[Sca-cooks] Does anyone know anything about this book

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Thursday, June 19, 2003, at 03:30  PM, <jenne at fiedlerfamily.net>  
wrote:

>> I found this searching for Midevil cookbooks on ebay.  Does anyone  
>> know
>> anything about this book?  They have 45 of them in a dutch auction  
>> but I
>> don't want to bid if it's not a good source.
>>
>> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/ 
>> eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3527409310&category=11108
>
> I wasn't very satisfied with the interpretations and redactions in
> _Travelling Dysshes_ myself. If you would like a cookbook of this type,
> both Pleyn Delight and The Medieval Kitchen by Redon et. al. are quite
> good.

I should preface any response by saying I have never actually read the  
entire book, except for the recipes that have been posted here,  
supposedly from that source. Rather than say I'm not entitled to an  
opinion (when has that ever stopped anybody on _this_ list ;-) ? ),  
I'll say my opinion is based on a limited sample, and the reader can  
take it from there.

The impression I get is that these dishes are somewhat tweaked from  
their original sources in order to make them more convenient for  
traveling and for camping events, much in the way you can get recipes  
for dishes to be eaten at Scout Camp that in various ways diverge from  
what you'd ordinarily be eating. Makes sense, hence the name.

I think there may also be a tendency on the part of the authors to  
assume that any recipe that can be tweaked (and renamed) to resemble a  
common modern dish is a positive step. To some extent I agree with  
this, in that it tends to minimize or eliminate the alien factor of  
some period food, and possibly allow more people to react with openness  
rather than xenophobia.

On the other hand, I think, again, from what I've seen, that  
"Travelling Dishes" may be taking it too far. The example that comes to  
mind is the dish of chicken hacked up, boiled, and served in  
sweet-and-sour sauce, being popularly known as "Medieval Chicken  
McNuggets", and suitably altered to make this comparison more valid  
(boneless chunks, floured [I think], sauteed or fried, sauced).

I know that this recipe alone has led to my hearing, and seen posted  
here, statements like, "And did you know Chicken McNuggets are period?  
I can document them!"

It's probably no worse than "To The King's Taste", and probably better  
than "Fabulous Feasts", at least in that regard, but I'm concerned  
about the message it seems to send.

Adamantius