Medieval dietetics

The book explores the connection between cooking and preventive medicine by centering on the food and drink section, cibus et potus , in 23 medieval Latin and German regimina sanitatis . A brief history of the four-humor theory and the six non-naturals is followed by the analysis of each regimen , including information on the text, the role of cibus et potus within the non-naturals, its contents (general guidelines on nutrition, dietetic lists of foodstuffs, and culinary recipes), use of the gradus -system, as well as sources and dependencies with other regimina . In the conclusion the results are arranged in chart-form; an appendix contains the transcription of a 15th-century German translation of Anthimus' «De observatione ciborum.»