Between Pleasure and Health: Food and distinction in the culinary recipes of the Kitab al ṭabīẖ

Abstract

This article will focus on the place occupied by dietetic in the first known cookbook of the Iberian Peninsula: the Kitāb al-ṭabīẖ [The cookbook]. Was pleasure eating different from healthy eating? Was there at least a will or a need to differentiate them? Disseminated clues point us in the right direction: its anonymous author – who also quoted Galen and Hippocrates – therefore inscribes the Kitāb al-ṭabīẖ in the influence of the Greek dietetic tradition. Could the cost or the scarcity of certain foods allow a social distinction? Does the modus operandi of the preparations reflect a predilection of recipes for a healthy diet over a pleasure diet? These various questions reflect the complexity of establishing a clear social, dietary and economic distinction in the Kitāb al-ṭabīẖ. What seems clear, however, is that the author's knowledge of medicine, diet, and cooking is undeniable.