[Sca-cooks] Re: food myths (Turkey)

[Decker, Terry D.]

The guinea fowl is native to Africa and is named after the Guinea Coast in
West Africa, suggesting that it was brought into Europe from there, which
would probably mean 15th Century Portuguese.  In the US, they are commonly
called Hungarian guinea fowl, because they were originally imported into
North America from Hungary (I haven't found the proof for this one, so I
consider it likely, but apocryphal).

The bird ranges between the size of a large chicken and a small turkey.
Probably 7 to 12 pounds dressed.

Known to the Romans as the Numidian hen, the guinea fowl appears to have
disappeared from Europe following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire.
It may have been raised and eaten in the Islamic world, but its apparent
unavailability in Europe suggests otherwise.  If it was returned to Europe
during the early Portuguese explorations, then, like maize and capsicum
peppers, it was probably traded into the Levant via Genoa and Venice and
brought into Central Europe by the Ottoman Turks.

BTW, Numidia coincides roughly with modern Algeria, so the bird was West
African even in Roman times.  It is possible that climate change and local
hunting reduced its range during the late Roman period, so that it was no
longer readily available to the Mediterranean basin.

So there you go, Stefan.  A few facts and a lot of speculation.

Bear



> Kirsten mentioned:
> > dont forget that there was also a European bird that was
> called "turky"
> Oh? More details please. I thought I'd heard that the American turkey
>
> was known as the "turkey" because it had first been imported into
> Turkey and then to Europe, so it was first assumed to be native to
> there.
>
>
> This explanation sounds like it might be more likely. How big is this
>
> bird? And where is it native to?
> --
> THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
>     Mark S. Harris            Austin, Texas          stefan at texas.net
> **** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:
> http://www.florilegium.org ****