culina vetus (Volker Bach)

@culinavetus

Food history enthusiast and translator of old recipes My stuff is on culina-vetus.de and in a number of books Old school leftist - I like food so much I think everyone should have it.

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culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· 10d

Life continues to keep me busy. Just a brief sixteenth-century kitchen hint for making saffron pfeffer sauce today. www.culina-vetus.de/2026/08/02/y... #culinaryhistory #foodhistory #earlymodern

The first page of Solothurn S 392: A column of text in a Gothic hand with a colourful initial and floral decoration in the margins. The bottom right corner of the paper is damaged.

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· 13d

How dinner clubs took over government and why that turned out to be a good idea. Also, fifteenth century baked apples. www.culina-vetus.de/2026/07/30/r... #culinaryhistory #foodhistory #cologne #medievalsky #eattherich

A fifteenth-century woodcut depicting the defeat of the weavers' guild by the Cologne patrician forces in 1371. On the right, a group of armed men on foot are retreating into a narrow space between two buildings. A force of mounted armoured fighters is advancing on them from the left. The banners flying over the horsemen show the arms of Cologne patrician families. Corpses and body parts are lying on the ground and to the right, two men are retreating from the fight.

A two-pronged carving fork against a white background. The fork is made of iron, with gold decoration, elegantly shaped. It dates to around 1450 and was made in Italy.

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· 15d

Finally another post: The battle of Hambacher Forst, and the inclusive, economical food culture of the left activist scene in Germany. www.culina-vetus.de/2026/07/28/t... #culinaryhistory #foodhistory #eattherich #vegetarian #vegan

Progress in action: A photo of open-cast lignite mining near Hambach. The picture shows a deep pit with stepped sides along which large mining equipment moves stripping away layers of lignite. The edge of the forest is visible in the foreground while the mining pit stretches for kilometres, all the way to the horizon.

Latter-day Ewoks. A photo of improvised treehouses taken from below. A number of tall deciduous trees, currently bare of leaves, with small, compact treehouses built into their crowns.

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· 23d

A bit about pre-war and wartime pickled herring, and why it's important to not have maggots in navy rations if you want to keep your emperor. www.culina-vetus.de/2026/07/20/h... #culinaryhistory #foodhistory #eattherich #WorldWarOne

A 1918 revolutionary postcard showing a sailor in navy uniform holding a rifle and a red flag. Behind him, the sun of liberty is rising over Kiel. The card is captioned "The world belongs to the brave!"

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· 24d

Not bad for a first try: gooseberry pate de fruits. It is made with Dr Oetker Gelfix. Still, it worked. I will try blackberry and elderberry next.

Three pieces of moulded fruit jelly on a dark green porcelain plate covered in sugar. The piece in front is shaped like a butterfly, the back ones like identical fish. One is already coated in sugar, the other two still smokth and translucent.

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· 25d

Being sick sucks, but having time for things is a comfort. The #fourteenth-century Rossauer Tischzucht explains how to eat soft-boiled eggs. www.culina-vetus.de/2026/07/19/a... #culinaryhistory #foodhistory #medievalsky #socialhistory

A fourteenth-century miniature from the Luttrell Psalter showing a dining scene. Seven men and women are seated behind a long table set with serving bowls, knives, drinking vessels, and bread loaves. Two servants are bringing food, one, having served the host, is shown kneeling, the other entering the room bearing two small bowls.

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· 25d

A piece of left-wing history: Hafenstraße. And Vietnamese cuisine in German communes around 1980, because when you said Vietnam then, people didn't think of Pho. www.culina-vetus.de/2026/07/18/h... #culinaryhistory #foodhistory #eattherich #gentrification

The Hafenstraße buildings seen from the Elbe river: A row of waterfront houses painted in bright colours, with trees in the foreground. A blue banner on the central facade reads "Halts Maul, Deutschland!" (Germany, shut up!).

Demonstration in support of the Hafenstraße commune in December 1986. The photograph shows an inner city street with a road sign indicating various destination around Hamburg. A large crowd is marching along the street, facing the photographer. They are carrying banners supporting the squatters in the current standoff. 1986 was the height of violent confrontation.

