The medieval English cookery scroll known as the Forme of Cury was compiled around 1390 by the master-cooks in the court of King Richard II. It is one of the earliest English cook books. The name, Forme of Cury, came from this transcription made by Samuel Pegg and published in 1780. Pegg prepared the publication for Gustavus Brander, Director of the Bank of England and a Trustee of the British Museum, who owned the original manuscript.

The Forme of Cury scroll provides a fascinating insight into English medieval cooking. It includes a wide variety of recipes: some rather familiar to us today, while others are rather strange. Many ingredients listed would have been incredibly rare in the fourteenth century. There is copious use of spices such as cloves, cardamom and nutmeg; olive oil appears in several recipes; as does rice; sugar and several fruits and vegetables used in Mediterranean cuisine. Mediterranean influences are surprisingly common throughout the book: Spain, Portugal, Italy and the Arab world all appear to have influenced recipes, while those from France are not as common as might be assumed.