[Sca-cooks] Period German menus

[Barbara Benson]

> Putting it another way: in a herding economy, cows are wealth and
> power, and when Rumpolt speaks of a feast for a farmer, he's
> presumably not talking about serfs or even tenants.
>
> Adamantius

Greetings,

While I do not necessarily agree that the "Feasts for Farmers" menus
are jokes perpetrated by  M. Rumpoldt; I also have to disagree with
Adamantius on this one (teh horror).

At the beginning of each menu there is a woodcut depicting the
banquets in question (some of the images are used multiple times)
that, in keeping with the rest of the manuscript, is clearly meant to
imply what is to come in the following section. Just as there is a
picture of a little baby cow preceeding the veal chapter - so is there
a picture of the aforementioned farmer sitting at his table where the
feast is presumably to occur.

The woodcuts start out with the depiction of the Emperor dining in
grand opulance and decend in fancy-pantsness with each subsequent drop
in rank of the people being served. The woodcut depicting the farmer
clearly shows an individual who is pretty far down on the social
ladder. It isn't quite a depiction of a pesant - he has walls and a
table and shoes and such. But he is the only person depicted as dining
alone in what appears to be his home.

All of the other woodcuts show people feasting and being served in
groups and having a grand ole time - albiet some more fancily than
others. But Mr. Farmer guy - well he looks pretty depressed.

When I get the opportunity to get to my scanner I will scan in a
sampling of woodcuts and let everyone here make their own judgements.
But I am afraid I cannot buy into some sort of Rancher Baron in this
circumstance.

Glad Tidings,
Serena da Riva