Raphael at the table

During the High Renaissance, the grand meal in Italian city-states was arranged in two main services: the *servizio di credenza* (cold dishes arranged on the sideboard — salted meats, pies, candied fruits, sweets) and the *servizio di cucina* (hot dishes from the kitchen — soups, roasts, blancmanges). The meal began and ended with sweet, perfumed items to 'seal the stomach'. In between, spiced wines, aromatic wines, and preserves were served. The daily fare of a wealthy man like Raphael was a sober version: a herb pie, white bread, and a little watered wine.

The refined cuisine of Raphael's Italy played with sweet-and-sour and married savory with sugar. Saffron gilded pasta and blancmanges, cinnamon and rose water perfumed both savory and sweet. This was the grammar of Maestro Martino and Platina's cookbooks, read in every court from Urbino to Rome.