[Sca-cooks] Period Preservation Tech.

[Cindy M. Renfrow]

 I'm also looking for period food-related
>horror stories.  Does anybody know of any historic food poisoning
>anecdotes?
>

"Not all the would-be imitators of Florintine were as skilled as he
[Martino]; a certain Siennese nobleman, stunned by the magnificence of a
feast given for Pius II in Florence in 1459, determined to reproduce it at
home.  Finding no peacocks available, he told the cooks to use ducks
instead and dress them in the feathers of an old peacock.  A grand molded
gelatin, portraying the papal arms in full color, taxed his ingenuity to
the full, but he did his best with verdigris, white lead, vermilion, and
other paints, never thinking of edible colors like saffron and herbs.  The
guests came, admired, ate, and were extremely ill the next morning."  From
C. Anne Wilson's Great Cooks and Their Recipes, p. 26.

Regards,

Cindy