SC - turkeys again

[Decker, Terry D.]

While reading in Food: A Culinary History, I came across the following:

"  The slow rate at which American foods were generally adopted is typical
of the process of culinary change in early modern society.  Yet some species
gained acceptance much more quickly than others, or more quickly in certain
regions than in others.  Indeed, the turkey caught on with amazing speed.
Discovered by Cortez and his men in Mexico about 1520, the "Indian chicken"
was mentioned by Rabelais in his Gargantua (1534).  And we know that
Marguerite d'Angouleme contracted with a farmer in Navarre to raise turkeys
for her table.  At a banquet given by Catherine de' Medici at the bishopric
of Paris in 1549, seventy "Indian Chickens" costing 20 sols apiece and seven
"Indian roosters" costing 30 sols were served.  The most surprising thing is
that these prices were already markedly below the prices for native birds
such as peacock and heron (40 sols), pheasant and bustard (70 sols), crane
(80 sols), swan (100 sols) and so on.  The turkey was accepted almost from
the moment it arrived because all sorts of large birds were served on
aristocratic tables, including some that we consider inedible, such as
cormorant, stork, heron, crane, swan and peacock.  Hence there was no
problem with introducing the turkey, which was large, decorative, and tasty
in the opinion of satisfied consumers both then and now.

"  Similar arguments can be advanced to explain the relatively rapid
acceptance of corn by millet eaters and of string beans by those already
accustomed to the old European variety.  If the pace of change in these
cases was slower that in the case of the turkey, it was not because the
common folk were less open to new foods than were members of the elite; it
may be quite simply that the sources paid less attention to what the poor
ate than to what the rich ate."

Flandrin, Jean-Louis, "Introduction:  The Early Modern Period", pp. 358-359,
Food: A Culinary History.


Unfortunately, this Introduction was not foot-noted, so I don't know the
source for Catherine's banquet list.  I'm curious to find out what the
original says, as the version of the list which appears in Larousse lists
"66 India hens".  So question 1 is, what is the primary source of the
banquet list?

I can not find any reference to Marguerite d'Angouleme in my library, but
anyone who contracts for raising turkeys in this time frame is certainly of
interest to the culinary historian.  Question 2 is, what biographical
information is there about Marguerite d'Angouleme?

I'm a little hesitant to accept Flandrin's arguments, but I would like to
verify the facts he puts forward.

Bear