Cardinals Eating Dinner During Conclave

(Original Caption) The above scene depicts Cardinals at dinner during a conclave. Bartolomeo Scappi, from whose cookbook printed in Venice in 1570 this illustration is taken, was the secret cook of Pope Pius V. By virtue of his eminent position, Scappi was able to apply the technological achievements of the Renaissance to the culinary arts. The rotating serving windows above suggest the origins of today's Automats. The food is all neatly packed in a wooden picnic basket. Even their Eminences got only one fork among them, and the presiding Cardinal takes charge of that. Scappi, a Rude Goldberg of the kitchen, also concocted a device enabling traveling cooks to knead dough while on horseback.