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· Jul 14

Framing ist alles im Mediengeschäft Morgen: "Sicher, Sauber, Billig - Atomkraft liegt hier nicht vorne"

Vorderseite des heutigen Hamburger Abendblatt (konservative Regionalzeitung) mit der Schlagzeile: "Gewalt, Raub, Diebstahl - Zahl der Straftaten in Hamburg sinkt weiter"

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· Jul 13

Starting in the late 1920s, German registry offices gave out free, ad-funded cookbooks to educate brides in their role as Hausfrau. This was as cringeworthy as it sounds. www.culina-vetus.de/2026/07/13/a... #foodhistory #culinaryhistory #socialhistory #ads

Three books from my collection side by side photographed against a red background. From left to right: Hausbuch für die Deutsche Familie (1936 edition, Kiel ads), the same (1950 edition, Kiel ads), and Goldenes Kochbuch (2013 edition, Hamburg ads)

Front pages of the 1936 edition advertising fine tableware, rental cars, and a driving school. These were the aspirations of the time (unless you were Jewish, or Socialist, or otherwise suspect)

Front page of the 1950 edition advertising new furniture, ironmongery, kitchen appliances, and drinking milk. These were the aspirations of a country whose cities had been flattened. Things could only get better, one hoped.

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· Jul 11

In 1084, the bishop of Speyer made rules about Jewish butchers selling treyf meat to Christians. It reflects his broader view on convivencia. www.culina-vetus.de/2026/07/11/b... #culinaryhistory #foodhistory #Jewishhistory #medievalsky

The wall of the old synagogue in Speyer. Photograph of a dressed stone wall on which the outline of an older building with twin windows and apse are visible. This part of the old synagogue survives because it was integrated into houses later.

View of the old mikveh of Speyer. The photo was taken through the door leading from the stairwell to the water. It is lit through a shaft from above. This mikveh was built in the eleventh century by stonemasons who also worked on the cathedral.

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· Jul 7

Pork roast recipes from 1598, especially the onion sauce is very good indeed. www.culina-vetus.de/2026/07/07/p... #culinaryhistory #foodhistory #earlymodern #roasting

Late fifteenth century illumination from the Hausbuch der Mendelschen Zwölfbrüderstiftung of Nuremberg showing a butcher. The image shows an older, balding man dressed in a brown tunic and black hood detaching the hind leg of a pig laid out on a board in front of him. The forelegs are already laid out on a workbench in the foreground where the tools of his trade - knife and axe - are also prominently displayed. Sausages are suspended from a frame in the background.

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· Jul 6

Just a few recipes today. I found beef roasting instructions from 1598, and they sound pretty tasty. www.culina-vetus.de/2026/07/06/s... #culinryhistory #foodhistory #roasting #earlymodern

An ox is about to become roast beef. A woodcut from c. 1560 showing a butcher at work. The master butcher, dressed in fashionable puffed and slashed clothing, is shown standing on the left. He is raising an axe over his head, blunt end forward. The knives for the coming job are dangling from his belt in a sheath. To the right, an ox is shown standing. An assistant is holding the animal's head by the horns, keeping it steady for the butcher to strike. He is dressed in shirtsleeves and an apron, his trousers much shorter and less elaborate. This manner of slaughtering cattle is shown in illustrations very frequently and despite being very unsafe may actually have been common.

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· Jul 5

When a struggling Empire's oligarch-in-chief lost a labour dispute with his army. Plus, vaguely related garlic cheese. www.culina-vetus.de/2026/07/05/e... #culinaryhistory #foodhistory #Romanempire #eattherich

Gravestone of Marcus Caelius, killed in action with about 15,000 others in the middle of Augustus' peace. The photo shows a bas-relief gravestone depicting of a man in armour, wearing a set of military decorations and holding a rod. He is flanked by portrait busts of two others. The Latin inscription below identifies him as Centurion Marcus Caelius of XVIII Legion, KIA in the Varian defeat (aka Teutoberg forest)

A sesterce coin showing the Temple of Janus. It depicts a tall building with solid masonry walls and a front gate flanked by columns. The gate is closed, with a garland hung across it. Closing the Gates of Janus signified peace, opening them indicated the state was at war. This ancient ceremony may in fact have been invented by Augustus.

