Thirteenth International Conference on Food Studies

Abstract

In this paper I explore the role of lamprey in late medieval European elite dining. This fish was simultaneously highly prized as a costly delicacy, and highly feared as potentially deadly to consume, not unlike the fugu of today. Despite the many warnings from physicians denouncing the risks of lamprey, and the self-proclaimed obeisance of cooks to these same physicians, lamprey was immensely popular at the elite table. To understand how cooks negotiated the contradictory culinary and dietary aspects of lamprey, I contrast recipes for lamprey from an assortment of English, Italian, Catalan, and French collections with recipes for sturgeon, a fish of comparable status, and eel, a fish with similar health concerns. This study evaluates how the factors of prestige and health actually influenced medieval cuisine, and considers how dishes might also be shaped by that enigmatic third factor, taste. As this study demonstrates, the comparison of recipes for animals with shared and distinct traits can be a useful method by which to identify the underpinning logic and navigate the politics of a particular cuisine.