The energy and output of the contemporary debate
around food, diet and health might suggest that this was a new area of
interest. In fact, our present concern is just the most recent version of
a long running debate about the relationship between what we eat and our well
being. This international conference provides a forum to discuss how
these ideas have been expressed in the past and how they have changed.
Our views on food and health have been affected by changes in society, economy,
culture, medicine and science. This conference seeks papers that explore
these changes around the central theme of food as medicine. We are
interested in perspectives from the history of medicine and the history of
science, but also from social and cultural history and in papers examining any
period of history. Some potential areas of interest include early modern
regimens, foods for healing, chemical approaches to food, the impact of
medicine on cookery, health and homemaking, the use of medicinal plants, the
role of food in maintaining and restoring health, changing dietary advice, the
role of cooks and cooking books in medicine and the changing perceptions of the
concept of a balanced diet.