SC - Validation and historical perspective

[LrdRas at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/25/99 7:58:58 PM Eastern Standard Time, troy at asan.com
writes:

<< She uses New World ingredients, it
 must be wrong...;  )
  
 Adamantius >>

This recipe appears to date 106 yrs after the discovery of the New World and
at least 40 yrs. after the major New World contributions to European cuisine
had been accomplished therefore it could very well be 'period' as defined by
the SCA although early modern and not remotely medieval. On the average it
takes about 20 yrs from the introduction of a new food until it's use is wide
spread. For some foods, the time is even longer (e.g. tomatoes, white potatoes
and more recently tofu and yogurt).

The Delectable Past, while being fairly well written and an easy read, shares
the faults of most works on medieval cookery that were produced in the 60's.
Original recipes or even translations of original recipes are more times than
not left out and any recipes given are often 'modernized to the point of being
unrecognizable if an origianal is available for comparison. This coupled with
the fact that a good percentage of authors relied on erroneous and false
information gleaned from Victorian sources and writings by 'authorities' who
new more about tying their shoes than the subject they were espousing makes
most of these works worth little more than curiosities of the literery world,
IMO.

This is not to say that such books should not be collected and consulted as
they oftentimes contain bits of valid historical and culinary information
unavailable from other sources. The secret to their successful use is gleaning
out the bits of fact while ignoring the rest. 

Ras
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