Robin Nadeau

This research project for a “habilitationsschrift” consists of two parts: a short monograph on the so-called “cookbooks” in classical antiquity and further research in prevision of a “habilitationsschrift” on dietetic and food choices in the classical world. The idea behind this project on the narrative of providing guidance on food selection is to reconstruct the norms and how they influenced the people’s diet. Said differently, my goal is to study the transmission of knowledge itself, the aims of the authors/authorities, and the reception and the influence of the information. Most of my time in Budapest will be used for the redaction and the publication of a short monograph on the so-called “cookbooks” in ancient Greece and Rome. This study will show that modern scholars have been misguided by a romantic reading of ancient sources and that there is no such thing as “real” learned chefs writing cookbooks in classical antiquity.