Fw: RE: Fw: Re: HERB - Fw: Re: SC - Celery

[Christine A Seelye-King]

And just to show that we (cook's and herbalists alike) can argue about
nothing (literally) I forward the message below. 
Christianna
(gee, this IS fun)

--------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
To: "'sca-cooks at Ansteorra.ORG'" <sca-cooks at Ansteorra.ORG>
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 09:34:08 -0500
Subject: RE: Fw: Re: HERB - Fw: Re: SC - Celery
Message-ID:
<E163A98BC3D0D2119CAA0000832180C20F1906 at exchange6.health.state.ok.us>

> > I don't agree.  As early as the 9th century, Strabo writes:
> > 
> >         "Celery is now held cheap in our gardens and many think
> > Taste is its only merit.  But it has its virtues
> > And offers quick help in many remedies." ("XX.  Celery",  HORTULUS)
> 
> All right, fair enough. This demonstrates that celery _may_ have been
> widely eaten as a food, for its taste alone, rather than for its
> medicinal value, in the particular time and place in which Strabo
wrote,
> assuming he was correct. 
> 
This one threw me for a little bit.  The most commonly known Strabo is
the
author of the Geography, a 1st Century CE text.  This particular author
should be identified as Walahfrid-Strabo, a 9th Century German
ecclesiastic(?).  The text mentioned is Liber de cultura horotorum.

> Yes, there is evidence suggesting it was eaten, somewhere in Europe, in
> period, and even that it was eaten for its culinary, rather than its
> medicinal, virtues. If, however, it was really widely eaten throughout
> Europe throughout period, it is likely there would be more surviving
> recipes for it than there appear to be. 
> 
Celery is mentioned in the inventory of one of Charlemagne's villas,
although its precise use is unstated.  Walahfrid-Strabo is close to
Charlemagne temporally and both are in the Holy Roman Empire.  This
suggests
that celery may have been widely used in the Holy Roman Empire.  The
scope
of this use can not be determined from the evidence.

The opinion that if celery was widely eaten throughout Europe through out
period there should be more surviving recipes does not necessarily hold
water.  Studies have estimated from other sources that the average
consumption of bread in the Later Middle Ages was approximately 2 1/2
pounds
per person per day, yet from 1000 years of European sources, there are
only
four recipes for bread and two of those are in preparation of another
dish.

To prove the case in either direction really takes more references than
we
have found. 

> It's kinda ironic, BTW, that an early proponent of celery, famous for
> its effects, I believe, on the eyesight, should be Strabo, whose name
> basically means "cross-eyed", as with Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, uncle (I
> think) of Pompey the Great. ;  )
> 
> G. Tacitus Adamantius
> 
What?   Another Strabo?

Bear
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