[Sca-cooks] Any period Mongolian recipes out there?

[Huette von Ahrens]

--- KristiWhyKelly at aol.com wrote:

> Any idea of how to stop the discussion of Rowan's research on the  list?  I 
> so don't want to get into this subject.  I just want some  recipes.
>  
> Thanks for your help,
>  
> Grace

Sorry Grace, but you have just become Pandora.  You have opened the box to this subject and it is
now free to go as and where it will.  You cannot put it back into its box.

Unfortunately, you have given us a very provocative statement, in that your friend thinks the Soup
for the Qan isn't a good resource.  Unfortunately, your friend isn't here to argue his/her side. 
Also, you should know that Phlip is a very good friend to both of the authors of Soup for the Qan.
They are university professors who are experts in their field and are universally accepted as
such.  Their academic credentials are awe inspiring.  What are your friend Rowan's credentials? 
Does he/she teach in a university and publish his/her research?  Is he/she universally accepted as
an expert in Mongolian culture?  I am asking this in a friendly manner because I don't know who
Rowan is.  I am not being snooty or sarcastic.  I just would like to know who Rowan is.

Unfortunately, there are many subjects that just can't be easily answered.  Not every culture or
every era was good in writing things down.  Because of this, we have to make guesses as to what
these cultures did.  With the exception of the Soup for the Qan, there are no other books that
give period recipes as to what the Mongols ate.  There was another book mentioned, Imperial
Mongolian Cooking: Recipes from the Kingdoms of Genghis Khan by Marc Cramer.  The person who
mentioned this also mentioned that it is modern and _not period_.  Which is true.  There is a
common fallacy in the SCA and elsewhere that cultures that are old haven't changed in "centuries".
 This is especially untrue in recent centuries, where globalization is influencing everyone
everywhere.  What foods these people are eating now doesn't reflect on what they ate four hundred
years ago or a thousand years ago.

So, here is the problem.  We just can't give you any recipes for period Mongolian food unless it
comes from the Soup for the Qan.  I think that you need to go back to Rowan and tell him/her this.
If Rowan is looking for nomadic Mongolian food, there are no recipes from period.  Either he/she
will have to accept Soup for the Qan recipes that are as close to their period as anyone can find
or he/she will have to accept modern Mongolian recipes that have been corrupted by centuries of
influences and would be less period than the Soup for the Qan recipes.

I wish we could give you what you want.  Some requests are just impossible to fulfill.

Huette

My thoughts are whirled like a potter's wheel;   King Henry VI, part I: I, v 
http://www.twoheartsentwinedpottery.com/


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