A Hermit's Cookbook: Monks, Food and Fasting in the Middle Ages

How did medieval hermits survive on their self-denying diet? What did they eat, and how did unethical monks get around the rules? The Egyptian hermit Onuphrios was said to have lived entirely on dates, and perhaps the most famous of all hermits, John the Baptist, on locusts and wild honey. Was it really possible to sustain life on so little food? The history of monasticism is defined by the fierce and passionate abandonment of the ordinary comforts of life, the most striking being food and drink. A Hermit's Cookbook opens with stories and pen portraits of the Desert Fathers of early Christianity and their followers who were ascetic solitaries, hermits and pillar-dwellers. It proceeds to explore how the ideals of the desert fathers were revived in both the Byzantine and western traditions, looking at the cultivation of food in monasteries, eating and cooking, and why hunting animals was rejected by any self-respecting hermit. Full of rich anecdotes, and including recipes for basic monk's stew and bread soup -- and many others -- this is a fascinating story of hermits, monks, food and fasting in the Middle Ages.

Table of Contents:
Preface 1. Beginnings - Who were the First Monks? 2. Desert fathers, Pillar-saints and Fasting 3. The 'Hermit Craze' of the Middle Ages 4. Herbs and Health 5. From Field to Table - the Medieval Monastic Experience 6. Medieval Diets - the Food Landscape Conclusion Further Reading

About the Author :
Andrew Jotischky is Professor of Medieval History at Lancaster University, UK. He has published widely on aspects of medieval religious history; his principal publications include Crusading and the Crusader States (2004), and The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Bible Lands, with Caroline Hull (2009).

Review :
This is a sparkling book, hugely informative about monasticism in general and hermits in particular with the addition of some surprisingly appetising recipes. Mortification and nettles turn out to be only one part of the story of how hermits battled with the devil; hospitality and humility were equally important as was a good knowledge of bread-making and a sound digestion. Tree bark is probably not to everyone's taste. By supplementing his material from monastic sources with contemporary secular ones, and by discussing the virtues and culinary properties of plants still used today, the author opens up a world of monastic cuisine to explore and enjoy. Extract Featured Extract featured in the Platelicker section Full page extract featured 'What underlies this entertaining, informative account of monastic diet is the unexplored issue of food consumption as a means exercising individual and social control... this is a book that does more than it says on the tin.' Andrew Jotischky's book is a valuable addition to the literature on the monastic life and deserves more than a specialist readership. And it has many appetising monastic recipes. Reviewed in The Church Times