[Sca-cooks] thoughts on period-style food?

[johnna holloway]

There is always the question of course
did people actually cook from all the recipe
manuscripts and early printed texts? Were they
accurately recorded? Were mistakes made in the
various versions when we know that the original
is lost and we have only a later copy of the original?
Did the 19th century historian or antiquarian do
a good or bad job when he/rarely she edited the
manuscript for its original publication in the
1800's? Why aren't there more surviving copies, if
in fact there was a great demand for "recipes"
then why don't we see multiple surviving copies?
There are dozens more academic questions of this
nature to reflect upon and ask when we work with
the subject of food and cookery in any time period.
Food historian Joop Witteveen made a point of
basing her work "On Swans, Cranes and Herons"
in PPC on recipes from surviving cookbooks and
recipe collections of the period (manuscripts);
such menus as are extant; some of them in the
cookbooks; household accounts; and literary sources.
[PPC 24]
I have always thought that this was the possible
best approach or model for food historians,
although it takes far more time and
resources than many can give and perhaps a more
intense, reflective and studied nature.
It's not the very practical, find a recipe,
solve the problem,and cook approach of the
everyday feast. It's the "super" document and
study approach.

Johnnae llyn Lewis Johnna Holloway








Rosine wrote:
>> For documentational purposes, I think recipes are very necessary - but I
> also keep in mind that medieval people ran out of supplies (at times), had
> too many of something going bad (at times), had personal tastes that
> determined the amounts of ingredients... and found that they preferred their
> version. ..snipped...> (Please insert smilie faces ...> Rosine