Erasmus at the table

At a learned humanist's table in the Northern Renaissance, the meal proceeds in successive courses inherited from the late Middle Ages: first pottages and white broths (liquid and mild dishes, easy on the stomach), then the *rost* (roasted meats with spiced sauces), and finally the *issue de table* — dry preserves, comfits, and spiced wine — which closes the meal and is thought to aid digestion. White bread, a sign of refinement, accompanies every course. Fish, theoretically required on lean days, is set aside thanks to Erasmus's papal dispensation.

Cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and grains of paradise: these warm spices that Venice — where Erasmus worked at the press of Aldus Manutius — brought into Europe. They were believed both tasty and medicinal, warming and strengthening a delicate stomach like his. Used with measure, they define this entire table: sweet without burning, fragrant without overpowering.