SC - Wierd vs. tasty tidbit

[LrdRas at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/5/00 3:19:40 AM Eastern Standard Time, stefan at texas.net 
writes:

<< I've lost track but were these recipes the ones specifically chosen
 because they weren't wierd >>

I have seen the use of the word 'weird' bandied about for several days  now 
on this list. More frequently than is normal. I have a problem with this. No 
food is weird. To perpetuate the use of the term for perfectly good food does 
a disservice to what a lot of us are all about, namely the recreation of 
historical cookery.

To a person living in any given location, any food from another area could be 
considered 'weird.' Some foods which I have seen termed as 'weird' by some 
are not unusual by any sense of the word. For instant, venison and other game 
is eaten by numerous peoples everywhere hunting is allowed. Or liver, brains, 
sweet breads which are sold in markets everywhere so must be consumed 
regularly by a lot of people.

If we, as historical cooks, continue to categorize perfectly legitimate and 
widely consumed food as 'weird'  then how can we expect people who have not 
been exposed to these foods (which in most cases can be better described as 
'delicacies') to embrace them? Given your apparent intelligence, Stefan, I am 
particularly concerned when I see people like you using the term. If nothing 
else, in the relentless quest to collect facts, thoughts and tidbits about a 
myriad of subjects, it should be very much apparent that 'weirdness' simply 
does not exist except in the mind of individuals.

Perhaps if there were a determined effort to not describe food in derogatory 
term, it would be noticed by others that food is simply food thereby winning 
half the battle in getting people in general to try medieval food. When 
President Clinton took office, there were only 50 web pages in existence 
while today there are over a billion. The Internet is a worldwide community 
and any  attempt to describe any particular food as 'weird' inevitably leads 
to denigrating the eating choices of entire groups of peoples and are 
potentially offensive to those groups who do eat  that particular food. For 
instance, I have seen 'goat' meat described as 'weird' yet more of the 
world's peoples eat it than do not. Milk is considered undrinkable and 
'strange' by the vast majority of the world's population yet I have never 
seen it described in this forum as a 'weird'  food which statistically it is.

To a meateater, vegan dishes are 'weird'. To a vegan, meat is 'weird'. Yet 
neither of those general food groups are ever described as such. Other words 
that could be considered better or more descriptive are 'rare', not usually 
found, delicacy, not often eaten in <insert location of choice>, usually 
restricted to <group of your choice>. Even cutsey terms like 'tasty tidbit' 
or 'morsel' would be better than derogatory words which are all too often 
simply untrue. 

Cleaning up our own language could do much to promote the acceptance of 
period food, IMO.

Just a thought or two........

Ras