The legacy of Leonardo da Vinci, born in the Renaissance, is still very present, with paintings as famous as La Gioconda, or inventions that have served as precursors of modern engineering. But one of the facets that many do not know about him is that of a gourmet.
The exhibition ‘Da Vinci, the artist, the engineer, the gourmet’, inaugurated on February 24 in the city of Liege, Belgium, once again highlights this myth and discovers this artist’s concern for cooking.
One of the aspects that is discovered is the revolutionary, almost vegetarian diet that Da Vinci followed at that time. Speaking to EFE, Jean-Christophe Hubert, the curator of the exhibition, as well as an art historian and master chocolatier, says that the painter and sculptor “recommended eating mostly fruit and vegetables, but little meat.”
The exhibition also shows parts of the inventor’s original notebooks from Tuscany, where “food recipes” and “his shopping lists” appear, explains Hubert. Some of the creations attributed to Da Vinci are red prawns with burrata, apricots with mint, pigeon breast with blackberries or ‘acquarosa’, a drink considered an aphrodisiac, with rose water, sugar, lemon and alcohol.
The exhibition coordinator also highlights the more wine-producing side of Da Vinci, who many consider to be one of the first wine experts in history.
In the fragments of Da Vinci’s codices there are also sketches of cooking machinery drawn and reveal his interest in the architecture of houses and the layout of areas dedicated to food. According to the Belgian historian, who was also an urban planner, “he made many architectural plans for castles and mansions, and in these residences he imagined that, for an ideal layout, the kitchen and the grill should be separated from the dining room.”
The exhibition also includes a 3D banquet table, showing the favorite dishes of this genius who also established a manual of good manners that should be followed at Renaissance meals. Some like “don’t put your feet on the table”, but also “don’t put your head on the plate” or “don’t let your birds fly freely across the table”.
