SC - Viking and early Irish foods

[Par Leijonhuvud]

On Thu, 19 Mar 1998, Gedney, Jeff wrote:

> > Whats wrong with whale and seal? Finnish style all-rye, sourdough
> bread
> > with whole fishes baked in (not documentable, but nice anyway)?
> Herring? 
> > Mutton? Goat? Beef? Pork? Game? Honey? Pike? Perch? Salmon? Apples?
> > Wheat, rye, barley, oats? Linseeds? Chickens? Skyr?  Cheese? 
> > Blueberries?  Lingonberries? Bunch of different root veggies?  Peas? 
> > Sloe?  Elderberries? Hazelnuts? Mustard?  Horseradish? Eggs? Plums? 
> > Several different herbs? 

> What do we know of these as being on the table of the average Norse
> Viking?  Which of these ingredients were served, and which were added
> later to the menu?  and besides, an ingredients list does not tell of
> actual foods and preparation. The point was that much of the evidence
> cited on this list seems to indicate that the Norse used a lot of
> cookbooks and preparation techniques imported from the rest of Europe. 

All of these are stuff that has been found in Viking age contexts, but
we do, of course, not know squat about how most of them were prepared.
However, is anyone here doubting that good food can be cooked from these
ingredients? Some of them we can't really know if the were used, since
they might just have been wild plants growing in the area, with no human
usage. Others we _do_ know where used. 

As to the recipie importation, I personally think it was minor during
most of the Viking age since there was no good medium for transmitting
it. Maybe some in the major trading towns (Birka, Hedeby, etc) where
people could recieve influences from other areas, but not out in the
countryside. 

> Brandu's Initial response:

Good ones. :-)

/UlfR

- -- 
Par Leijonhufvud                  par.leijonhufvud at labtek.ki.se
Listen to the fool's reproach! It is a kingly title!
                --William Blake

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