[Sca-cooks] Rotten meat and spices...

[Phlip]

OK, guys, we're getting some help on the "rotten meat" issue. This is from
the lady who wrote the article I forwarded the url to you guys a few days
ago, where she's debunking that annoying article that keeps coming around
about the bad old days.

http://historymedren.about.com/od/dailylifesociety/a/bod_intro.htm

As I mentioned, I wrote her a letter thanking her for the article, and the
following is her response. Since she's helping sort out that other annoying
myth, about rotten meat and too many spices, I figured we could help her out
a bit. Yes, Stefan, the first thing I did was send her to the Florilegium
;-) However, I remember us discussing a few other things on SCA Cooks List,
and I'd very much like to have the citations, if y'all can find them. One of
them was about the butcher who was punished by being made to wear the rotten
meat around his nexk- another was a discussion of how many critters were
used in a given town- I think the first cite was from England, the second
from Italy.

I'd also be interested in anything else y'all have in the way of related
citations, helping prove the point- what I'd like to do is collect
everything y'all come up with, combine them into one email (with appropriate
credit) and send the information off to her in one email, rather than
innundating her with a bazillion of them.

Thanks ;-)

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

> Hello, Phlip,
>
> Thank you for your kind comments about the "Bad Old Days" feature. It
> was amazingly easy to debunk the nonsense with an encyclopedia and a
> fews good books. I get some good feedback, although I think a lot of
> people would prefer to think that medieval people were stupid, filthy
> and just plain silly. Maybe because it makes them feel superior by
> comparison?
>
> In the future, I hope to continue "mythbusting," and the "covering up
> the flavor of rotten meat with lots of spices" myth is one of the first
> things I'll address, along with dental hygiene and the right of "first
> night." If you have any other myths you'd like to see debunked, I'm
> wide open to suggestions, and if you have any sources you'd like to
> recommend, I'd appreciate it if you'd pass them along.
>
> I hope you continue to enjoy your visits to the Medieval History site!
>
> Best,
> Melissa Snell
> About Guide to Medieval History
> http://historymedren.about.com/
> On Mar 31, 2005, at 9:31 AM, Phlip wrote:
>
> >
> > Hello, Melissa,
> >
> > Just wanted to thank you for your article debunking that obnoxious
> > urban
> > legend running around, "Liufe in the Middle Ages" (or 15th century, or
> > whatever they're calling it this week). As you said, initially it was
> > mildly
> > amusing, but since then, I've had it sent to me several times, and
> > actually
> > had ignorant yutzes try to quote it to me, to "prove" some idiocy or
> > another. I shall keep, cherish, and disseminate the url copiously ;-)
> >
> > Now, any chance you can do anything about "People in the Middle ages
> > used
> > lots of spices to cover up the flavor of rotten meat" ? I'll be more
> > than
> > happy to help you with the research.
> >
> > Saint Phlip,

Saint Phlip,
CoD

"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....



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