SC - Book Review

[Aldyth at aol.com]

Greetings the list.  This appeared to day on our Outlands list, posted by 
Jarl Gunwaldt.  I thought it might be interesting reading for us.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Duke Finvarr thought this would be of interest to the SCA lists.

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David M. Gitlitz and Linda Kay Davidson.  A Drizzle of
Honey:  The Lives and Recipes of Spain's Secret Jews.  
New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999.  Pp. 352.  $29.95.  
ISBN 0312198604.

   Reviewed by Seth Ward
        University of Denver
        sward at du.edu


The Spanish Inquisition represents a nearly unparalleled 
resource for details about daily lives in Spain and its 
overseas possessions for several centuries following its 
institution in 1480; in the annals of pre-modern history, 
perhaps only the Cairo Geniza is a richer source.  The 
Inquisitors took great interest in a myriad of details, 
recording oral testimony at great length.  The Inquisition was, 
of course, a quest for information about practices not 
consonant with Catholicism, often with disastrous results for 
its victims; it was not a neutral observer and  interested 
primarily in testimony relevant to what it believed to be its 
sacred office.

The Inquisition was painstakingly interested in everyday 
practices that provided evidence of Judaizing.  Many of these 
concerned food or festive meals: what food was eaten, how it 
was prepared, when eaten, in what context.  The Inquisitors did 
not generally inquire about precise measurements and 
comprehensive cooking directions.  But the references to 
ingredients and preparation allow for a tentative 
reconstruction of the recipes. 

This beautiful book presents both the stories from the 
Inquisition and the reconstructed recipes, adapted somewhat to 
the needs of the modern kitchen.  Each recipe is preceded by an 
account of the testimony from which it is taken, with the 
history of the people mentioned in the testimony, to the extent 
that it is known.  The authors include, as far as possible, the 
end of the story as well.  Despite the very real horrors of 
torture and the autos-da-fe, the authors maintain that we know 
only about half of the dispositions of the individuals whose 
food-preparations are recorded in the cookbook; of those which 
are known, some will be surprised that many escaped an untimely 
end. 

The authors have reconstructed the recipes on the basis of 
solid research.  They consulted dictionaries and treatises on 
agriculture and herbal medicine available in late medieval and 
early modern Iberia.  They show a depth of familiarity with 
classical and medieval Arabic and European sources, including 
several Spanish cookbooks published in the first century of 
printing. 

The Inquisition sought evidence of Judaizing, and what it 
sought it frequently enough found.  All the individuals were 
living openly as Christians, and in some cases their families 
had been Christian for generations.  Some may have consciously 
attempted to preserve Jewish religious practices; others merely 
maintained social ties with former coreligionists, and yet 
others were faithful Catholics.  Clearly, for many, these 
practices did not reflect Kashrut--Jewish dietary law--or 
religious practice, but the traditional training of their 
mothers and grandmothers (or, for servants, of their 
mistresses).  Nor is it comprehensive, as we know only about 
the elements the Inquisition was looking for.  Thus we know 
little about Hanukkah practices (270); perhaps these vanished 
quickly after conversion to Christianity or did not exist; in 
any case, even if they did, they did not show up on the 
Inquisition's radar. 

The Inquisition was interested in Friday practices such as 
lighting candles and the preparation of hamin or 
adafina, meals prepared on Friday and "hidden away" to 
be slow-cooked for the Sabbath.  Not only the Sabbath, but 
food-related items for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and 
Passover all show up in Inquisition's records. 

Washing hands before eating, and Kosher-style slaughter, 
soaking and draining meat in the Jewish way, removing fat and 
the sciatic vein all figure in Inquisitorial records.  Browning 
meat in olive oil does not seem remarkable at first glance, but 
was often noted with suspicion in these records, as the typical 
Iberian practice seems to have been to use lard instead.  Yet 
some of the testimony about Judaizing involved preparation of 
milk and meat together or even of pork, items proscribed by 
traditional Jewish practice. 

Inquisition records testify to kitchen practices, relations 
between the family and the servants, and the wealth of products 
available to the Spanish kitchen.  Beef was food for the poor 
(146-7), chicken and veal for the rich.  Each recipe is 
preceded by an account of the inquisition testimony and the 
background, as far as it can be known, including whether or not 
the people involved were eventually burned at the stake.  These 
stories, most of which are every-day occurences recounted under 
very trying circumstances, bring middle class Iberian society 
to light.  Although they might be somewhat repetitive to those 
interested in the book for its recipes, to this reviewer, these 
accounts are the highlight of the volume, together with the 
documentation for late-medieval cookery and herbaries. 

The recipes in this book strike a middle ground between 
contemporary and Iberian practices.  The authors have made 
allowances for a modern kitchen, including microwave.  Although 
they refer to period Spanish sensibilities about seasonings, 
they claim to hav e toned down the heavy dose of spices that 
seems to have been typical of this cuisine.  Nevertheless, the 
recipes will not always be easy for the modern cook, and rely 
on ingredients that may not always be easy to obtain outside of 
specialty grocers.  This reviewer, impressed by the cookbook's 
historical research and presentation, is fond of cooking--but 
not of recipes.  Presented with a gift of the cookbook, the 
reviewer's mother--who does use cookbooks--was not immediately 
impressed with the viability of the recipes in her kitchen.  
Although introductory material makes it clear how to "re-adjust 
back" to the historic measurements, some purists, too, may be 
disappointed that these allowances have been made, and other 
cooks might want more readily  accessible products or an 
internet reference for where some of the more exotic ones can 
be purchased.

Since the mid-1980s, there has been growth in interest in 
crypto-Judaism and Sephardic Jewry, and recent years have seen 
many important publications of Inquisition material.  It goes 
without saying that the same period has witnessed an explosion 
in Women's studies.  This cookbook is an important contribution 
to these fields.  Reflecting solid scholarship, it will also 
provide dedicated cooks with an opportunity to counterbalance 
somewhat the popularity of reconstructing medieval jousting and 
war, and allow us to re-create a reasonably realistic 
approximation of the culinary experiences of the subjects of 
our research.