SC - Period Sausages

[Margo Farnsworth]

At 10:12 AM -0700 1/18/99, Deborah J Hammons wrote:
>Gentles of the list.  I have been on and off (no personal comments
>please) since the list started.  I might have missed a discussion on
>period foods, so I appologize in advance.  I am trying to put together a
>list of foods acceptable to the "general" populace that are probably
>period, to help brand new cooks on their way.  My dilemna is this.  It
>seems that most of the information I have refers to cultivated crops
>instead of what might have occurred naturally.  Is there a book out there
>somewhere that actually lists what "gatherers" had to work with?

You seem to be assuming two things, both of which I would question:

1. That the relevant issue is what is "acceptable to the general populace,"
not what is historically true.

2. That limiting oneself to period ingredients produces period cooking.

So far as 1 is concerned, if that was your view there would be no reason to
worry about obscure questions such as what wild plants were available,
since the "general populace" is unlikely to know. On the other hand, if you
want to spread historically accurate information, it is a perfectly
reasonable question. You may find a little help in the essay in the
Miscellany on late period and out of period ingredients. The Miscellany is
webbed at:

http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/miscellany.html

Another place to look is C. Anne Wilson, _Food and Drink in Britain_, which
is detailed, reliable, and goes back to prehistory.

With regard to 2, consider what would happen if you turned a Chinese cook
loose in a modern American supermarket and an American cook loose in a
Chinese market. The Chinese cook would produce a chinese meal, the American
cook an American meal--despite each being constrained to use the other's
ingredients. Similarly here. If you simply restrict yourself to period
ingredients, what you will get is modern cooking--a subset of modern
cooking, with the potatoes and tomatoes left out. If you want to do period
cooking, you should start by looking at period recipes, of which a very
large number have survived. You will find lots of worked out ones in the
Miscellany, and several period cookbooks webbed on the medieval section of
my web page (and elsewhere by others).

David Friedman
Professor of Law
Santa Clara University
ddfr at best.com
http://www.best.com/~ddfr/


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