A manuscript treatise on food and cookery written by Martino is in the Library of Congress. They must have become acquainted at the Vati- can. How did this scholar come to write a cookbook? The clue may be found in the book itself, where he mentions his 'good friend Martino' the chef of one of the Chamberlains to the Pope. His reward was an appointment to the extremely important post of Librarian to the Vatican. The original is still in the Vatican Library. In 1474 he presented the handwritten manuscript of his now famous Lives of the Popes to Pope Sixtus IV. He is recorded first as a soldier and later as a distinguished scholar.

This book is important not only as the first printed cookery text, but also as an excellent source of knowledge of daily life in the mid-fifteenth century, and particularly for insights into dietary customs of the time.

So you can enjoy your three-inch charcoal-broiled steaks and still feel virtuous.

One variant, De obsoniis ac honesta voluptate, can be freely translated as: 'On meat dishes and their virtuous enjoyment.' Platina stresses that his recipes do not lead to the sin of gluttony. DE HONESTA VOLUPATE ET VALETUDINE (OF HONEST VOLUPTUSNESS AND HEALTH) OR VIRTUOUS ENJOYMENT AND GOOD HEALTH) BY BARTHOLOMAEUS DE PLATINA Printed in roman Type in Venice 13 June 1475 THE title of Platinas work, as is true of many books of the period, appears in various forms.

Medieval illuminations gluttony