[Sca-cooks] Rotten meat and spices... (a few excerpts fromApicius)

[Terry Decker]

> --- "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius.magister at verizon.net> 
> wrote:
>> I know that there were, in addition to the laws already mentioned
>> about selling old meat, prohibitions about pouring new blood over old
>> meat to make it appear fresher than it was. But that's not a spice.
>>
>> And... it was illegal, so that doesn't sound like one of those
>> alleged myths-that-isn't-a-myth-at-all-but-in-fact-quite-prevalent.
>>
>> Adamantius
>
>
> That's how it appears at first glance.  However, if the practice were 
> prevalent enough to warrant
> the issuance of a proclamation denouncing it, and the creation of 
> punishments for offence, then it
> would stand to reason that it had been going on for some time, would it 
> not?  At least long enough
> for people to say 'hey...w.t.f?!?'
>
>
> William de Grandfort

It's a regulation, not a proclaimation, and the prevelance of the act can't 
be determined from the exsistence of the regulation (you need the records of 
the court to determine whether it was prevelant or not).  In the case of 
Ipswich, this would be a regulation fostered by the butcher's guild and 
enforced by them on their members to assure the town that the local meat was 
fresh, untainted and safe to purchase.  Thus keeping the butchers' clients 
from seeking better product from nearby farmers.

Bear