SC - I am So Ashamed! (long)

[Jeffrey Miller]

- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Hupman, Laurie" <LHupman at kenyon.com>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2000 2:23 PM
Subject: RE: SC - I am So Ashamed! (long)


> Let me apologize up front, I should have been more clear.  My local
> newspaper ran a review this morning of a new cookbook:  traditional Wiccan
> cooking.  From the article, the book seems to perpetuate the same old
myths
> about medieval food that we constantly see popping up elsewhere,
especially
> the idea that medieval food was heavily spiced to hide the taste of
rotting
> meat.  Of the three representative recipes included in the article, one is
> for apple scones and the other for chocolate "All Hallows' Eve Cakes."  I
> have my doubts about the authenticity of the scones, as I do not know as
> much about baked goods as I should, but I really don't think the chocolate
> cookies qualify as medieval Wiccan cooking.  Another recipe, referred to
but
> not reprinted, is for one of the authors' grandmother's tamales.

In terms of historical accuracy, yes - blah.

> My problem is not that it is Wiccan, but that it does not present an
> accurate picture of medieval cooking.  Instead, it uses the veneer of
> Wiccanism (is that a word?) to present the same shoddy research and
> half-truths that we've tried so hard to dispel.

Wicca is the proper word in this case </grammer&spell-check>

I'm not sure I got the same feeling - I didn't read it as if they were using
a veneer of Wicca to somehow "validate" their poor research (if in fact any
research was done)... but then, I didn't read it too teribly closely.

- -j-