FW: [Sca-cooks] Paper twists of spice (Was spice storage)

[Sandra Kisner]

It probably means they bought at the local market or fair, which wasn't 
there every day, but probably more than once a year for at least some 
items.  It doesn't say there were no towns, just that they got bigger, and 
as they did had more "permanent" markets.

Sandra

>Does this paragraph bother anyone else? There were no towns before the
>16th century? Poor folk saved up all year in order to purchase in bulk?
>That first sentence especially just seems odd to me.
>
>Mirhaxa
>   mirhaxa at morktorn.com
>
> >   "Until the sixteenth century, buying and trading were done mainly in
> >   bulk.  There was little need for wrapping or packaging.  Customers
> >   provided their own containers, such as baskets, jugs, or bowls.  But as
> >   towns and cities grew, goods could be purchased in smaller quantities
> >   as they were needed, and it was convenient to do shopping more
> >   frequently.  Therefore, items such as grain, beans, buttons, and
> >   needles required some kind of wrapping or packaging to contain these
> >   smaller quantities.