Abstract
Title: The splendours of the table in Abbasid poetry
Abstract: The poetry of the Abbasid period (9th-13th centuries) is one of the jewels of Arab literature. That dedicated to gastronomy and the art of drinking lends itself particularly well to an idealized and pictorial description of food. It describes the most sensual activities of human beings, namely love, drink and food. The poets rave about the beauty of foods and dishes, with descriptions of their flavor, color, and of the vessels that contain them. This paper explores this literature which metaphorically expresses the splendours of the table but which also allows the historian to get a new idea of medieval Arabic gastronomy.
Keywords: Arabic poetry, medieval gastronomy, Arab-Muslim world, culinary manuscripts.