The Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies would like to invite you to our annual public lecture on Friday, April 4th at 7:30 pm, in Hagerty 180. A desert reception will immediately follow the lecture. 

"Flaumpens, Chewitts and Bakemetes:  Pastry as a Sculptural Medium in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe"

Ivan Day, Food Historian, Museums and Country House Consultant

Flaumpens, Chewitts and Bakemetes - pastry and sugar as sculptural media in late medieval and early modern Europe.  In 1429 the eight year old Henry VI was presented at his coronation feast with a custard pie garnished with an English lion grasping a French fleur de lys in its claws. This edible emblem of territorial ambition and legitimacy to rule over the conquered is not an isolated example of  a food item purposefully loaded with meaning. From a pasty in the form of a bird served to the Worshipful Company of Salters at their Christmas Feast in 1394, to the funeral bake metes of Hamlet's murdered father, emblematic pastry and sugar sculpture were significant elements of renaissance dining culture. In this illustrated lecture, British food historian Ivan Day will discuss the role of food as an artistic medium and an occasional player in power politics and dynastic ambition.