Archestratus

Naughty Poet, Good Cook

Abstract

My subject is Europe’s oldest cookery book, The Life of Luxury, by Archestratus of Gela. We know nothing of the author beyond what he says in his poem, other than that he apparently came from the southern Sicilian town of Gela, an important Greek city in the fourth century bc when the poem was composed. I refer to the poem of Archestratus. We will look shortly at why he wrote in verse and why he wrote this recipe book. But first we must explain why Gela? Why Sicily? What has a recipe book to do with the splendid Greek culture of Sicily and southern Italy?