[Sca-cooks] Ye old artichoke question (was new world foods; old world names)

[Barbara Benson]

Greetings,

I have been doing research into gardening and one of my recent ILL
books was the W. Jashemski book on her excavations of Pompeii. One of
the images in the book that I found interesting was this one:

http://www.serenadariva.com/Temp/satyr.JPG

unfortunately I did not scan it seperately and is was only in pdf so
it is a horrible scan. She has it labeled as an ivy tipped something
but I truly think that it looks a lot like an artichoke.

In a second book that I have called "The origins of fruits and
vegetables" they have the following image:

http://www.serenadariva.com/Temp/artichoke.jpg

Unfortunately this book is more of a "coffee table" book than anything
else and the citation for the image does not have a date. From a
google seach on the Bardo Museum it appears that it is famous for it's
large collection of Roman Mosaics - which I believe implies that this 
mosaic is most likely Roman in origin. Unfortunately that doesn't
narrow our range of possible dates too much.

"The Bardo Museum: With its unparalled collection of mosaics, the
Bardo Museum is sometimes likened to the Louvre for its breadth and
quality. Most of the mosaics were commissioned between the 2nd and 4th
centuries AD to adorn the sumptuous villas of wealthy citizens
throughout Tunisia."
http://homepage.mac.com/melissaenderle/tunisia/bardo.html

So, between these two images I believe there is a little evidence to
suggest that the globe artichoke was known to the Romans. And I
believe that their inclusion in an SCA feast would not be out of line.
But it bears more researching.

Glad Tidings,
Serena da Riva

> While Northern Italy might not take to the Arab artichoke, what if the
> Italian artichoke were already there?  While Wright makes a decent case and
> his essay is easy to find, the seminal works for the Roman artichoke are old
> and are difficult to locate.  I think I'd like to see why the consensus is
> for a Roman artichoke.
> 
> Bear