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· Jun 30

As a food historian, I try to tell people most historical recipes are pretty normal. This one starts by roasting a whole ox, and then it gets weird. www.culina-vetus.de/2026/06/30/r... #culinaryhistory #foodhistory #earlymodern #foodfight

A 1562 woodscut showing the oxen roasted for the coronation of Maximilian II in Frankfurt. The image shows an ox on a thick wooden spit being rotated over a large fire. Men standing at either end operate wheels to turn the spit. In the background, armed guards are keeping watch. The ox itself is covered with smaller animals' heads and legs emerging through its skin, which is meant to represent the 'larding' with other animals described in the recipe. This seems to have been a common way of marking festivities.

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· Jun 28

In 1500, the Danish king went on a three-day special military operation against the peasant republic of Dithmarschen. It ended as you'd expect. Also, sixteenth-century fruit soup recipes. www.culina-vetus.de/2026/06/28/w... #foodhistory #medievalsky #eattherich

A nineteenth-century Danish engraving showing the battle at Hemmingstedt on 17 February 1500. Armoured horsemen in the centre are crowded into a small space by attacking footsoldiers. The figure in the middle is flying a Danish banner from his lance, perhaps meant to represent the legendary Dannebrog that was lost in the battle. In the foreground, armoured men are seen sinking into the flooded field to the side of the road.

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· Jun 25

Just a quick recipe for green ravioli because oh, it is HOT out there... www.culina-vetus.de/2026/06/25/g... #culinaryhistory #foodhistory #medievalsky #pasta

Beta (chard), from a manuscript of the Tacuinum Sanitatis. The picture shows an illumination of a woman kneeling in a herb garden harvesting leafy greens. A basket to the left is already filled with leaves picked from the plants that cover the ground all around. Two stylised saplings frame the scene.

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· Jun 23

About East German cuisine (which is better than its reputation), foods that make identity, and what happens if you piss off the people for long enough. It's Solyanka, but different. www.culina-vetus.de/2026/06/23/f... #culinaryhistory #foodhistory #eattherich

A demonstration in Leipzig, October 1989. Black-and-white photo showing a large group of people walking along a wide modern road. Some are bearing placards. The scene is lit by large street lights and the illuminated windows of a building in the background.

Menu from the Interhotel (a hotel catering to foreign visitors) at Gera in East Germany, August 1979. The list of available dishes includes "Ukrainian Soljanka with lemon, cream, and a breadroll" as item six, affordably priced at 1.85 M.

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· Jun 20

At long last, another recipe post. It's about #gingerbread, corruption, and why if your diplomatic shtick is winning wars, losing one is dangerous. Any resemblance to curent events is all in your head. www.culina-vetus.de/2026/06/20/g... #foodhistory #earlymodern #eattherich

A sixteenth-century illustration from the Hausbuch der Landauerschen Zwölfbrüderstiftung, Nuremberg. THe image shgows a gingerbread baker standing in front of an oven. He is dressed in a white tunic and dark hood, with bare legs and arms, wearing a coif. His hat is hanging on the oven. He is holding a large, decorated piece of gingerbread in his hands. More are laid out on a table to the left.

This drawing c. 1550 shows a male figure in bisected clothing. ON the left, he is dressed ion a richly slashed and puffed set of fashionable clothing in white and blue, armed with a sword and wearing a beret topped with ostrich feathers. The right is dressed in rags, leg and arm bare, holding a torn breadbag and staff, the proverbial Bettelstab. The picture symbolises the allure of mercenary service to Swiss men at the time, but also its all too likely outcome.

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· Jun 11

Hard-boiled eggs in aspic. Because if you live in the 1500s, everything is better in aspic. www.culina-vetus.de/2026/06/11/e... #culinaryhistory #foodhistory #medievalsky

A painting by Beuckelaer. The painting shows a girl dressed in red with an elaborate lace ruff seated at a table on the left. Standing in front of her is a large basket heaped high with white eggs. The arrangement is clearly impractical - if you lifted this, the eggy would tumble and break. A chicken and one broken egg is seen on the right.

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· Jun 9

Who brings a Spaetzle pot to a demonstration? Swabians do, when they protest a colossal waste of their money on pointless vanity projects. www.culina-vetus.de/2026/06/09/s... #culinaryhistory #foodhistory #eattherich

Photo of the Schlossgarten after the preparatory clear-cutting. The image shows a landscaped area in the middle of a city bare of trees and already scarred with evidence of digging. Think of your favourite park as a child. Then imagine it looking like this.

