CUISINES BY REGION
mace, cumin, and pepper in spice cupboards that were locked. Herbs
grown by housewives in the city and in the country included basil,
sage, savory, marjoram, rosemary, thyme, parsley, fennel, dittany (a
plant of the mint family whose aromatic leaves were used in salads),
hyssop, rue, coriander, mint, mallow, agrimony, nightshade, and bor-
age. Flowers whose petals were used for cooking and as garnish were
lilies, lavender, peonies, marigolds, violets, roses, and primroses. Also
cultivated in French city gardens were currants, raspberries, pears, ap-
ples, medlars, and grapes.
The Menagier de Paris bears witness to the fact that extensive gar-
dening was not just practiced in smaller towns but right in the mid-
dle of Paris. When around 1393 the author and compiler of the
material, an elderly citizen of Paris, married his 15-year-old bride he
was only too aware that one day she would be a widow.62 The book
of moral and domestic instruction he compiled was intended as a
guide for his “dear sister,” as he lovingly calls her, in a second mar-
riage or to teach her daughters, friends, and others. Following a de-
tailed discussion of matters concerning a woman’s religious duties,
her chastity, honor, love, and marriage, the book deals with more
mundane subjects, such as a wife’s care for her husband’s bodily
comforts, shopping, cooking, gardening, and other miscellaneous
household matters. The reader learns, among many other things,
when and what to plant in the kitchen garden. Broad beans and peas
are mentioned, as are sweet marjoram, sage, lavender, costmary (a
fragrant southern European herb, also used in salads), mint, clary
(an aromatic Mediterranean herb of the mint family), sorrel, savory,
parsley, fennel, basil, borage, orach, hyssop, house leeks, spinach,
cabbages, cole (a plant of the same genus as cabbage), lettuce,
gourds (a type of squash), beets, vines, raspberries, gooseberries, vi-
olets, gillyflowers, peonies, dragonwort, lilies, and roses.63 The book
advises to inspect and taste weekly the wines, vinegars, and verjuice
kept in store, as well as the grains, oils, nuts, peas, beans, and other
supplies. Judging from the various tips how to cure “sick” wine,
spoilage must have been a major problem.64 When it comes to the
food of the servants, the elderly Parisian has the following advice for
his bride:
Nevertheless, dear sister, at appropriate times have them seated at table and
have them eat amply of only one kind of meat, not several kinds that are fancy
and dainty. Order them one nourishing beverage that is not intoxicating, either
a wine that is not too strong, or something else. Bid them to eat heartily and
drink well and sufficiently.65
103
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