In Italy the use of pomegranates in cooking goes back to the time of the Renaissance when various dishes gracing the tables of patrician families - particularly at the Gonzaga court in Mantua and the Este court in Ferrara - featured pomegranate seeds added for reasons of taste or esthetics. Neglected then for a couple of hundred years, the pomegranate has recently resurfaced in recipes by the most modern and innovative cooks.