[Sca-cooks] Scottish food

[Volker Bach]

"Laura C. Minnick" schrieb:
>
> Stefan li Rous wrote:
> >
> > Lainie asked:
> > > OFC- what sort of foodstufs grow in Scotland besides sheep?
> >
> > Even today, apparently not much in the way of vegetables and fruit. I
> > remember reading an article recently about the Scottish government
> > trying very hard, with rather limited success, to get its citizens to
> > improve their diet by eating more fruits and vegetables. Apparently
> > the Scots have one of the least balanced diets in Europe.
>
> Just an observation, but have you ever noticed that the barren places,
> where not much grows and you have to scratch out a scarce living tends
> to be the places with the fierce people who fight over their
> next-to-worthless land? Why is this?
>
> Just thinking, which is a dangerous thing to do.

It's a habit that's hard to break, though  -
fortunately.

My guess would be that marginal lands go together
with thin population densities and long distances,
which means you get lots of small, largely
self-contained communities without enough suplus
to sustain anything resembling orderly government.
These communities are more likely to become
violent over the necessities of life as a) they so
often lack them, b) they have no higher authority
they could see coming to their aid or punishing
their actions and c) they feel less solidarity
with their neighbours, them being distinctly
'other'. Violent habits breed violence and
mistrust, which in turn creates more violence.

Also, I think most such cultures are, in broad
historical strokes, 'losers' that is they have
been displaced from more desireable areas by more
successful cultures (not necessarily in terms of
refugee movements as much as in terms of cultural
change). The main virtues that make successful
cultures, historically, are manifold but almost
invariably seem to include a high degree of
organisation enforcing internal peace.
Organisation takes material resources to run on,
so it works best where these are plentiful. Of
course, peace and organisation also pay dividends
in terms of productivity which in turn aids the
stability of organisation patterns. Perhaps the
best historical examples for such a development is
found in China/Mongolia. China had the resources
to run a high degree of organisation. Mongolia did
not. Hence Mongolia has a history of tribal
raiding and poverty, China one of stability and
wealth.

Giano