Food innovation

from historical European cookery

Food Industry : new products, communication
Our sources : manuscripts and ancient books.

Food Industry

• Creation of new products, drawing our inspiration from the tastes and techniques of European historical cookery : Roman cookery, Arabian Andalusian cookery, Medieval cookery.
• Communication on the local products, from historical research.

• ready cooked dishes with meat or fish
• wine-based or verjuice-based sauces
• peach ketchup
• beverages.

Examples of creation :

Wine and spice based drink, created from European Medieval recipes. Ypocras made in France by Eyguebelle SAS.

Cive de connin, creation of a canned ready-cooked dish, from a European Medieval recipe.

Our sources

1 - Medieval gastronomy is an astounding source of inspiration, with its acidulous, sweet and sour flavours and spicy notes. This is European cooking, at the origin of our French culinary heritage and our local products.

Since 1994, we have been studying the most important cooks of Medieval Europe : 11 cooks have left us their texts, from 1380 to 1604.

We're also studying the main manuscripts and recipe books of Medieval Europe, written or edited between the years 1200 and 1600 : in Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, France, Spain and Italy.

2 - Roman gastronomy is characterized by acidulous, sweet and sour tastes and flavours of aromatic herbs, with the famous garum seasoning. De Re Coquinaria by Apicius is the all-time major cookery book, with recipes that are worthy of the greatest contemporary restaurants : an unforgettable example is the Apicius duck created by Senderens ! This is the cookery at the heart of the mediterranean diet.

3 - Arabian Persian cookery and its offspring in the form of Arabian Andalusian gastronomy are inspired by Roman cookery and they are at the origin of all present day Lebanese and Moroccan gastronomy : aromatic spices and herbs, sweet and sour flavours, almonds and fruits associated with meat and fish. Arabian Andalusian confectionary is at the origin of European confectionary. We're studying the masters of this Eastern gastronomy during the 13th century: Al-Baghdadi's Bagdad Cookery Book, an Anonymous Andalusian, and Fudalat al-Khiwan by Ibn Razin Tujibi.