[Sca-cooks] "Creating Community With Food and Drink in

[Johnna Holloway]

This is quick and not at all formal.


        Creating community with food and drink in Merovingian Gaul / by
        Bonnie Efros.

It's comprised of:
Introduction pp. 1-8
I. The Ritual Significance of Feasting in the Formation of Christian 
Community  with subtitles:
1. Saints and Sacrifices in Sixth-Century Gaul 2. Saints and the 
Provisioning of Plenty 3. Defining Christian Community through the Fear 
of Pollution 4. Conclusion

II. Food, Drink, and the Expression of Clerical Identity pp.9-24
1. Defining Masculinity without Weapons: Amicitia among Bishops 2. Monks 
and the Significance of Convivia in Ascetic Communities 3. Amicitia 
between Clerics and Laymen 4. Bishops and Civitias in Late Antique and 
Early Medieval Gaul 5. Conclusion

III.  Gender and Authority: Feasting and Fasting in Early Medieval 
Monasteries pp. 25-37
1. Feasting and the Power of Hospitality 2. The Claustration of Nuns in 
Sixth-Century Gaul 3. Caesarius' Rule for Nuns and the Prohibition of 
Convivia 4. Radegund of Poitiers' Relationship to Food and Drink 5. 
Conclusion

IV.  Food as a Source of Healing and Power pp. 55-67
1. Healing Alternatives in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages 2. 
Christian Cures: Blessed Oil and Holy Relics 3. Anthimus' Guide to a 
Proper Diet for a Merovingian King 4. Conclusion

V.  Funerary Feasting in Merovingian Gaul pp 69-91
1. Ancient Sources and Early Medieval Practices 2. Christian Attitudes 
to Funerary Meals in Early Medieval Gaul 3. Interpreting Early Medieval 
Archaeological Evidence for Feasting 4. Future Directions for Research

Epilogue pp93-95
Footnotes--pp 97-143
Bibliography 145-167

Library of Congress subject headings for the book include--:
Merovingians Food Social aspects, 
Fasts and feasts France History,
Dinners and dining France History,
Civilization, Medieval,
France Social life and customs.

Those are slightly misleading as it's the only book under the first two 
headings.
There are no other books at LC with those headings. It's the only book out
there on this subject which does make it rather unique.

It's not a disjointed series of papers as was suggested but a whole work 
that examines
various and related aspects of the role of Christianity and food in the 
Merovingian communities.
 This work  is extraordinarily academic and if you hate footnotes
just forget it. There's nearly 50 pages of footnotes to wade through.
The author writes about the Merovingians exclusively. One of her other 
titles is:
Merovingian Mortuary Archaeology and the Making of the Early Middle Ages.
For most people it's not a practical book, but if you are into 
Merovingian history (or doing
a very special early French or Merovingian event) or want
to collect comprehensively on France, then you may want to interlibrary 
loan it and read it.
A knowledge of Latin
and French is also helpful as well as a background in early French history.
(Once upon a time I did a graduate level course on Charlemagne, and I 
have both
Latin and French, so I can get things out of it. I am glad that I bought 
it. And I did not
pay this price, but got it at a conference special.)
I can't recommend it at $50 for most culinary scholars. If  the price 
drops to $15 in paperback,
then it might find a wider audience. It's very very specialist.

What it reminds me
of are those works that examine religious women and the role of food in 
their lives, such as
Holy Anorexia and Holy Feast and Holy Fast, although they are much 
longer and oriented towards
women in history. They are also more accessible to a general audience.

Hope this helps.

Johnnae llyn Lewis

Stefan li Rous wrote:

> Johnna answered me with:
>
>> I own it. Bought it at the Medieval Conference in May.
>> What do you want to know?
>
> Well, the info I gave below is *all* the info I have on this book. 
> That is all the description that Amazon.com had. So, is the book worth 
> $50? There aren't going to be recipes but are there interpretations 
> given? If so, do they appear to be reasonable or contain modern foods 
> or food items not known about then? What is *your* opinion of this 
> book? Does it give any details on how a Merovingian feast might have 
> been held? Or how food might have differed depending upon class?
> Stefan