[Sca-cooks] period okra

[Phlip]

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

> He says that like tomatoes and potatoes which didn't become accepted in
> the US until re-intoduced from Europe, Okra did not become accepted in
> Europe until after it was re-introduced from the New World, It was
> probably introduced to the New World by black slaves from Africa. He
> mentions okra being used in Europe only in the extreme southeast "which
> is in the Middle East gastronomic belt, and Spain, where the Moors
> introduced it."
>
> So, does anyone know of any period recipes that use okra?
>
> Stefan

Well, Stefan, this is only speculation, from what I know of the history of
the plant, but...

As I understand it, it was a plant of sub-Saharan Africa, which pretty well
might be Antarctica, as far as involvement with the Mediterranean section of
the continent goes. Yes, there was some intercourse between the
Mediterranean part of Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa, but it tended to be
confined to the Eastern section, along the Nile river. The Arabs did get
down there to trade, across the Sahara, but not a lot- that's one BIG
honking desert.

There really wasn't a lot of trade until the slave/sugar/cotton triangle
developed, other than some Europeans coasting down that way, notably the
Portuguese. For sufficient slaves to be taken to the Americas, develop the
okra as part of their diet, transfer it to the European slave owners, and
get it back to Europe would tend to take it beyond our period.

The Spaniards and Portuguese, too, were more interested in searching for
gold and silver and the Fountain of Youth, than they were in settling and
farming, initially, and when they wanted slaves, tended to try to enslave
the local Native Americans (which didn't work very well) before they
developed an interest in the black slaves for doing plantation work. The
North American settlers tended to be more... respectful? of the Native
Americans- they'd kill them, and fight them, and make treaties with them,
but tended not to try to enslave them, at least, no more so than they
enslaved their white "bond servants"- consequently, the black slaves caught
on here, and were grabbed up faster. Understand, I'm referring to the
equator and north, including the Carribean islands, where the sugar
plantations became so popular, not just the US and Mexico, when I speak of
North America. The Carribean Native Americans, too, were pretty well
decimated by the Europeans, when we first arrived, and dead slaves don't do
much farming.

I'd say it was possible, but not very likely- the timing tends to be off,
for okra in Europe in our period.

Note- I am speaking in generalities and poipulations here- Sr Juan de
Cabellero's importation of 10 slaves in 1540, or whatever, does not a black
slave population make.

Saint Phlip,
CoDoLDS

"When in doubt, heat it up and hit it with a hammer."
 Blacksmith's credo.

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....