---
title: Author Crystal King's Blog - Tasting Life Twice | renaissance Italian food recipe
description: renaissance Italian food recipe | Author Crystal King muses on life, history, writing and food.
---

# Tasting Life Twice

Author Crystal King muses on life, history, writing and food.

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## Posts about renaissance Italian food recipe:

![Renaissance Style Sweet Potatoes](https://blog.crystalking.com/hubfs/sweet%20potatoes.jpg)

[Recipe](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/recipe) [recipes](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/recipes) [renaissance recipe](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/renaissance-recipe) [The Renaissance](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/the-renaissance) [renaissance Italian food recipe](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/renaissance-italian-food-recipe)

Every holiday season, the humble sweet potato transforms into a delicious side dish, sometimes simple, sometimes decadent. The sweet potato ([which is different than a yam, sorry Louisiana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_potato)) is a tuber native to South America but it found its way to Europe and parts East once the New World explorations began. Gerard Paul, over at the fantastic site, [ManyEats](https://manyeats.com/), has a [fascinating history of the sweet potato here](https://manyeats.com/history-of-the-sweet-potato/).

![Turkey with Pomegranate Sauce: A Renaissance Recipe](https://blog.crystalking.com/hubfs/poms.jpg)

[Recipe](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/recipe) [Scappi](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/scappi) [Bartolomeo Scappi](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/bartolomeo-scappi) [Turkey](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/turkey) [renaissance recipe](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/renaissance-recipe) [renaissance italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/renaissance-italy) [renaissance Italian food recipe](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/renaissance-italian-food-recipe) 

**Turkey, a Delicacy 500 Years Ago**

The first turkey recipes appear in the Italian cookbook in *L'Opera di Bartolomeo Scappi *(who happens to be the protagonist in my novel, *The Chef's Secret*). Turkeys found their way to Italy during the Renaissance, but it wasn’t until the latter half of the century that they were deemed suitable for eating. As you might know, turkeys are a bird native to the Americas and were prized by the ancient Aztecs and Native Americans alike. Christopher Columbus noted the bird when he first came to America, but it wasn't until around 1519 when Spanish and Italian explorers first brought turkeys to Europe. Initially they were regarded as a beautiful and strange oddity, and many nobles kept them as pets or gave them to others as extravagant gifts. They were loved for their unique look, with artists depicting them in sculpture and paintings. The sculpture you see here, by Italian sculptor Giambologna, is from 1560, of the prized pet of Cosimo di Medici. The Italians called them *gallo d'India* (or birds of India) because of general [geographical confusion  ](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/columbus-confusion-about-the-new-world-140132422/)by early explorers. Eventually, however, turkeys became even more loved for their delicious and unusual flavor.  

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