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

[Terry Decker]

I beg to differ.  Roman towns were planned communities capable of handling 
around 25,000 people, which is larger than some "cities" in the U.S. today. 
Rome was a city well before the 16th Century and there were a number of well 
developed urban areas usually centered on the old Roman towns before the 
Renaissance.  In many cases, the commerce in these towns predates the Middle 
Ages and the Renaissance (in a few instances it can be traced into the 
Neolithic).  Most of these towns had shops that carried on trade daily and 
an open market that was used weekly at a minimum.  Trade would not have been 
a regular occurence if everyone bought in bulk.

Castles and manors tended to buy in bulk because they were communities that 
required large quantities of supplies and were agriculturally based, 
seasonally limiting the ready money to buy the goods.  Also, like most rural 
areas, they were dependent on the delivery of goods to them rather than the 
flow of commerce through the area.

Wholesale is done in bulk.  Retail is done in the quantity required by the 
purchaser.  Both require appropriate packaging, no matter when.

I'd say the article that started this suffers from a lack of research and 
represents only the erroneous opinion of the author.

Bear

> The Renaissance marked the development of the "city", so while the 16th
> century date may be a bit off, it isn't that far out of line.
> That said, it did come from a site on the internet (Tara posted a caveat 
> for
> all internet finds), and it was from a site on the history of the shopping
> bag.
> Take it for what it's worth.
> Christianna
>
>
> 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.
>
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