An antique metal Spaetzlehobel resting on a wooden work surface. The Hobel is laid across a boiling pot, then the hopper is filled with batter and moved back and forth until all its contents have dropped into the boiling water below.

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· Jun 6

You know how local authorities can sometimes overreact to trivial issues? They've been at it for a long time. Also, eighteenth-century Bavarian barley soup. www.culina-vetus.de/2026/06/06/a... #culinaryhistory #foodhistory #eattherich #soup

An early eighteenth century engraving showing Markt Schwaben from a distance. It shows the roofs and church towers of a walled town surrounded by a hilly landscape. The large building to the right is the Rathaus where the play was eventually performed.

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· Jun 6

This machine ended up in storage with the paddle attached and not cleaned for reasons. The paddle had fused to the axle as a result. Making it work again involved a saw, a pipe wrench, WD 40, wire brushes, a file, and a lot of hope. It does now. I love machines that are just mechanical.

A still sonewhat dirty, white Kitchen Aid mixer standing in fromt of a window.

The axle of a Kitchen Aid mixer. This is where the paddle had fused to the attachment point, which was what necessitated the brutality. And that cut in the axle, that shouldn't be there. That was me bisecting the damn thing to get it off.

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· Jun 5

How do you keep cherries fresh? In a well, actually... www.culina-vetus.de/2026/06/05/k... #culinaryhistory #foodhistory #earlymodern #preservation

Still life by Osias Beert. The painting shows a slightly dented pewter bowl heaped with fresh cherries.

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· May 31

I found an amazing pot at the flea market and tried out a 19th-century meatball recipe, so there is no proper article today. Sorry. www.culina-vetus.de/2026/05/31/e... #culinaryhistory #foodhistory #kitchenalia

A three-legged bronze cooking pot with an iron handle standing on a rock. The shape is almost exactly identical to originals from the 14th and 15th centuries.

A photo of three meatballs on an earthenware plate. The front one has been prised apart with the oldfashioned fork visible in the top right of the image.

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· May 27

Millet porridge, horse oracles, and over a century of defiant paganism in the face of the Empire. Meet the Liutici. www.culina-vetus.de/2026/05/27/p... #culinaryhistory #foodhistory #eattherich #pagan

Reconstructed Wendish feasting hall at Oldenburg/Starigrad museum, Schleswig-Holstein. Photo of the interior of a large wooden house. On the right, a long table covered in linen tablecloths is set with wooden cups and pottery bowls and pitchers. On the left, a raised central hearth supports several cauldrons. The walls are hung with painted round shields.

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· May 24

The Professor is everywhere.

Close-up photo of a pump that controls pneumatic air flow in the drivetrain of a steam locomotive. The pump casing is painted red and labelled "Two-stage air pump, Tolkien design" in German.

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· May 20

Today, Rumford's Soup, a hunger riot, a naive king, and why you should always serve #soup with bread, even if the recipe says not to. www.culina-vetus.de/2026/05/20/t... #culinaryhistory #foodhistory #19thcentury #eattherich

Bread riots in Ulm on 1 May 1847. The drawing shows a row of three-story town houses along a riverbank with a bridge crossing in the foreground. The house on the left is being looted by a group of people throwing furniture out of the windows. Others are carrying away bread. A bakery sign is hanging askew from the facade. At the far end of the bridge, a unit of soldiers is seen approaching.

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· May 15

When you need to be fashionably dressed, but you are also going to fight hevy cavalry today... Musée de l'Armée, Paris. #earlymodern #hats #fashionhistory

A sheet steel hat displayed on a mannequin. The hat has a fashionable hatband and a socket to hold a feather. The mannequin also wears a gorget and buff coat.

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· May 8

In 1830, the people of Braunschweig went from humble petitions to setting fire to the duke's ballroom in seven days. And it worked. Also, really bad soup. www.culina-vetus.de/2026/05/08/c... #culinaryhistory #foodhistory #eattherich #revolution

Painting of the scene on 7 September 1830 after the flight of Duke Karl II. A large palace is shown burning, with a crowd of onlookers assembled in the square in front of it. In the background, the moon illuminates the scene through scattered clouds. Sometimes, it's better to light a palace than to curse the darkness.

culina vetus (Volker Bach)@culinavetus· May 6

Table setting of the meal at Emmaus