Paul H. Freedman is the Chester D. Tripp Professor of History at Yale. He received an MLS and PhD in History from University of California at Berkeley, and specializes in medieval social history, the history of Spain, comparative studies of the peasantry, trade in luxury products, and history of cuisine. Since coming to Yale, Professor Freedman has served as Director of Undergraduate Studies in History, Director of the Medieval Studies Program and Chair of the History Department. He also published his third book, Images of the Medieval Peasant (1999) and two collections of essays: Church, Law and Society in Catalonia, 900-1500 and Assaigs d’historia de la pagesia catalana (writings on the history of the Catalan peasantry). More recently Freedman edited Food: The History of Taste, an illustrated collection of essays about food from prehistoric to contemporary times. His book on the demand for spices in medieval Europe was published in 2008 by Yale University Press; it is entitled Out of the East: Spices and the Medieval Imagination.