SC - Is Arrowroot Period?

[Decker, Terry D.]

Arrowroot is a semi-tropical plant.  The Arawak, who used it and called it
aru-aru from which we get arrowroot, are indigenous to the Caribbean islands
and Guiana.  There was no known contact by Europeans until the Spanish
arrived in 1492.  Use of the plant by the Irish and the Norse is highly
questionable and there is no evidence they ever knew of it.

We know very little about the European adoption of arrowroot, but the first
appearance of the word in written English is around 1696.  This suggests a
17th Century adoption.  We have less evidence for the adoption of arrowroot,
than we do for tomatoes, potatoes, corn and turkey, and the evidence for
these is very sparse.  To my knowledge, we have no evidence that even
Europeans in the New World used arrowroot before 1600.

For the SCA, "period" can mean "pre-1600" or "pre-1600 Europe".  The
definition is too broad to be useful for culinary history or historical
cookery.  Culinary history and historical cookery have temporal and
geographical limits unlike "period".  

These pursuits are as much scholarship as cooking, and for some of us,
accuracy based on available evidence is as important as preparing the dish.

Bear 
  

 

> If I may be so bold as to pose this question a little 
> differently, why is
> arrowroot not period even if its source is the new world.  
> Trading with the
> "new world" dates to as early as 400 - 500 AD (Irish) 1065 
> (Norse) and 1500
> (Spanish) all of which are period.  We know that the Norse 
> traded European
> foods to the natives, it made them sick! So why not the 
> reverse?  I am a
> "new cook" but if we really mean by "period" European, then 
> we should say
> so.
> 
> Muirghen