Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
The New Apicius
#1
I got the new critical edition and translation of Apicius by Grainger and Grocock as a belated Christmas present (mother knows best... ) and had the time to start reading today.

Wow.

Seriously, if you are into Roman cookery you want this book. I'll add details as they come up, but I have yet to see a better intrpduction to the topic than the first 100-odd pages have provided.
Der Kessel ist voll Bärks!

Volker Bach
Reply
#2
Great! Let us know what else you think of the book. If it's that good, I'll have to get a copy for myself.
Sara T.
Moderator
RAT Rules for Posting

Courage is found in unlikely places. [size=75:2xx5no0x] ~J.R.R Tolkien[/size]
Reply
#3
This is good, (actually they had 2 different offerings) but not cheap.

Plus the measurements in some of the suggested recipes were not standard. Of course, since we don't have anything better, in many cases, then it becomes a matter of taste, especially for seasonings and substitutions.

Cooking Apicius: Roman Recipes for Today

[url:2mjoqpkv]http://www.amazon.com/Cooking-Apicius-Roman-Recipes-Today/dp/1903018447/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201482064&sr=8-2[/url]

and

Apicius, a Critical Edition With an Introduction And English Translation (Hardcover)

http://www.amazon.com/Apicius-Critical- ... 064&sr=8-1

[url][/url]
Caius Fabius Maior
Charles Foxtrot
moderator, Roman Army Talk
link to the rules for posting
[url:2zv11pbx]http://romanarmy.com/rat/viewtopic.php?t=22853[/url]
Reply
#4
The measurements in the cookbook or the edition? I don't have the recipe book (I implicitly trust Sally Grainger not to produce bad redactions, but I already have the Classical Cookbook, Junkelmann'sa 'Füllhorn', the execrable Peschke/Feldmann and several others, and prefer to do my own).

I got as far as the language chapter last night (the joys of insomnia and facing a class on three hours' worth of sleep at 8 am are overrated). I'm not much of a philologist, but I found it interesting and easy to follow. The analysis of measurements is also interesting - I have to see if it holds up, but since I've never been able to discern any system in the Apician corpus, it sounded convincing at first sight.

What I liked most was the way they looked at the entire surviving culinary literature tradition. It's an excellent book to get into serious study. Plus, I seem to recall this being the first proper bilinguial editiuon in English for a while. Germans have been lucky in that the reasonably good and gloriously affordable bilingual Reclam edition Apicius has been out there for years.

Now, there is one beef I have with the book. I want it in paperback. I hate having cookbooks that are so expensive you don't dare take them into the kitchen. They already did this with the Ni'Matnama Manuscript and Perry's Medieval Arab Cookery, and now Apicius. :?
Der Kessel ist voll Bärks!

Volker Bach
Reply


Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Grainger\'s new Apicius cook book richsc 0 713 10-07-2006, 12:10 PM
Last Post: richsc

Forum Jump: