When sugar was more expensive than gold

A meal whose origins can be traced to a time when sugar was more expensive than gold is being recreated at Verdala Palace to the sound of Malta's only male choir. The dinner seeks to recreate dishes from the 16th century cookbook of Bartolomeo Scappi, chef to six Popes including Pius V. The Renaissance chef is known for his monumental 1570 manuscript Opera dell'arte del Cucinare, which contains some 1,000 recipes. The meal will be served on June 3 at the palace built during the reign of Hugues Loubenx de Verdalle, and the event is aptly called Cena Dal Gran Maestro (dinner at the Grand Master's). It is being organised by the Notarial Archives Resources Council headed by Joan Abela, and a team of historians, with all proceeds going towards the restoration of documents at the Notarial Archives in Valletta. Some of these same documents at the archives helped historians Noel Buttigieg and Liam Gauci understand what ingredients were available in Malta in the 16th century, so that they could choose the six dishes from Scappi's cookbook that will be served on the night. "The documents show that Malta's residents were consuming products found in other European cities. These were...

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