"Everything Old (Ancient!) is New Again": Cookbooks from the Getty
By Staff Writer

Celery Puree using fresh stalks straight from the garden (the better to cure your arthritis as well, my dear); Garlic Pecarino Romano Cheese served on a crusty loaf of bread; Chicken Salad; Honey Glazed Shrimp or Tuna Steak; Roast Hare; savory and sweet cheesecakes for dessert.

Yum. A delicious meal created by a gourmet chef at a beachside restaurant? Exactly, but one in ancient times on the Mediterranean and all the recipes are in the sumptuous and simultaneously spare "The Classical Bookbook" by Andrew Dalby and Sally Grainer.

The authors make information from resources written a thousand years ago sound fresh and exciting. It is the first book of its kind to detail ancient Mediterranean cuisine (750 DC to AD 450) and the first to describe the food of the home cook rather than of the well known Royal gourmet, Apicus, who focused on the food of the privileged, and decadent, Roman classes.

Each chapter provides a historical outline with translations of the original recipes, followed by a version for the modern cook. Illustrations abound of food, hunters and "revelers" in this practical treasure trove of history.

Going one better than selling the books, the Getty Museum provides an "Art Tasting Audio player visitor guide" narrated and written by the witty, wise and inveterate author of Cuisine and Culture A History of Food and People, Linda Civitello, who can make a history buff out of anyone. The Getty also puts on seasonal dinners with mouthwatering, if ancient, recipes, often with the congenial authors, Dalby and Grainer, there in person giving talks.

Another book, Ancient Herbs by Marina Heilmeyer, describes plants in the Getty Villa herb garden. The well-manicured garden is in the stunning reflecting pool area. If you hold your hand up just so, you can block out the new modern wing and experience ancient Italy as perfectly as it should be.

Both the book and the garden present the important plants used for culinary, medicinal, and religious purposes in classical antiquity. Olive and pomegranate, myrtle and rose join coriander and marjoram, garlic and thyme. The well-informed author paints an intriguing image of the plant uses and myths from Greek and Roman kitchen gardens, using quotes from classical authors to account for ancient practices, some curious but some still standard today.

Delightful illustrations reproduce drawings from early-nineteenth-century botanical publications, often showing the plants at various stages of growth, from seeds through ripe fruits.

Now, the first time I visited the Getty Villa , as I learned is the experience of many a Los Angeleno, was to show it off to out of town guests one summer morning, my old childhood friend and her cardiologist husband. I was politely pursuing the herbs in the hot sun when I came upon bell like purple flowers with markings inside much like a tropical orchid. All of a sudden I made such a mental connection I gasped, and I remember this moment as though it was five minutes ago (it was 20 years ago).

I was looking at Foxglove and reading the little plaque aside the plant with the Latin and English names, Digtalis and' Camelot Rose.'

"Digitalis may be Latin for "finger of a glove", referring to the shape of the flowers," but I recognized the term from one on my mom's medicine Indeed, the powerful drug digitalin is derived from this medicinal plant, used as a heart stimulant to treat heart disease.

When I pointed it out to my friend's husband, he was not impressed (it took the Weisman museum to do that). Now naïve was I? And I am an A-student ancient history major! But I didn't care how I appeared. This was a first revelatory connection between academic and real life and I couldn't have been more excited than if a friend had turned this flower into medicine. And that's just what the Getty and the books it sells can do.

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