[Sca-cooks] El drama del medieval caf?

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Suey <lordhunt at gmail.com> wrote:
>The Arabs had coffee, they had cups, not sure about saucers, and they
>had sugar. They had spoons for liquids and semi-liquids. They did not
>use knives or forks. Now at the medieval dinner we are planning we are
>having a problem finding wooden soup spoons for the first course but
>when it comes to the coffee how can the guests stir it after adding the
>sugar?

There's scant to no evidence for coffee being drunk before the 15th 
century, although the beans and/or husks (bunn) were eaten. Coffee 
was being drunk in Cairo by the late 15th century, but didn't make it 
to Istanbul until around the middle of the 16th century.

Even women had knives for dining and by the 16th century in the 
Ottoman and Persian Empires could wear them on a belt, although, of 
course, Ottomans and Persians are not Arabs. And there is evidence 
for forks being used, but not for eating, rather for condiments.

I know wooden spoons were used by the Ottoman sultans and others 
dining with them, but there is clear evidence for spoons made of 
other materials used in other parts of Dar al-Islam - metal, for 
example.

And as someone already mentioned, the sugar and the coffee are boiled 
together to make the beverage. (and no milk in the coffee)
-- 
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita