SC - Unhistoric things we serve WAS:Shepherds Pie

[JVButlerJr@aol.com]

In a message dated 5/9/00 7:33:18 PM, JVButlerJr at aol.com writes:

>   The "Eurocentric prejudice" regarding food is an attitude I will never,
>
>ever understand.  The Chinese were eating tomatoes before the Europeans
>were. 
> So were the arabs.  Peanuts were being grown and eaten in Siam and India
>for 
>thousands of years.  Bananas were being eaten in Southeast Asia for thousands
>
>of years as well.  Hot peppers have been an elemenf of Indian cooking (as
>
>well as Mongolian, Afghan, and Siamese) for centuries.  Sure sounds like
>they 
>were period... oh, not European, of course, but period.
>
>    But if we are talking about Europe, lets consider:  The tomato entered
>
>Italian cuisine in the 1500's... which is during period.  Potatoes were
>being 
>grown as a food crop in Spain and France in the 1500's as well.  Period
>again.
>
>    The problem seems to me that we (the generic "we") forget that period
>is 
>more than the Renaissance and the Dark Ages, but the Age of Exploration
>as 
>well.
>
>    Sayyid Suleyman al-Rashid ibn Beyazid
>


While I agree that these items may be eaten in other areas in the world, if 
the kitchener is cooking for an event that is strictly of a certain time 
period or place (which we do here), they are not appropriate to the table at 
the event.

If we are trying to provide documentable recipes to enhance the event, we 
should strive to provide a feast worthy of it. Providing out of area (or out 
of time period) foods  doesn't add to this mystique. While I am guilty of 
borrowing recipes from another period or culture (usually to provide for the 
vegetarians in my group) in the past, I am striving to eliminate this 
tendency. To put blatantly out of period and area edibles on my tables is 
something I am trying to avoid, as I usually base my menus on the theme of 
the event. 

To be given tacos for lunch at event, will continue to confound me....

As to the banana: I await further study of the "tudor find", then I will 
include it on my menus.....


In Service:

Andrea MacIntyre (who usually uses recipes from the English and French 
Tudor:HenryVII unless asked to do differently)

or 

Bars Xatur of the Silverhorde <alter ego> (who cooks Mongolian)