Spain’s Oldest Surviving Cookbook Goes on Show
The El Llibre de Sent Soví i la cuina als segles XIV y XV exhibition in Valencia
A new exhibition commemorating the 700th anniversary of the oldest Spanish cookbook has opened at the University of Valencia in Spain.
The 72 recipes in the Book of Sent Soví (Llibre de Sent Soví) written down by an anonymous author in Catalan date back to 1324, although the copy on display is dated from the beginning of the 15th century making it the oldest text of its kind in the Iberian Peninsula.
The exhibition - Gastronomía medieval. El Llibre de Sent Soví i la cuina als segles XIV y XV - runs until May 25 and is divided into three sections focusing on recipe books and ingredients, medieval stoves and the kitchen as a working space, and eating together. In addition to the Sent Soví text, the exhibition features banqueting accounts, cookers, mortars, trivets, gilded ceramic plates, cooking utensils, cutlery, jugs, glasses, and goblets.
The book itself shows how Spanish cuisine has changed over the centuries and features such delights as Salsa Granada (chicken stock, chicken livers, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, eggs and pig fat), and stuffed octopus with garlic, onion, cloves, mint, coriander and raisins.
