People have long turned to food to maintain health and cure ailments; this was certainly the case in medieval and Renaissance Europe. Not only did diet play a critical role in regulating one's health, but many foods and recipes now consumed for pleasure, like sugar, chocolate, spiced wine, and distilled spirits, were prepared as foods specifically for healing. Recipes for items which skirted the line between food and health, as well as more traditional medicines, were found side-by-side with culinary recipes in printed cookbooks and household recipe books. These books spanned a broad range of genres, including dietaries, herbals, and guides to the natural and humoral properties of new ingredients found in the recently-discovered New World. Through an examination of historical recipes, literature, accounts, and images, especially from the Newberry's collections, participants will examine the close relationship between health, food, and recipes in medieval and Renaissance Europe.