing their diets according to the macrocosmic realms of humoral medicine, astrology, and Christian morality. Create a menu, constructed according to the rules of Renaissance diets, and considering your individual medical, astrological profile. You will never construct a menu the same way after being introduced to the multi-faceted art of Renaissance food and feasting.

Class #1: Fruits and vegetables. Learn how to make a healthy Renaissance salad, keeping in mind your unique humoral make-up, birth horoscope, circle of friends, and occupation.

Class #2. Meat became newly accessible in the Renaissance. Learn about the political meanings, moral ramifications, and class divisions embodied in depictions of this luxury food.

Class #3. Gluttony was one of the seven venal sins in the Renaissance. Discover how images of drunkenness and over-eating were associated with impiety, political events, and social
class divisions.

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