SC - Columbus - correction

[Decker, Terry D.]

>According to the Columbus book, it states that polenta was eaten enough to
>have a few recipes written about it.... Also the book restates that poor
>people probably picked up eating it first. (the inference being that when
>you're poor, you'll eat any thing.)  I don't have that particular book on
>hand at work today (I snuck in)  but I'll double check on Monday.
>
>Clare St. John

You're probably speaking of corn meal polenta here, which is the modern
incarnation and is introduced after Columbus introduces gran turco to
Europe.

Polenta as class refers to the boiling grain meal to a thick porridge
where it could be eaten or molded.  Polenta to be molded is cooked more
firmly than polenta to be eaten from the pot.

Polenta is easy to field cook and when molded and cooled can be used to
replace bread when ovens are not available.  Over the years, I've seen a
couple of references to polenta being common to the Legions for just
such reasons.

As to polenta being the food of the poor, I expect that can be
attributed to dietary changes in the late Middle Ages.  Pliny's barley
polenta appears to have been a staple and Apicius' wheat polenta was a
dessert dish for a feast.  The difference in polenta between rich and
poor in Antiquity, appears to have been quality of ingredients,
elaborateness of preparation, and the spicing.  This was probably true
into the Medieval period.

Today, polenta is found as a regional dish in Northern Italy and in the
U.S. Mid West as corn meal mush and the South as grits. 

BTW, my grain of choice for polenta is millet.  It has a lovely nutty
taste, which I find superior to corn meal.    
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