Pieter Brueghel the Elder. ‘The Country of Cockayne’ (Pieter Bruegel der Älter. Schlaraffenland)

Unfortunately, the Old Pinakothek has only one picture by this painter. Cockayne is a land of plenty in medieval myth, an imaginary place of extreme luxury and ease where physical comforts and pleasures are always immediately at hand and where the harshness of medieval peasant life does not exist. The German equivalent for the title of the picture is Schlaraffenland (also known as ‘land of milk and honey’).
The land of Cockaigne is an utopia, a fictional place where, in a parody of paradise, idleness and gluttony are the principal occupations. The Land of Cockaigne where the houses are made of barley sugar and cakes, the streets are paved with pastry, and the shops supply goods for nothing.
The roasted pigs wander about with knives in their backs to make carving easy, where grilled geese fly directly into one's mouth, where cooked fish jump out of the water and land at one's feet. The weather is always mild, the wine flows freely, sex is readily available, and all people enjoy eternal youth.
Cockaigne was a medieval peasant’s dream, offering relief from backbreaking labor and the daily struggle for meager food. In 1557 you’ve got to dream of food that fills.