Historical recipes

Flavour preferences have changed considerably over the centuries. However, that does not mean that flavours from the past are not tasty anymore, on the contrary. Flavour combinations from centuries ago form surprisingly tasty dishes. The cookbooks and recipes that have been handed down to us from history, are merely lists of ingredients or ‘shopping lists’ as I call them, with hardly any indication of how to prepare a dish. But they are so promising for delicious food if I read them! And they offer a lot of inspiration for today’s kitchen.

Tafelschikking en maaltijd tijdens diner te Falmouth, Jan Brandes 1778 Rijksmuseum

SOURCES OF INSPIRATION

I use historical cookbooks and recipes as a source of inspiration. Together with using frescoes, mosaics, paintings and archaeological finds, I recreate dishes from history. On this website I present them in a way so you can cook them easily at home too.

Contemporary historical dishes

Regularly new historical dishes appear on this website. Occasionally you will have to search for a special ingredient, but it is definitely worth it. To help a bit, you can find some forgotten ingredients in our webshop.

You can find many more delicious historical dishes in my historical cookbooks and on my Dutch website.

HISTORICAL COOKING CLASSES

Do you want to know how historical recipes can enrich your cooking skills or do you want to learn more about historical cooking? Then I invite you to come to Tuscany or Provence for the historical cooking weeks that I organize there.

To use my recipes

I publish historical recipes on this website, so that everyone can become acquainted with the delights and deliciousness of our culinary history. I put a lot of research, time and love into the editing of my historical recipes and hope that you will try them at home and will taste what the historical cuisine has to offer.

The recipes on this website and from my cooking classes are intended for private use and to be shared with your friends and family. If you want to use my recipes for other purposes, you can, but let me know first. See also our disclaimer.