[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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