Scappi was born in Lombardy and served as a chef in the Vatican eventually cooking for Pope Pius IV. “ He acquired fame in 1570 when his monumental cookbook Opera dell'arte del cucinare was published. In the book he lists approximately 1000 recipes of the Renaissance cuisine and describes cooking techniques and tools, giving the first known picture of a fork . [3] He declared parmesan to be the best cheese on earth, [4] and noted that "the liver of [a] domestic goose raised by the Jews is of extreme size and weighs [between] two and three pounds", [5] indicating that Jews of the time were practicing the overfeeding needed to produce foie gras . Reprints of Opera were continually published from 1570 to 1643. [6] If you use Google images and “Bartolomeo Scappi” many many images from the interior of the book can be viewed. There was nothing like it before, and nothing like it for a long time after. Certainly a number of cookbooks had been printed earlier, but Scappi's "work" is enormous, with more than 1,000 recipes. And it is systematic. It attempts to give detailed instructions for all aspects of cookery, from how to pick the best young suckling pig or set up a spit in a field to how to prepare a "peacock sauce" with toasted almonds, egg yolks, chicken livers, mostaccioli, toast, vinegar, verjuice, broth, sugar, cinnamon, pepper, cloves, nutmeg and bitter orange juice, and then use it as a garnish for roasts. It even has a large number of artful illustrations, showing how to arrange a kitchen and what kinds of instruments to use, whether for cutting, grating, heating, mixing or storing. In fact, Scappi uses more individual utensils than even the best-stocked professional kitchen of today would do. (http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=405862) “ Scappi revolutionized the kitchen of his time through new preparation methods and the use of ingredients imported from America.” QUESTIONS – WHAT MIGHT SOME OF THESE INGREDIENTS HAVE BEEN? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartolomeo_Scappi) Terence Scully, who is a Canadian medieval scholar, translated Scappi’s book into English for the first time in 2008.