[Sca-cooks] Re: [Sca-cooks) onion soup...

[Terry Decker]

> Elizabeth mention when asked where her feast was going to be from:
> > Closer to Moscow, they had more variety.
> Hmmm. What are you basing this on?
> In the Middle Ages the transportation networks were primitive. With a
> few exceptions, such as wine, honey or spices, most foods were eaten
> fairly close to where they were grown. Being close to a waterway made a
> big difference in the availability of items from far off. I'm sorry,
> but I don't know enough about Russian geography or history to know
> whether Moscow fit this or whether Moscow was even a major urban center
> at this point. I thought much of Moscow's climb in importance happened
> since the medieval time period.
>

Moscow is accessible by river and there was quite a bit of trade with the
Baltic.  Earliest metion is around 1147 and it was the capital of Russia by
the 15th Century.  In 1712, the capital was moved to St. Petersburg.

> Rus-Handbook-art  (97K)  9/ 2/99    Rus' Handbook from the Eoforwic
> Novogrod
>                                         event AS 24. Edited by Nicolaa
> de Bracton
> http://www.florilegium.org/files/CULTURES/Rus-Handbook-art.html
>
> This handbook was put together for an event centered around Novogrod,
> but I don't think they even tried to differentiate
> between the food of Russia and that specifically of Novogrod.
>
> I'm certainly not trying to steer you away from making this feast from
> a particular area but I'd be happy just to see a feast from Russia,
> much less a smaller area. I'm not sure the definitive material exists,
> but perhaps with the knowledge of medieval Russian food we do have, and
> some reasonable guesses about transport, growing regions and such, you
> can come up with an appropriate feast for the region.
>
> Stefan

Novgorod was one of the major trading cities in the region.  It had ties to
Lithuania, but was overrun by Moscow in 1478 and fell into the Russian
sphere of influence.

Bear