Book Review: Tasting History by Max Miller

We in the HEMA community love swords, weapons, training, and everything. Many of us even wear historical clothing and partake in living history to capture the look of the time period we are interested in. However, have you ever been interested in capturing the tastes of the periods to immerse yourself in your HEMA training fully?
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Today, we will review Max Miller’s Tasting History, a cookbook for historical interest. For many of you, I doubt Max Miller needs an introduction. However, for those unaware, Max Miller runs the YouTube channel “Tasting History with Max Miller” and makes numerous videos covering historical recipes and the history around them. His videos cover all sorts of periods, from the Roman Empire to the Titanic to World War II and so much more. 

Content Review

The book is organized into five sections that group the recipes by region. The recipes by region are also organized in chronological order, making it easy to find food from the region and period that interests you. Each recipe in the book begins with a page or two summary of the dish's history. Each recipe's source is included, a fun way to connect the dish you prepare with the history.  
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Given that the book is primarily a cookbook, most of the pages are dedicated to cooking instructions to prepare the food. As someone with little cooking experience, I have found the recipes easy to follow. However, be warned that some of the ingredients are harder to find than others. Fortunately, in many cases throughout the book, alternatives are presented.

The Food

​As the book is a collection of modern instructions on historical recipes, the tastes can differ significantly from our modern food. However, this is a feature, not a bug! Other books with a vague historical (albeit fantasy) take on recipes, such as The Elder Scrolls: The Official Cookbook, create modern recipes with modern food tastes in a fantasy-medieval setting. Tasting History is true to its source and includes recipes that taste strange today, such as vinegar candy or parmesan ice cream. Despite staying true to the source and the changes in taste preferences, many of the recipes I have tried are delicious.

​My Experience with Cooking from the Book

So…… as I mentioned before, I have minimal cooking experience. Rumor has it I have burned bowls of cereal. Some may even know I started a fire at my day job by misusing a microwave…. (A story for another day).
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BUT this book started my journey in wanting to learn how to cook. As part of this journey, I wanted to tackle making the precedella or pretzel of 1581. That is when I learned the value of color when it comes to food because my first try with the pretzel tasted great, but I had a bit too much cinnamon, making the pretzel look far less tasty than they were. 

Yes, I know what the pretzels look like. 
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But I kept practicing, and while I was still trying to nail the classic look of the pretzel, I could at least say they looked and tasted better than my first try. 

​That is one of the greatest appeals of trying to learn to cook with this book which is not designed to teach people how to cook. I feel like I have placed myself into a baker apprentice’s shoes in the 16th century and practicing again and again until I can make a pretzel that would be satisfactory to the guild.

Closing Thoughts

This book is truly a gem for history enthusiasts who want to use their sense of smell and taste to experience the periods they study. However, this may not be the book for you if you are not interested in trying different flavors throughout the ages. That being said, cooking recipes from this book is still an enjoyable experience, and I appreciate adding new recipes to my overall knowledge.

Are you still on the fence about getting into historical cooking right for you? This is where Max Miller goes above and beyond. His website has tons of other historical recipes paired with videos on his YouTube channel. You can try them for free before investing in his book. I particularly enjoy Chewtes on Flesshe Day or meat pies from 1430. His Tang pie even made it into my Thanksgiving feast, though I re-branded it as the Orange-Creamsicle Pie because some people are biased against Tang. I am looking at you, Matt.

If you love history but are hesitant about cooking, I recommend this book. For a price of about $30 for a hardcover book, this is a fantastic book. I cannot understate how much learning to cook has been an enjoyable journey. That dangling carrot of historical context was all I needed to resolve my reservations about trying to cook more than just microwavables.