court banquets, the aim was to impress with the sheer di-
versity of dishes and with an elegant and fanciful presen-
tation; castles would be built from fruit, swans fashioned
from sugar, or statues sculpted from marzipan.
As the new tastes spread, the 15th and 16th centuries
saw an outpouring of books on healthy, nutritious, and as-
pirational eating comparable to that of our own day. The
first and most important of these was Il PLATINA’s De hon-
esta voluptate et valetudine (c. 1474; Of true pleasures and
health), a humanistic work that has been called the first
great classic of gastronomy. Platina extols the art of cook-
ing by comparing it to that of medicine—both are con-
cerned with the health of the body, both use spices, and so
on. Other books of dietary advice shed a fascinating light
on the fads, taboos, and prejudices of the day. Melons, cu-
cumbers, and other watery fruits were disparaged on
health grounds, and broad beans were disliked because
the peeled bean was thought to resemble a human em-
bryo. Other foods, such as brown (rye) bread, were stig-
matized because of their class associations. Indeed,
awareness of food as a social indicator seems to have
sharpened during the Renaissance; several Italian cities
tried to codify the various foods appropriate to the differ-
ent social classes, while English sumptuary laws laid
down the precise number of courses that should be served
to various dignitaries (six for a peer of the realm but nine
for a cardinal). Particular disapproval was reserved for
novelties from the New World; the potato was despised for
its plain appearance and like corn (maize) considered fit
for only the lowest classes of peasant, while the tomato
was inveighed against by moralists, who held that it in-
cited lust (and may even have been the forbidden fruit in
the Garden of Eden). One import to fare better was the
turkey, which quickly found acceptance as an alternative
to goose or peacock.
Another turning point in the history of gastronomy
occurred with the spread of the new Italian tastes to
France during the 16th century. Traditionally, this has
been dated from the marriage (1533) of the future Henry
II to CATHERINE DE’ MEDICI, who is said to have been ac-
companied by a team of the most skilled Florentine cooks.
Although recent food historians tend to downplay Cather-
ine’s role, arguing for a more gradual influence, it is ac-
cepted that the encounter between Italian expertise and
the wealth of raw materials found in France proved semi-
nal. By the end of the 16th century, the distinctive aes-
thetic of French grande cuisine had been established. This
involved the selection of only the finest ingredients, their
combination in ways designed to bring out the subtlest
nuances of flavor, and an emphasis on presentation. The
Italian influence was reinforced by the marriage of MARIE
DE’ MEDICIto Henry IV in 1600. It was probably in Marie’s
kitchen that the great chef François-Pierre de La Varenne
began his career. La Varenne would subsequently publish
Le Cuisinier Françoise, the book usually considered the
founding text of French gastronomy. With its detailed in-
structions for making stocks and sauces and its insistence
on preparing foods in ways that enhance their natural fla-
vors, La Varenne’s work laid the basis for the systematiza-
tion of French grande cuisinethat occurred in the late 17th
century.
Further reading: Ken Albala, Eating Right in the Re-
naissance (Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press,
2002); Stewart Lee Allen, In the Devil’s Garden: A Sinful
History of Forbidden Foods (New York: Ballantine, 2002);
Piero Camporesi, Bread of Dreams: Food and Fantasy in
Early Modern Europe, transl. David Gentilcore (Chicago,
Ill.: University of Chicago Press, repr. 1996); Andrew
Dalby, Dangerous Tastes: The Story of Spices (Berkeley,
Calif.: University of California Press, 2000); Stephen Men-
nell, All Manners of Food: Eating and Taste in England and
France from the Middle Ages to the Present (Champaign, Ill.:
University of Illinois, 2nd ed. 1995); Reay Tannahill, Food
in History (New York: Stein & Day, 1973; rev. ed. Crown
Publishing Group, 1995).Foppa, Vincenzo (c. 1427–1515) Italian painter
Born near Brescia, Foppa probably trained in Padua, pos-
sibly as a pupil of Francesco Squarcione. He subsequently
became the foremost painter in Lombardy and Milan until
the advent of Leonardo da Vinci. His earliest dated work
is a Crucifixion (1456; Bergamo), strongly influenced by
Jacopo BELLINI, from whom Foppa derived his interest in
color and light. Later works also bear the influence of
Provençal and Flemish art, as well as the paintings of BRA-
MANTE, as seen in Foppa’s frescoes in Milan of the life of
St. Peter Martyr (1466–68) and the martyrdom of St. Se-
bastian (1485). Other works include Boy reading Cicero
(Wallace Collection, London) and Epiphany (National
Gallery, London).Forment, Damián (c. 1480–1540) Spanish sculptor
Born in Valencia, Forment was probably trained in Flo-
rence, returning to Valencia in 1500 for nine years before
establishing a studio in Zaragoza, where he remained until
his death. In 1509 he began work on an altar for the ca-
thedral of El Pilar in Zaragoza, in which he combined
Gothic elements with Renaissance figures and demon-
strated his artistic debt to DONATELLO. The author of nu-
merous notable altarpieces in alabaster, Forment executed
further works for Huesca cathedral (1520–24), the
monastery church at Poblet (1527), and San Domingo de
la Calzada (1537–40), the last of which also betrayed the
influence of Alonso BERRUGUETE. During the course of
these works, Forment gradually exchanged features of
Gothic style for those of the Italian Renaissance, and his
later pieces were some of the first mannerist works un-
dertaken in Spain.Formula of Concord See CONCORD, FORMULA OFFFoorrmmuullaa ooff CCoonnccoorrdd 1 18877