Food and Religious Identities in Spain, 1400-1600

In the late fourteenth century, the Iberian Peninsula was home to three major religions which co-existed in relative peace. Over the next two centuries, various political and social factors changed the face of Iberia dramatically. This book examines this period of dynamic change in Iberian history through the lens of food and its relationship to religious identity. It also provides a basis for further study of the connection between food and identities of all types. This study explores the role of food as an expression of religious identity made evident in things like fasting, feasting, ingredient choices, preparation methods and commensal relations. It considers the role of food in the formation and redefinition of religious identities throughout this period and its significance in the maintenance of ideological and physical boundaries between faiths. This is an insightful and unique look into interreligious dynamics. It will therefore, be of great interest to scholars of Religious Studies, Early Modern European History and Food Studies.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.