SC - buffalo wings OT

[Huette von Ahrens]

The Spanish chronists (the only ones to have written, translated and
described the things they saw in the New World) had often difficulties
to find words and names to fit all the new things they found in the New
World. They tried to find similarities with the things they knew. They
tried to describe by approximation the things they discovered.
Many herbs used as spices were "related" to their cousins from the Old
World. The existence of wild boars is known from the wallreliefs from
Palenque and Chichen Itzá, when warriors chased and fought wild boars or
some local variation (carpincho, arutí, other related smaller animals
than wild boars, but from the same family).
When Columbus took same samples of vegetables and herbs to Spain, the
Catholic Kings asked a priest, don Juan de Techera, to write down and
classify the new ingredients. Many of his writing and the several
priests and naturalists who continued that work, are today part of the
Archives of Sevilla, the most vast and complete colection of New World
knowledge.
But the best description of nature, fauna and flora, is done by Gonzalo
Fernandez de Oviedo, who wrote in 1528 his "Summary of the History of
Nature in Indias". He is a pupil of Plinio and try as he did, tell the
complete history of the wonders he saw.
All of them tell about the "platano de Indias", not our banana, but a
kind of plantain, very big and growing in a kind of palm. They speak too
about bitter oranges, more related to grapefruits than to sweet oranges.
I think we can only have aproximations or guess about the kind of herbs
and spices and vegetables used by civilizations who were long gone and
far advanced than many European countries.
When Cortes found the city of Tenochitlan, today Mexico City, he found
it was larger and more better build than Madrid and Toledo, two of
Spains main cities.
Ana


http://www.algonet.se/~agora  Hemsida och skyltfönster
http://www.algonet.se/~agora/ada Nättidning för kvinnor och män med
humor
http://www.dn.se/liv&stil  Leta vidare till Anas länkar, min egen
samling av godbitar för tjejer
============================================================================

To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".

============================================================================