PRESERVARE seeks to uncover the everyday, practical, unwritten knowledge of food preservation, as developed by artisans and tradespeople (think of brewers and butchers). It aims to show how embodied, unconscious knowledge developed not separately from, but in conjunction with more formal, written knowledge.
By examining these intertwined types of knowledge, the project hopes to enrich our understanding of food preservation and contribute to the research on historical knowledge practices.
Image: Rich kitchen. Print by Pieter van der Heyden, after a design by Pieter Bruegel (I), 1563. Rijkmuseum RP-P-1885-A-9289.
Method
In writing the first history of early modern food conservation, PRESERVARE employs an innovative interdisciplinary methodological approach. Concretely, the researchers will combine:
(1) classical historical source interpretation (otherwise known as close reading)
(2) digital information extraction
(3) analysis of archaeological finds, and
(4) physical reconstructions of historical food conservation practices
Through this unique combination of methods, PRESERVARE will be able to do justice to all the diverse groups of people who played a role in the development of conservation techniques.