Latest news with #AlexBamji
Miami Herald
30-04-2025
- Health
- Miami Herald
Unusual 1580s manuscript on cheese surfaced at an auction. It's been transcribed
In 2023, an unusual, unpublished book dating back to the 1580s surfaced at an auction. The 112-page manuscript bound in animal skin is believed to be the oldest known English book on cheese. For the first time, a transcription of 'A pamflyt compiled of Cheese, contayninge the differences, nature, qualities, and goodnes, of the same' is available to the public, according to an April 24 news release from the University of Leeds, which acquired the work in 2023. 'It's probably the first comprehensive academic study of a single foodstuff to be written in the English language,' food historian Peter Brears said in the news release. 'It's a substantial piece of work: 'Treatise' might be a better word to describe it,' Alex Bamji, associate professor of early modern history at the University of Leeds, said in the release. The pages discuss the best time to eat cheese and recommend enjoying it at the end of a meal because 'cheese doth presse downe the meate to the botome of the stomake,' the release said. The author also alludes to the concept of lactose intolerance, providing guidance for people who must 'judge whether cheese be a convenyent foode for him,' according to the release. The book warns that cheese made from dog milk would cause a woman to deliver her baby prematurely and also notes that in some places, cheese was made from the milk of camels, mares and donkeys. One passage likely added for its 'comic and repulsive oddity,' according to Bamji, describes an ancient Greek physician smearing rancid cheese and fat on the joints of a man with gout until his skin broke open, allowing the cause of the gout to 'runne owt,'' per the release. 'There's so much more to be learnt from this manuscript,' experts said. The book was transcribed by Ruth Bramley, a Tudor reenactor at Kentwell Hall, a 16th-century manor that hosts 'immersive historical events,' according to the release.
Telegraph
18-04-2025
- General
- Telegraph
Historians reveal surprising Tudor mealtime tradition
Cheeseboards have been served after meals since the Tudor period, historians have discovered. A transcription of the oldest English book on cheese revealed that people were enjoying the post-meal staple more than 400 years ago. The 16th century document, titled A Pamflyt Compiled of Cheese, Contayninge the Differences, Nature, Qualities, and Goodness, of the Same, was bought at auction in 2023. Dr Alex Bamji, a professor of early modern studies at the University of Leeds, where the text is held, told BBC Radio 4: 'People were really interested at this time about when you should eat cheese. 'Generally the view was that it was best to eat cheese at the end of the meal. 'That's quite interesting because in some cultures in Europe you eat cheese at the end of the meal and that's persisted through time. 'It is the origins of the cheeseboard. They would have a selection of cheese at the end of the meal, much as we do today.' The worst kind of cheese Work to transcribe the 112-page manuscript, which dates back to the 1580s, was carried out by Tudor re-enactors at Kentwell Hall in Suffolk. The transcription was made by Ruth Bramley, a re-enactment expert in textiles with experience transcribing early modern handwriting, who used a digitised version on the university's website. While the author of the book is unknown, their opinion on Suffolk cheeses was 'scathing', according to Tamsin Bacchus, who works in the Tudor dairy at Kentwell. She said: 'It's reassuring to find written down what we know from our actual practice in the Kentwell Dairy: that to make a really hard cheese to keep indefinitely ('Suffolk Thump') you skim off all the cream. 'He's a bit scathing about it, though, calling it 'the worste kind of cheese, accordinge to our Englishe proverbe, hit is badde cheese when the butter is gone to the market'.' The book was circulated around a family of Tudor courtiers called the Dudleys, three of whom wrote their name on the manuscript. While the name of Walter Bayley, Elizabeth I's physician, appears at the end of the text. Peter Brears, a food historian, said: 'It was absolutely astonishing, because it's not the sort of housewifely farm economy volume, it's an incredible work of scholarship in its own right. 'This shows us that we have a cheese heritage and even by the Elizabethan period cheese of different kinds are being considered and here we have a study of the importance of cheese from a dietary point of view.'
