SC - list newbie/Seasonal food.

[Stefan li Rous]

Cassea said:
> Having recently been convinced to join the list by 'Lainie, I have been
> dutifully trying to catch up on the reading.  (Currently, I think I'm 5 days
> behind). So much info, so little reading time.

Welcome to the SCA-Cooks list! Keeping up with this list can be difficult
at times. Since the list traffic has been light recently, I've been trying
to read through some of the unread digests that I've saved.

> The subject of seasonal food availability has recently been growing near and
> dear to my heart.  However, one subject that hasn't been brought up (or at
> least between February 13th and 18th) in conjunction with food availability
> is religious food restrictions.  A vast majority of our personas would have
> had some sort of religious food restrictions some time during the year, be
> they Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Saracens or whatever.  Case in point,
> Lent starts soon, and the rules were a bit more stringent historically than
> now.

We have had a few discussions on food restrictions and fasts. You can seem
some of the discussion in this file in the FOOD section of the Florilegium:
fasts-msg         (24K) 11/ 9/00    Fasts and fastdays. Food restrictions.

We have had less discussion on seasonal availablity of foods. In part, I
think, because the differances are very regional and our discussions cover
such a large range geographically. When I did a luncheon for the Crown and
Entourage a year ago for Candlemas, I did try to take into account what
would be available, even for the King, in the middle of winter. No fresh
vegetables because they simply weren't there. Eggs, yes, because while
the egg output is way down, what little you get could go to the King. The
same on meats. While most animal slaughtering was done in late fall, animals
could be slaughtered throughout the year, and you might well be willing
to do this for food for the King. I used pickled vegetables (compost) for
a vegetable dish.

There is this small file on food seasons:
food-seasons-msg  (11K)  9/21/00    When various foods were in season.
 
> My lord's wargroup (with crusading monk personas) is planning a feast for
> the middle of March.  The carnivorous lot of them were not enthused with my
> suggestion that the menu be filled with Lenten foods, 

A very period concern. That's one of the reasons why you get the 'fake'
foods 
such as almond milk.

> and so are planning a
> typical array of beast and fowl and other such things that warm their
> fighter hearts.  I, however, have decided that sometime in the future there
> should be a Lenten feast in my barony; I am starting to plan my research
> strategy in the back of my brain.
> 
> Does anyone know any good sources for period Lenten restrictions and
> recipes? (And no, I haven't looked on the Florilegium yet.)

I've seen Lenten restrictions detailed in several books on period food,
but don't remember which ones right now. I did see your comment on the
Florilegium, but I thought I go ahead and mention which files I would
look in first. And perhaps a few others might think the files interesting
and take a look.

- -- 
THLord  Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas         stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****