Paradoksy związane ze spożywaniem pokarmów w średniowieczu
Paradoxes Connected with Consuming Food in Middle Ages

Summary/Abstract: The article is an interpretation of a late medieval Polish poem written by a relatively unknown poet by the name of Słota who is known to have been associated with king Władysław Jagiełło's court. The poem, On Behaving at the Table, belongs to the popular medieval genre of didactic works teaching rules of proper behaviour while consuming food. Though the poem is not a particularly remarkable one, it nevertheless contains a collection of popular social stereotypes which are considered in a broader cultural context. Particular attention is devoted to the questions of necessity and coincidentality, relationships between social classes and their evolution, the role of a woman within the framework of courtly culture as well as to the phenomenology of consumption in the medieval context. The author draws from such critical works as those of Teresa Michałowska, Norbert Elias and Douglas Gray. The article also compares the Polish poem with selected works of English and Italian medieval literature.

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