SC - European Grain/Legume combo?

[Anne-Marie Rousseau]

> This is part of an on-going thread on the Middlebridge. Thoughts, folks?
> 
> phlip at morganco.net
> 
> : From: Scott Wilkerson
> : To: Middlebridge
> : Subject: [Mid] Is camping without a cooler out of period?
> : 
> but given the heat you will probably have to
> take
> : the car to town at least every other day.  Please do not try to bring
> fresh
> : meat from town unless you bring it straight back to camp and cook it
> : immediately.  At this point I have to wonder, are frequent car trips
> more
> or
> : less in period then a hidden cooler?
> 
Seems to me the medieval diet was commonly grains, root vegetables, legumes,
and fruits which certainly keep better than meat.  If one is being truly
medieval and must have meat on site, butchering it in situ would be more
correct than cooler or car trip.  

> During the winter months people certainly had to survive
> primarily
> : on preserved foodstuffs. However, they would also have continued to use
> milk
> : and eggs and eat the beasts that died by mischance.  
> 
Since slaughtering was commonly done in late fall and early winter, I doubt
the beasts died by mischance, bad luck perhaps, but not mischance.  The
obvious way to preserve meat is leave it walking around until you need it.  

Year round, most of what people ate was "preserved".  The foodstuffs for the
common diet were harvested in their season and were capable of being stored
indefinitely.  Perishables such as milk, eggs and even meat would be
converted to a less perishable form or used immediately.
> : 
> : During the summer months I doubt that there was much use of preserved
> foods.
> 
Until the year's crops came in, I bet the people lived off of last year's
harvest.

> : The people would have used primarily freshly slaughtered meat and
> freshly
> : picked vegetables.  They would have used methods such as cool spring
> houses,
> : cellaring and burying to keep vegetables, meats, eggs and dairy products
> : edible for short periods of time.   A cooler is the only safe way to
> emulate
> : the fresh food that they would have eaten in the warm months.
> 
This suggests that people who traveled to a tourney carried their
springhouse and root cellar on their pack animals.  I think it more likely
that they enjoyed the hospitality of the locals, be it manor or abbey, or
inn.
> : 
> : Since war campaigns were almost exclusively prosecuted during the summer
> : months, armies lived on carted grains and legumes, herded animals and
> : foraging.  The foraged food and slaughtered beasts would have been
> mostly
> : fresh.
> 
Between Rome and Napoleon, most armies lived off what they could beg, borrow
or steal.  Many campaigns were short on rations and tried to live off their
enemies stores.

> Canned
> : foods are far more out of period then cooler kept foods.  If you prepare
> a
> : meal relying on pickled and dried foods you are probably simulating what
> a
> : person would eat at the end of a long winter.  Since we do most of our
> : camping in the summer emulating fair weather activities such as
> tournaments
> : and wars, eating a winter diet makes little sense.  
> 
A loaf of bread, a bowl of frumenty, fried wheat polenta, a tart of beans,
and leek soup are all period, could have been found year round,  can be
prepared in the field, and are probably more representative of the medieval
diet than most foods found on site.  Of course, if you want to be really
realistic you could try cooking your shoes, as has occurred in a number of
real wars.
  
> The cooler should be
> the
> : last piece of modern equipment sacrificed in the SCA camp, it is safe,
> : unobtrusive and allows for more period meals to be served then can be
> : prepared without it.
> 
> To be honest, I do use a cooler for convenience.  I like my ice in 90+
> heat.  But I am not going to justify my use of it by declaring it the
> font of the medieval diet for the CMA.  
> 
> Bear: 
> 
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