SC - Re: Can Someone Explain This?

[Decker, Terry D.]

Hello,
Glad to hear someone else watched the show. It was on in the US New Years day,
when not many folks are up at 7 in the morning! I provided the books the Today
Show used for research for this segment. They were all translations of
_Apicius de re Coquinaria_ [On Cookery]. The three translations were 1) Flower
& Rosenbaum's _Roman Cookery Book_, 1958, now out of print, but available as
used copies 2) Joseph Dommers Vehling's _Apicius: Cookery and Dining in
Imperial Rome_ (recommended only for background information about the various
manuscripts, 1936, modern paperback facsimile reprint available, and 3) John
Edwards' _The Roman Cookery of Apicius_, 1984, available in paperback,
hardcover out of print. The Flower & Rosenbaum and the Vehling were published
in the US so are more likely to be found in libraries here, while the Edwards
was published in the UK, and would be the most likely version found in
Australia.

There has not been a new translation of the Apicius manuscript(s) recently
released. The Today Show segment was presented by Colman Andrews, editor of
Saveur magazine. I had recommended that they use either the Flower & Rosenbaum
or the Edwards for the recipes. I'd have to look at the tape (I watched the
show live that morning when I was a little fuzzy around the edges, haven't
looked at the tape yet) to possibly be able to tell you which recipe came from
which book, or you could try contacting Saveur. Not sure whether they maintain
a web site, but I'm sure you could at least find an email address.

I'm not aware of any participation by Saveur other than presenting the
segment, but if they receive many inquiries they could possibly decide to
feature some of these recipes in a future issue of the magazine, but then
again maybe not. It might be that Saveur refers you straight back to the Today
Show for details about the segment.

Amanda

Acanthus Books
830 W. Main #150
Lake Zurich, IL  60047 USA
tel/fax 847.726.9811 email Acanthusbk at aol.com

In a message dated 1/3/99 9:33:43 PM Central Standard Time,
Susan.P.Laing at mainroads.qld.gov.au writes:

> Whilst watching NBC's today show (yes - we do get it in Australia, usually
>  at 2am :-) late last week they featured a cooking segment with recipes from
>  a "ancient cookbook" that had been newly released.
>  
>  The presenter was from a magazine that was a) either sponsering the release
>  or b) serialising the recipes  (the details weren't  given)
>  
>  Did anyone catch this segment (they were feeding the Today compares mulled
>  wine so I suspect it was the January 1st show) and can you advise on the
>  title of the book and perhaps the author?
>  
>  Many thanks
>  
>  Mari de Paxford
>  St Florian's  (Brisbane, Australia)
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