On Food and Cooking

vegetables, and handled them with greater
refinement, in part to make the meatless diet
of Lent and other Catholic fasts more
interesting. France’s first great culinary
writer, Pierre François de La Varenne, chef to
Henri IV, included meatless recipes for peas,
turnips, lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, cabbage
(five ways), chicory, celery, carrots, cardoons,
and beets, as well as ordinary dishes of
artichokes, asparagus, mushrooms, and
cauliflower. And the recipes leave a major
role for the vegetables’ own flavors.
Similarly, the Englishman John Evelyn wrote
a book-length disquisition on salads, once
again firmly based on the lettuces, and
emphasized the importance of balance.

Plant   Ingredients in  Rome    and Medieval

Europe

A   Roman   Sauce   for Shellfish

Cumin   Sauce,  for Shellfish:  Pepper, lovage,