[Sca-cooks] Sources was Spices and the Irish Common folk

[Johnna Holloway]

Actually there has been quite a bit of research done
on the foods and foodways of  Ireland through the centuries.
There are literally hundreds of papers on the subject.
Besides the books I mentioned in my original post on this
subject, I would suggest that you purchase and read or
interlibrary loan and read Feast and Famine. A History
of Food and Nutrition in Ireland 1500-1920 by Clarkson and Crawford.
It was printed by Oxford University Press in 2001.
http://www.oup.co.uk/isbn/0-19-822751-5

This is not just a work of the upper classes. It examines the lower classes.
It also discusses what they ate prior to 1500. There are hundreds of 
footnotes
included to sources that can be explored on this topic as well.

Another work that you ought to read is Nature in Ireland. The chapter in 
that
work that applies to the assertions that you made is by Terence 
Reeves-Smith.
It's titled "The Natural History of thr Demesnes." Again there are 
footnotes to read
and explore. By the way the author mentions that over 100 herbs and 
vegetables are mentioned
in a late 14th century work. It wasn't all cabbages.

It is certainly possible to read about what the Irish actually ate as 
opposed to just wildly throwing
"generalizations" about.

Johnnae llyn Lewis
JK Holloway, MSLIS



Tom Vincent wrote:

>I doubt if there is any period documentation about what 14th c. common Irish (or otherwise) folk ate or what spices they had, but I'll commit to the following generalizations: snipped
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