[Sca-cooks] all there is to know about food... in three minutes!

[David Friedman]

Lainie asked:

>So my question is this- if I can devote a minute or two of three, 
>I'd like to at least touch on medieval diet and meals. A little 
>de-bunking might be necessary. So if you had three minutes to say 
>something about medieval food, what would you say? If you were in 
>the class, what would you ask?

Contrast Piers Plowman's complaint about what he had left to eat in 
the spring before more stuff became available with one of the 
Menagier's menus with Chiquart's menu? Mention limits imposed by 
region and season. And I have found it striking that, according to 
the economic historian Carlo Cippola (if I remember correctly), grain 
doubled its price in 20 miles by land transport--all the effort 
needed to plant, tend, and harvest the stuff was matched by the 
effort to move it 20 miles overland--which really limits what could 
be done to relieve famine.

Elizabeth of Dendermonde/Betty Cook