The chapter addresses a number of written sources from which we gain insight into medical recommendations for diet and health after the writing of the Trotula. Outside the written tradition, it is much harder to trace the actual health practices and diets of the time. There is much more to diet and health as practiced, of course, than what we find in the written tradition; however, some general trends do emerge. The period of 1250-1450 saw an increase in several literary trends. First, there was a gradual increase in the number of manuscripts written in the vernacular. In the case of the dissemination of the Trotula texts, portions made it into other Latin texts, particularly medical miscellanies, where they were combined with fragments of other medical texts. Some extended manuscripts contain, for example, segments of and commentaries on De secretis mulierum by Pseudo-Albertus. This text, described in Chapter Three, was less a snapshot of medical knowledge than a polemic in the anti-feminist tradition. Vernacular texts were accessible to a wider array of individuals. While university-trained physicians were comfortable reading medical texts in Latin, the vernacular texts could be read by any literate person.

Second, we have the real beginning of the recipe collection or cookbook tradition. These manuscripts are invaluable in helping us understand at least the aristocratic cooking of the time period. While their primary purpose was not necessarily the promotion of a healthful diet, in some cases the manuscripts do contain notations on the properties of the ingredients or the recipes in relation to health. Any person of means would have had access to the advice of a physician, advice personalized to his or her own particular complexion.