[Sca-cooks] food question

[Terry Decker]

>To that I add part of my list:
>NEW WORLD FOODS
>Coffee <Scully 66>

Coffee is of African origin and was introduced into the Islamic world before
the discovery of the New World.

>Guinea fowl <Trager 53>

Guinea fowl are African in origin and were eaten in Ancient Rome.  Trager is
often inaccurate or apocryphal in his facts.

>Peanuts <Trager 53> (Native to South America.  Being raised
>in Virginia when colonists arrived 17 cent.  Grown in Africa
>(nguba = goober) by 18-19 cent.

Peanuts are South American in origin, but were not being grown in Virginia
when the colonists arrived.  That was Apios americana, the American
groundnut.  The peanut, Arachis hypogaea, appears to have been introduced to
North America as an import from Africa as part of the slave trade.

>Pineapples <Trager 53> (called by Columbus because it looked
>like a big pine cone). <Trager 56>

I question the Columbus reference.  It doesn't appear in his journal.
However, I haven't read Peter Martyr.

>Turtle meat <Trager 53>

Turtles are found world wide throughout the tropics and the temperate zones.

>Banana, rice and citrus fruits were imported to Americas
>from Asia.

Bananas were imported into the New World in 1517 from the Canary Islands.
They originate in Asia but were spread into the Near East and Africa by the
time Columbus sailed.

>Yams, cowpeas, coconuts, coffee and breadfruit
>were imported to Americas from Africa.

Coconuts are natural occurring on the Pacific coast of the New World.
Cowpeas probably originated in India or Southeast Asia and came to Europe
via Africa in Antiquity (check phaseolus in Pliny).  They were grown and
eaten in Europe at the time of the New world exploration.

>I wish I had the reference for tapioca.  It sure has fans on
>the list.

Cassava, it appears in Columbus' journal of the first voyage.

>Trager may not be the most reliable source, but it was the
>first one on the list.  I didn't bother to add notes when I
>found the items mentioned in other books.

>Kudrun þe Pilegrim -- returning to adding a panel to the
>Bayeux "Tapestry"

Actually, none of the sources referenced are particularly reliable on the
history of foods.  I would suggest adding Waverly Root's Food and Flandarin
and Montinari's A Culinary History of Food to your collection.

Bear