[Sca-cooks] weird question - honey fast???

Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius adamantius1 at verizon.net
Mon Aug 11 16:03:32 PDT 2008


On Aug 11, 2008, at 6:17 PM, Suey wrote:

> Although 60 years behind the times http://www.basingstoke-beekeepers.org.uk/vegansoc.html 
>  explains the difference between vegetarian and vegans to me and  
> indicates I had no cue what you were talking about. I have been  
> talking about Lent and other fast days, *carnem levare, "to remove  
> the meat"*and any animal products from eggs to milk which of course  
> had nothing to do with honey or sugar.

You know, I must tell you you're becoming quite repetitive on this  
point, without ever directly addressing the fact that bees _are_  
animals, a point which has been mentioned repeatedly by several people  
here. The reader must conclude you are either unaware of this fact  
(which seems unlikely) or are positing that medieval Europeans were  
unaware of it (which is more likely, but still not definite), or  
simply holding your breath until either your face turns blue or until  
we all believe your statement that bees making honey have nothing in  
common with mammals making milk to feed their young, which is, in the  
kindest possible terms, erroneous.

> Personally I would prefer to talk about amusingly odd medieval  
> prohibitions like pancakes, perhaps that was in the Netherlands?

And France. And Germany. And England. And Ireland... but this is  
perhaps a topic for a separate thread, which you are no doubt welcome  
to start up without attempting to end other people's discussions  
before reaching their conclusion.

> Don't know if that had anything to do with lust but I think this  
> could be an amusing subject if kept to the medieval time period.

In virtually all of Northern Europe, all places where both the  
Catholic Church and frying fats derived from animals (although not  
bees, in spite of the fact that he ancient Romans were known to fry  
certain foods in honey) predominated in the Middle Ages, there were,  
and theoretically remain, prohibitions against frying foods in butter,  
lard, beef drippings, etc. The prohibition isn't, as far as I'm aware,  
specifically against pancakes. Pancakes are just a common food cooked  
in fat, as are various fritters, beignets. Many Catholic cultures  
still practice a tradition of eating fried foods in the days  
immediately prior to the beginning of Lent. Sometimes (but not always)  
these are pancakes.

Adamantius


"Most men worry about their own bellies, and other people's souls,  
when we all ought to worry about our own souls, and other people's  
bellies."
			-- Rabbi Israel Salanter




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