SC - now vegemite info!

[Lorix]

Stefan li Rous wrote:
> 
> Adamantius commented:
> > I had a tablemate at the last event feast I was at, who I think was a
> > bit thrown by my eating macrows one at a time with my fingers. She
> > commented, "I always thought there was no way in the world to eat
> > spaghetti with your hands and make it look elegant." Of course I offered
> > to share my scented fingerbowl with her, as any gentleman ought
> > to...strange to say, she politely declined.
> 
> ooh. Interesting. Are there any Italian cookbooks or manner books which
> describe how to eat pasta? Even with a knife and a spoon, I can see
> where it would be difficult to eat it elegantly. Especially the long
> stranded ones like spaghetti and fetucine(sp?).

I'm not aware of any, although there may be some. The way I was eating
it at the event last weekend was based on Marco Polo's description of
people eating noodles on the streets of some Chinese city. I believe
Marco mentions them as being buttered and not otherwise heavily sauced,
which also happened to be true of the macrows Lady Andrea cooked. It
just made sense at the time. Another consideration is that _some_ pasta
recipes from later in period than either Marco's travels or, say, the
Forme of Cury, speak of boiling vermicelli or macaroni for an hour, so I
suspect we may be talking about something eminently easy to eat with a
spoon. Somewhat pudding-ey?  
 
> Italy was one of the first European countries to adopt the fork as
> an eating utensil. I wonder if there is any connection.

It's possible, but I suspect there may be more complex reasons than that.

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com