ABSTRACT
The meals served at the table of the middle Byzantine host were designed to intrigue, astonish and awe guests at their table through the combination of ingredients and their symbolism, the visual presentation of the food and the dramatic way in which it was revealed. Visual and culinary developments in the culture of dining during the eleventh and twelfth centuries reveal a taste for novelty. The period saw the increased popularity of glazed, decorated ceramic tableware that was desired for its visual splendour. Its size, its sheen and its incised, stamped and raised figural imagery reveal a new emphasis on the display of the tableware itself and the food contained in it. The images of animals on the ceramic vessels act as a visual commentary on the food served to and the food desired by diners. They show popular foodstuffs – fish, birds and game – though the desirability of the dishes, indicated by the frequency with which the animals are depicted on tableware, may not have been matched by their actual consumption. Even better than seafood and game were elaborate and composite dishes, as indicated by the representations of creatures such as ostriches and even sirens on plates and bowls. Culinary novelty in medieval Byzantium favoured rarity, luxury and hybridity, with the unusual and unnatural combination of ingredients the peak of novelty in fine dining.
