Recipes for Relationships is a recipe book and performance dinner to share ingredients used to enhance or remedy our relationships from the 17th Century to today. From aphrodisiacs, family favourites and food to settle children, to the comfort foods we turn to in distress, the menu takes guests on an early modern life-cycle beginning with courtship and seduction and ending in sleep.
Drawing on the research of medical historian Leah Astbury (University of Cambridge) the recipe book and menu build on Leah’s research into 17th century recipe books combined with contemporary contributions from residents across Cambridgeshire today.
The meal was first performed at New Hall Art Collection, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge, April 2016. Commissioned by Leah Astbury (University of Cambridge) and funded by an AHRC Cultural Engagement Grant.