Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci

What was Cooking in Leonardo da Vinci's Kitchen?

by Tori Avey on Jul 10, 2013

Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci self portrait, c. 1512. Source: Wikimedia Commons

If you want to be healthy observe this regime. Do not eat when you have no appetite and dine lightly, Chew well, and whatever you take into you should be well-cooked and of simple ingredients. He who takes medicine is ill advised. Beware anger and avoid stuffy air. Stay standing a while when you get up from a meal. Make sure you do not sleep at midday. Let your wine be mixed with water, take little at a time. Not between meals, nor on an empty stomach. Neither delay nor prolong your visit to the toilet. If you take exercise, let it not be too strenuous. Do not lie with your stomach upward and your head Downward. Be well covered at night, And rest your head and keep your mind cheerful. Avoid wantonness and keep to this diet.

— Leonardo da Vinci, 1515 (reprinted from Dave Dewitt's Da Vinci's Kitchen: A Secret History of Italian Cuisine)
Leonardo da Vinci's notebook

Reproduction of page from da Vinci's notebook. Source: Library of Congress

The large room for the retainers should be away from the kitchen, so the master of the house may not hear their clatter. And let the kitchen be convenient for washing the pewter so it may not be seen carried through the house The larder, woodstore, kitchen, chicken-coop, and servants hall should be adjoining, for convenience. And the garden, stable, and manure-heaps should also be adjoining. Food from the kitchen may be served through wide, low windows, or on tables that turn on swivels. The window of the kitchen should be in front of the buttery (pantry) so that firewood can be taken in.

— Leonardo da Vinci, Codex Atlantica
Leonardo da Vinci

Old Man with Water Studies, Leonardo da Vinci c. 1513, possible self-portrait. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Leonardo da Vinci

Platina's On Right Pleasure and Good Health, 1498. Source: L'université de Caen Basse-Normandie Libraries

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