SC - Bananas

[TG]

I.
The 11th century Taqwim al-Sihha of Ibn Butlan (Tacuin sanitatis) has an
entry on bananas with one sentence on how to eat them. Here is a rough
English paraphrase based on the Editor's French translation of his arab
edition:
- -- 'To eat it with sugar and honey helps to make good use of it (?).
Make sure that the banana is ripe and thoroughly peeled and drink some
perfumed wine afterwards'
- -- "La manger avec du sucre et du miel aide à la faire bien apprécier,
surtout quand elle est mûre, bien pelée et suivie d'un vin parfumé".
(Elkhadem 155)

The strange pictures in the _Four seasons of the house of Cerruti_,
David mentioned, might be explained by the fact that this passage was
later understood to refer to a different kind of plant (Latin printed
ed. 1531: musae, poma paradisi, German ed. 1533: Paradiesöpffel).

II.
According to Maxime Rodinson's 'Recherches sur les documents arabes
relatifs à la cuisine' [1950; Inquiries into the arab texts pertinent to
cookery], there are two recipes with bananas in the 'Kitab al-Wusla ila
l-Habib' (Book of the connection to the friend; 12th century; later
manuscripts). As far as I know, there is no edition of this text yet,
but at least Rodinson's summary [On donne ci-dessous un sommaire du
contenu de l'ouvrage; 130] indicates, that there _are_ two banana
recipes:
- -- 'Two dishes of meat with bananas'
- -- "2 plats de viande aux bananes" (p. 138).

Th.