[Sca-cooks] Rotten meat and spices...
Laura C. Minnick
lcm at jeffnet.org
Tue Apr 12 19:06:33 PDT 2005
At 06:51 PM 4/12/2005, you wrote:
> > That's reading quite a bit into it, I think. The mention of bacon
> alone indicates that she did
> > have ample pork as a protein source,
>
>Gies and Gies and other sources indicate that bacon and other small
>portions of meat were often given to day laborers as hire or given out
>among the customary exchanges for harvest help. So she might not have
>had a pig in order to have bacon.
Thank you, Jadwiga. Saved me the trouble.
If you look at fabliaux traditions (and your random 'fairy tales' generally
fall into that category), a flitch of bacon was often that 'little bit' of
meat that would be found in a poor household. When it gets pinched by a
thief or the dog makes off with it while the goodwife's back is turned. And
it keeps well, unlike much of the rest of the poor beast.
And William, 'reading a bit into it' is what I'm about. It's why I have
that piece of paper.
'Lainie
___________________________________________________________________________
O it is excellent to have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous To use it
like a giant--Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act II
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