[Sca-cooks] Fwd: mystery vegetable

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

>  >Have a look at this page:
>  >http://www.bnf.fr/enluminures/images/jpeg/i5_0045.jpg
>
>What do you guys think the mystery vegetable is?
>
>Giles

Well, sure is hard to tell. But it's unlikely to be anything heavy,
if the painting is at all true to life. It would be difficult to hold
a bag that full of onions or turnips (or potatoes :-) in one's teeth
without using at least one hand. So, i'd guess mushrooms, 'cuz you
could hold a bag that full of 'em in your teeth - that volume of them
would be a lot lighter than the same volume of root vegetables.

They sure do look rather like truffles, though. But i don't know how
common truffles were in those days. There are quite a few plants and
animals that are far less common now than they were "in the old
days". Were truffles as rare then as they are now?

Anahita