[Sca-cooks] Another view of New World foodstuffs: Courts of the Conquistadors?

[Mike C. Baker / Kihe Blackeagle]

Hearkening back to the discussion of a New World food back around Midsummer:
<START: mini-rant>
Jadwiga et al., I must hold that the foods and food preparations encountered 
in the New World are fully part and parcel of our *full* experience within 
the SCA -- and not only because of modern palate preferences.  Either we 
admit the full range of the SCA's published study era or we are creating a 
new "game" with different rules.  CERTAINLY, individual events, 
competitions, and opportunities may limit their focus more closely -- but 
any attempt to do so in general across all areas of interest is outside the 
intent of the organization I've been working with for <MUMBLE> over 25 
years.

Excluding something like one third of the Earth's landmass from our range 
doesn't sit well with me, either, especially those parts where we have ample 
records of European presence and even intervention.

Caveat:  I've always used a very late period framework for my primary 
persona (for reasons of personal preference, and dramatic storytelling, it 
is very important that I have access to Nuevo Mexico, particularly the part 
that includes Philmont Scout Ranch in this later age...)

<END: rant>

<obFood Content, directly related to this discussion>
I will note for the record that I have seldom seen a healthy tomato garden 
which hasn't produced at least one partially sundried fruit in the course of 
a growing season -- usually as a result of pest damage, where a major tear 
in the outer skin has been made by beak, tooth, or claw.  I'm still catching 
up in the related conversation, so I'm not certain if Vlad was at all 
successful with the academic record:  I'm relating direct experience here.

For the tables set in front of their conquerors, we do have records of New 
World foods being served.  In my search so far, the details have proved 
tantalizingly scanty, and some of the then-accepted details of hospitality 
would only be acceptable among mutually consenting adults in our modern era 
(and even then there could be understandable adjustments required...).  For 
some preparation methods, we have considerable evidence of how they were 
transferred and adapted by the European invaders / colonists (barbacoa 
frames merging with grid-irons and other grilles leading to our 
understanding of barbecue as passed down from generation to generation; 
traditional tortilla preparation likewise; etc.)

Geee.  I'd better find a way to incorporate some of this into my NaNoWriMo 
effort if I'm going to meet the Wednesday midnight deadline...

Adieu, Amra / ttfn - Mike / Pax ... Kihe

Mike C. Baker
SCA: al-Sayyid Amr ibn Majid al-Bakri al-Amra, F.O.B, OSCA
"Other": Reverend Kihe Blackeagle PULC (the DreamSinger Bard)
Opinions? I'm FULL of 'em
alt. e-mail: KiheBard at hotmail.com OR MCBaker216 at cs.com
   Buy my writings!:   http://www.lulu.com/WizardsDen
   http://www.livejournal.com/users/kihebard/

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise" <jenne at fiedlerfamily.net>
To: <alysk at ix.netcom.com>; "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2005 10:51 AM
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Document It: Was Pasta Experiment Update


<SNIP>

> Sure. But now we've sent someone on a quest to find out if it was ever
> done. Given the large amount of New world archaeology and historical
> anthropology, i wouldn't be surprised to find that someone had found
> caches of dried tomatoes somewhere.
>
> -- Jadwiga, who is perfectly ok with encouraging people to research
> pre-1600 New world customs for the sake of curiousity.
>
> -- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
> ""So that's what librarians do: Share knowledge. Share pleasure. Share
> ideas for a better world." -- MaryLaine Block