[Sca-cooks] For the Chowderheads

[Stefan li Rous]

Phlip commented:
 >>>
What period soup/stews might have been the
forecaster of what we call chowder today? I'm thinking we ought to
look most
at the Brits, particularly coastal/seafaring types, with perhaps some
small influence from the Dutch and French, those being the groups which
were most influential in colonizing the northeast, shortly after our  
period.

I notice similarities with the original gazpacho, for example, but the
Spanish didn't have a lot of influence in New England.
<<<

Well, the Spanish probably didn't. But I believe the Basque certainly  
did. They appear to have been fishing off the north North American  
coast since the early 15th century. Many of the navigators and  
sailors that get lumped in with the Spanish and Portugese in their  
voyages of exploration were actually Basques. The Basques were also  
the major whaling region until they taught the art to the English at  
the end of or just after our period.

See "The Basque History of the World" and "Cod, the Fish that Changed  
the World" by Mark Kurlansky for more details.

 >>>
I also notice that
many of the ingredients are what might readily be found on ship
board-
<<<

Another item which would point toward the Basque and/or simply New  
England fishing.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****