Eating Right in the Renaissance

Rating:
Summary: Humour theory explained
Review: To date, the best book I have read on humour theory. Not ha-ha, but the historical idea that the body's natural state is a combination of the four cardinal humours, that food is likewise and how one affects the other.

In a somewhat dry but excellent work, Albala documents and contrasts the various humoural theorists' works from the 1470s to 1650. The author's stated goal is to better understand the workings of the Renaissance mind by its ideas on food, and he does an admirably complete job.