The Guardian
18-04-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Take it cheesy: the fascinating, disgusting world of dairy curd in the Tudor era
They are 450-year-old words of wisdom but they will ring true with anyone rooting around the fridge for late night comfort: 'A surfyte of cheese doth bringe payne.' The warning for people to curd their enthusiasm is contained in the earliest-known book on cheese in English, a publication that academics say is both fascinating and nauseating. The University of Leeds acquired it at auction in 2023 and it has now been transcribed and made available for everyone to read on its website. It includes a recommendation to use rancid cheese and bacon fat as a cure for gout: 'Havinge his joynts full of knobbes or knottes, hit came in my minde to macerate that olde cheese with the decoction of fatte bacon, and to beate the same well in a mortar, and so to laye hit to his knotted joyntes, which done that man was greatly eased of the gowte.' No one at Leeds is urging people today to attempt rubbing such a foul mixture into their own knobbed and knotted joints. But Alex Bamji, associate professor of early modern history at the university, said she was struck by the book's contemporary resonance. She pointed to the passage: 'He that will judge whether cheese be a convenyent foode for him, must consider the nature of the body, and the disposicion and temperamente of the cheese and both considered he shalbe hable to judge whether he is like to take harme be cheese or not.' Bamji said: 'The term 'dairy intolerant' might not have been used then, but there's certainly an understanding here that cheese works better in some people's bodies than others – although the author explains this through the system of the 'humors', and the idea that your body will be either hotter or colder and dryer or more moist.' The book, titled 'A pamflyt compiled of Cheese, contayninge the differences, nature, qualities, and goodness, of the same' probably dates back to the 1580s and was unpublished and unknown until it surfaced at auction. It is 112 pages and bound in vellum. Its writer is unknown. Bamji said it could be best described as a treatise. 'It's a substantial piece of work,' she said. 'As with other treatises from this period, the writer has woven together ancient knowledge with their own learning and experience. 'It's such a great fit with what we know about how people understood the role of diet in health in the period. 'Food was useful both to prevent and to respond to illness, and ordinary people had quite a complex understanding of that.' Food historian Peter Brears said he thought the book was remarkable. 'I've never seen anything like it,' he said. 'It's probably the first comprehensive academic study of a single foodstuff to be written in the English language.' Other passages in the book include affirming what most people think today – that the end of a meal is the best time to eat cheese. 'Cheese doth presse downe the meate to the botome of the stomake,' it reads. A less useful tip is that dog's milk 'doth cause a woman to be delivered of her childe before tyme'. The transcription was made by Ruth Bramley, part of a team of re-enactors at Kentwell Hall in Suffolk. Readings from the book can be heard on a special edition of Radio 4's The Food Programme which includes an attempt to replicate one of the Tudor recipes.
BBC News
18-04-2025
- General
- BBC News
Cheeseboard origins uncovered in Leeds University manuscript
The tradition of having a cheeseboard at the end of a meal dates back at least 400 years to Tudor times, according to historians studying the the oldest English book on origins of the post-meal staple were uncovered in the Elizabethan manuscript during work to transcribe the original handwritten text, held at the University of Leeds, by Tudor re-enactors at Kentwell Hall in 16th Century document - titled A pamflyt compiled of Cheese, contayninge the differences, nature, qualities, and goodnes, of the same - had been unknown until it was bought at auction in to Radio 4, Dr Alex Bamji, professor of early modern studies in Leeds, said the text showed some Tudor people had a cheeseboard at the end of a meal, like we do today. "People were really interested at this time about when you should eat cheese," Dr Bamji said."Generally the view was that it was best to eat cheese at the end of the meal."That's quite interesting because in some cultures in Europe you eat cheese at the end of the meal, and that's persisted through time."It is the origins of the cheeseboard. They would have a selection of cheese at the end of the meal, much as we do today." The transcription was made by Ruth Bramley, who used the digitised version of the 112-page manuscript, which dates back to the 1580s, on the university's Bramley is a re-enactment expert in textiles, but also has experience transcribing early modern handwriting, she colleague Tamsin Bacchus, who works in the Tudor dairy at Kentwell, said the author's comments on Suffolk cheeses were "scathing"."It's reassuring to find written down what we know from our actual practice in the Kentwell Dairy: that to make a really hard cheese to keep indefinitely ('Suffolk Thump') you skim off all the cream."He's a bit scathing about it, though, calling it 'the worste kind of cheese, accordinge to our Englishe proverbe, hit is badde cheese when the butter is gone to the market'." The identity of the book's author is unclear, but three owners' names show it circulated around a family of Tudor courtiers called the Bayley, whose name appears at the end of the text, was physician to Elizabeth historian Peter Brears said he had "never seen anything like it"."It was absolutely astonishing, because it's not the sort of housewifely farm economy volume, it's an incredible work of scholarship in its own right."This shows us that we have a cheese heritage and even by the Elizabethan period cheese of different kinds are being considered and here we have a study of the importance of cheese from a dietary point of view." Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
