sca-cooks Transport of Foodstuffs

[Stephen Bloch]

Fyrean quoted me:
> > Several years ago there was one of those perennial debates on the Rialto
> > about "when should the SCA's period cut off?"  I and others pointed out
> > ...
> > dance treatises, which seem Renaissance in their outlook) and in cooking,
> > 1492.  In other words, even though SCA period technically runs for over a
> > century after 1492, I consider that century an aberration, and have no
> > particular interest in designing a feast set in that time.
> 
> Why, what happened in 1492?  (Showing my ignorance).

I oversimplified in order to pick a single date.  Before 1492, there
was essentially no exchange of plants or animals across the Atlantic,
and after 1492 (gradually, over the next several hundred years) there
was extensive exchange.  In particular, for any plant or animal native
to the Americas and not to Eurafrasia, we can be 99% certain it was not
used in European cookery before 1492; after that, it's just a matter of
how rapidly it was accepted.

>  Why is the century
> after that an aberration, if we extend (technically) to the renaissance
> era?  

Something that got snipped in what Fyrean quoted from me: we were
really picking dates to separate the Middle Ages from the Renaissance,
rather than deciding how far the SCA should or does go.  Although different
places and times within medieval Europe were certainly different, the
pace of change picked up dramatically in the 15th-16th century (from
seeds planted in the late 14th), so that what comes after that can almost
be called a new culture.  

> As a musician I'd go spare if I couldn't sing John Dowland!!  *grin*

Yes, I guess I would miss Dowland too, but I'd have no trouble drying my
tears when I've still got Dufay, Machaut, and Ciconia.

					Steve / Joshua