The City of Brussels, the Historical Gastronomy Centre and the Bibliothèque des Riches Claires organised this symposium with the Université libre de Bruxelles, marking ten years since the death of historian Jean-Louis Flandrin.
From Antiquity to the flavours of Paris
At the Bibliothèque des Riches Claires, researchers and historians explored Roman, medieval and modern cuisines: patina and caviar in Antiquity, Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, dining at the caliphs’ court, the gastronomy of wine, Lancelot de Casteau, eighteenth-century taste and historic Parisian flavours.
Speakers included Nicole Blanc, Anne Nercessian, Alban Gautier, Véronique Pitchon, Yann Grappe, Pierre Leclercq, Viktoria von Hoffmann and Patrick Rambourg, with Jean-Pierre Devroey and Peter Scholliers chairing the sessions. Alain Dierkens delivered the conclusions.
A Burgundian feast in the Gothic Hall
That evening, the Gothic Hall of Brussels Town Hall hosted the recreation of a fifteenth-century Franco-Burgundian banquet. Following introductions by Marc Boone and Liliane Plouvier, guests took their places around a table conceived as a living historical tableau.
Master cook: Yves Cousin of Dill d’Ycov, working with Lyon chef Olivier Soudan and the Historical Gastronomy Centre team: Anna Rosa Aresu, Cécile Fossoul, Pierre Leclercq, Agnès Thas and Denys Van Elewijck.
