Appetite, Hunger, and Health in Early Modern Medical Thought

Amanda Coate (Stanford University) will give a talk titled Appetite, Hunger, and Health in Early Modern Medical Thought.

The chapter investigates hunger in early modern European ideas about the body and health. Using medical treatises, manuscript recipe collections, and textual and visual portrayals of hunger’s physical effects, the chapter explores ideas about hunger-as-appetite and hunger-as-food-deprivation. When at an appropriate level, appetite was thought to play an important role in the body. By acting on the senses, it spurred people to eat and sustain their lives. Therefore, its proper functioning was crucial to the maintenance of good health. On the other hand, early modern people considered food deprivation to be detrimental to the body, with the potential to lead to illness and death.