Tastes of the Past: Studying food history and heritage of the early modern Low Countries through reconstructions of historical tastes

Just like books, paintings, and music, historical foodways are an important part of our history and heritage. But simply reading recipes won’t do the trick: it is hard to understand how historical ingredients and dishes tasted, and how people in the past experienced and valued such tastes. In this project, funded by an NWO XS grant, we aim to develop a standardized protocol to reconstruct and evaluate historical tastes, and to connect contemporary to historical evaluations of taste. This new method will help us understand our food history and heritage better, and will provide new historical information on shifts in tastes.