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Hello, the French philosopher of food Bria Savarin wrote in his physiology of taste,

the pleasures of the table belong to all times and all ages, to every country and to every day.

They go hand in hand with all our other pleasures, outlast them, and remain

to consolus for their loss. The story of food is cultural as well as culinary and what

we eat and how we eat has always been linked to who we are

and whom we might become. From the great humanist thinker Erasmus warning us to always use a fork,

to the materialist philosopher Foyabark telling us baldly, you are what you eat. But what have... is Stomax. We meet to explore the history of food in modern Europe is Rebecca Spang, lecturer in modern history at University College London,

and author of The Invention of the Restaurant. Ivan Day, Food Historian and author of Eat, Drink and Be Merry,

the British at Table from 1600 to 2000. and the historian

author of Eat, Drink and Be Mary, the British at table from 1600 to 2000,

and the historian Felipe Fernandez Amesto,

professor of history and geography at Queen Mary University of London, an author of a new book, Food, a History.

Philip, you write in your new book, The Movement known as the Renaissance

transformed Courtly Cookery as it transformed other arts.

Can you give us some idea what that transformation was?

Yeah, sure, although I'm a bit reluctant to do that because I'd look across the table at, Melvin and I see an intellectual

and so you naturally think the Renaissance is terribly important

and actually 500 years ago,

the most important thing that was going on

in the history of food

...