[Sca-cooks] New World Foods in the Old World

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Yeah, yeah, dull old topic...

On another list, one that many folks on this one are also on, is a 
discussion of New World Foods and just how suitable are they for 16th 
century feasts. The issue seems to me to be less whether or not these 
food stuffs were known, but more about how commonly they were eaten 
and how readily they were taken to by Old World Europeans. Among 
those mentioned explicitly are turkey, tomatoes, potatoes, and 
chocolate.

One poster pointed out that plants brought back from the New World 
were planted in the Old World and that poster concluded that because 
they were planted, the food stuffs they produced would have been 
sought out by the wealthy and powerful and would have been among the 
foods served at feasts, not necessarily with great frequency, but 
somewhat often.

For those who aren't on that list, my stance is:
-- Of food stuffs brought back to Europe from the New World, few were 
adopted into the diet rapidly (within 2 or 3 years), and many were 
viewed with skepticism for some time (up to 150 years or possibly 
more).
-- Some things may have been adopted more quickly if they were 
similar to or reminded people of foods they already ate (turkey).
-- Additionally, i implied that some foods were adopted more quickly 
in some countries than in others, although i may not have pointed 
this out explicitly (i mentioned the tomato in Spain and Italy).

I arrived at my point of view based on:
(1) my academic studies in anthropology (admittedly dealing with 
various cultures in the 19th & 20th centuries)
(2) my personal experiences, both while living and travelling in the 
US and while living in and traveling through quite a few foreign 
countries - European, Asian, and North African - with food and 
cooking methods and with just how willing or not folks are, not just 
to try new foods and techniques, but to use them more than once (let 
alone adopt them regularly).
(3) my food history studies, including but not limited to many 
related discussions on this list
and
(4) some recent scientific studies - for which i don't have 
references at the moment - that point to a genetic component on the 
eagerness of humans to seek novel experiences - applicable in this 
instance to their willingness to eat unusual/unfamiliar and possibly 
dangerous foods.

But i was talking off my memories, without specific references.

One thing i left out was how easily a particular plant could be grown 
in a particular European country. I am guessing that a food might be 
more readily adopted if the plant that produced it could be grown 
locally.

With the crash of my old hard drive, i've lost all the old e-mails 
i'd saved from this list, so i can't go search my own files. And i 
find searching the archives a bit difficult, although i'm sure glad 
they're there - i just wish there was a way to download digests 
rather than one message at a time.

I'm wondering what other people on this list know, not just whether 
the plant or food item was known, but whether it was eaten with some 
frequency, and just how eager Europeans were in the 16th century to 
eat tomatoes, potatoes, maize, etc. - especially those who hadn't 
actually seen the "natives" eat - and further how eager were they to 
serve them at European feasts.

I realize this question comes up in various forms on this list, but 
i'd like some references from "period" sources and modern scholars 
supporting any side of this issue.

Anyway, thanks for any pointers...

Anahita