The Llibre de Sent Soví is the oldest surviving cookbook written in the Catalan language. It therefore stands at the very beginning of the country's culinary tradition, already revealing a number of enduring features that have survived to the present day. Its influence can be seen in subsequent medieval cookbooks and even in later culinary works. This status as an inaugural work, partly the result of historical chance, does not contradict the fact that it is also a synthesis of the cuisine of its own time—specifically, the refined cuisine of the nobility and the wealthy classes.

To make the text more accessible, this edition presents the original medieval version alongside an adaptation into modern Catalan. This volume marks the launch of the Set Portes Collection of Historic Catalan Cookbooks, which will trace the development of Catalan cuisine from its earliest recipe collections through to those of the second half of the twentieth century, highlighting its evolution, transformations and enduring traditions.