[Sca-cooks] Foods native to Britain before the Romans came

[John Kemker]

Roe (Capreolus capreolus) and Red Deer (Cervidae elaphus) are both 
native pre-Roman.  (Pre-glacial, for that matter.)

Fallow Deer (Dama dama dama) are kind of interesting.  Native 
pre-glacial, but died out during the last Ice Age.  Reintroduced by 
either the Phoenicians or Romans.  (There's some disagreement on who 
reintroduced them.)  Apparently, the Saxons don't mention the Fallow 
Deer at all, but the Normans definitely did.  So, the Normans might have 
reintroduced them yet again.

Red Deer are known as "Elk" in North America.  "Elk" (or, more properly, 
"Älg") is the name most Europeans give to the animal that N.A. calls 
"Moose."  (Moose apparently is a derivation of an Algonquin word meaning 
"twig eater.")

kingstaste at mindspring.com wrote:

>Dear Cooks,
>	I am putting together one of my last two classes for my Roman Britain
>class.  This week we are talking about Samhain, and next week is the Roman
>Banquet.  One of the homework assignments is for them to select a food to
>bring.  I have a list of foods introduced to Britain by the Romans, but I
>don't have a good list of what was native before they arrived.  My Hagen
>books have not made it home yet, so I need some help here.
>	Here are the lists I have:
>
>	Foods introduced to Britain by the Romans
>		Pheasants, peacocks, guinea fowl, fallow deer
>		Apples, grape vines, fig, walnut, medlar, mulberry, damsons, pears, plums,
>cultivated 		cherries, sweet chestnut
>		Parsley, borage, dill, fennel, mint, thyme, garlic, leek, onion, shallot,
>rosemary, 		sage, savory, sweet marjoram, radish, thyme
>		Turnips, cabbages, lettuce, endive, peas, lentils, carrots, artichokes,
>cucumber, 			asparagus, parsnip, celery
>
>	Imported Commodities
>		Dates, almonds, olives, wine, olive oil, pine nuts,
>		fish sauce (liquamen or garum), pepper, ginger, cinnamon
>
>	Foods native to Britain before the Romans
>		Hazelnuts,
>
>and now I'm stuck.
>Help?
>
>Christianna
>
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>  
>

-- 
---
John Kemker

"Why, it appears that we appointed all of our worst generals to
command the armies and we appointed all of our best generals to edit
the newspapers. I mean, I found by reading a newspaper that these
editor generals saw all of the defects plainly from the start but
didn't tell me until it was too late. I'm willing to yield my place
to these best generals and I'll do my best for the cause by editing a
newspaper." --Robert E. Lee