SC - Upper class eats

[Uduido at aol.com]

In a message dated 97-05-26 14:45:00 EDT, you write:

<< I would be interested if you could provide a list of such books from
England
 that *were*.  To the best of my knowlege, we don't know for whom a single
 extant collection was produced.  There is a claim in the introduction of one
 concerning *by* whom it was produced; but that claim is held in substantial
 doubt in the professional community.  In any case, it is relatively certain
 that no extant copy of FoC was produced for a royal kitchen.

Other than the technicality that I used the word "noble" and not "royal" in
my original post, I have NO knowledge of English period cookery. However,
 "the Baghdad Cookery Book" and Le Manegier almost certainly were produced
for noble households. The Baghdad Cookery Book makes numerous references to
perparing certain dishes for the Calliph, etc. And Le Manegier describes it's
purpose quite plainly. 
 
 <<On the other hand, we *do* know that collections from very different parts
 of England duplicate recipes in each other.  We also know that when the
 printing industry geared up, one of the things it produced was cookbooks,
 and many of them (by the 16th C) clearly for a mass market that was by no
 means noble.

You may be correct here. My knowledge of "late" period is not strong. It
appears as if  we are talking of two different worlds. My area of interest
and my observations and opinions are mainly based on the "feudal" Middle Ages
and dwindles off to nill about mid-Renaissance. Since there were Nobles and
serfs in the time I am interested in, I would have little or no concern for a
wealthy class outside of those main categories. My views on Medieval cookery
certainly fall within Feudal times 100%.

 
<< Careful with those assumptions.
  >>

I'll try. :-)  Unfortunately for all on the list it is impossible to know the
starting point and/or areas of interest that cause us to respond to any given
post. Such is our case, you're extremely interesting posts are appear to be
based on late period. Mine on pre-Renaissance which is what makes this list
so stimulating.

Lord Ras (Uduido at aol.com)