The Influence of Mediterranean Culture on Polish Cuisine in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Era

Janusz Smołucha

doi:10.35765/pk.2020.3003.08

Janusz Smołucha Jesuit University Ignatianum in Krakow https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2633-7093

DOI: https://doi.org/10.35765/pk.2020.3003.08

Keywords: Kingdom of Poland, Italy, medieval cuisine, Mediterranean culture

Abstract

The article explores the Mediterranean influences on Polish cuisine in the centuries that followed the adoption of Christianity at the end of the 10th century. This memorable act brought Poland into the circle of Western culture anchored in the Greco-Roman tradition, which also heavily impacted the everyday life of representatives of all strata of Polish society. The author draws attention to the variety of such contact, which includes the journeys of clergymen, diplomatic missions, and trips of young people to universities. Trade and economic exchange, as well as the activity of Italian merchants and craftsmen on the Vistula, also had a strong bearing on the refashioning of the culinary culture. The breakthrough moment was the arrival in Krakow in 1518 of Bona Sforza—who became the wife of the Polish king Sigismund I—and her many courtiers.

Author Biography

Janusz Smołucha, Jesuit University Ignatianum in Krakow

Dr. hab., a historian and cultural studies expert, is a professor at the Jesuit University Ignatianum in Krakow. He is the author of a number of papers related to the papal diplomacy and Poland’s relations with the Holy See in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period. His research interests focus on the cultural changes in Central European countries and on their joint defense against the threat of Islam.

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