[Sca-cooks] Newspaper reporter needs help with story

[Terry Decker]

In response to your questions,

1) that medieval food was inedible

Using the available recipes, properly prepared meals can be quite tasty. 
The spicing may be a little strange, but it is no odder to the taste than 
Thai or Indonesian cooking.

2) crude and ill-mannered behavior at the table

There are a number of contemporary texts that outline proper table etiquette 
in a medieval Emily Post manner.  Cleanliness and decorum were expected in 
the great hall.  And the remaining food was removed after each course by the 
household almoner for distribution to the needy rather than being tossed to 
the dogs as a couple of Hollywood epics have shown.

3)  the staple of medieval society was grain supplemented by a wide range 
(wider than modern selection) of domestiicated and game animals and birds. 
After Columbus, a number of large birds were replaced by the turkey, maize, 
potatoes and sweet potaotes were added to the grain diet as were vegetables 
like squash and tomatoes.  At the same time, the New World diet was altered 
by the introduction of such things as wheat, rye, and rice, bananas and 
sugar cane.  The Age of Exploration changed the diet of the entire world.

4) steak

The word steak derives Old Norse by way of Middle English which was in use 
between 1100 and 1500.  A 15th Century recipe (Harleian MS 279) provides the 
following:

To make Steyks of venson or bef. Take Venyson or Bef, & leche & gredyl it up 
broun; then take Vynegre & a

litel verious, & a lytil Wyne, and put pouder perpir ther-on y-now, and 
pouder Gyngere; and atte the dressoure

straw on pouder Canelle y-now, that the steyks be al y-helid ther-wyth, and 
but a litel Sawce; & then serue it

forth.

In other words, grease it, grill it, and and serve it with a sprinkle of 
cinnamon and a thin sauce made of vinegar, verjuice, wine, pepper, and 
ginger.

Bear

> My name is Patrick O'Donnell, a reporter for The Plain Dealer, the main 
> newspaper in Cleveland, OH. I am also an SCA member, Lord Mael Patraic mac 
> Domnaill, the author of a new book about the SCA called The Knights Next 
> Door: Everyday People Living Middle Ages Dreams.
>
> I am doing a feature story for my paper on medieval feasts, using the 
> Midrealm coronation feast this past weekend as the basis. I have 
> personally attended at least 20 SCA feasts and had sections on Atlantian 
> cooks/researches Thomas Longshanks and John le Burguillin in my book. But 
> I want to clarify a few things.
>
> 1) What would you consider the main mundane misconceptions about medieval 
> food?
> 2) What is the most common -but wrong - way medieval feasts are depicted?
> 3) What is the true most important difference between modern food and 
> medieval food?
> 4) What is the closest thing to a steak available in the Middle Ages? If 
> we need to be specific, try 14th C France)
>
> I have to keep this short and sweet, so I don't need any treatises. The 
> audience is everday run-of-the-mill mundanes. Some of this I might even 
> condense into a list. What I need is concensus on a few big things so I 
> can make a few points to folks who won't ever research or try period food.
>
> I've got a couple of days.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Patrick/Mael Patraic