[Sca-cooks] maize and cubits

[Huette von Ahrens]

In the bibliography section of the Oxford Companion to Food, there is this listing, which I think needs to be found and read: 

Jeffreys, M.D.W. (1975) 'Pre-Columbian Maize in the Old World', in Margaret L. Arnott (ed.) "Gastronomy", The Hague: Mouton.

In the article on maize in the Oxford Companion to Food, it specifically cites this article but also calls it controversial.

Huette



--- On Sun, 11/29/09, t.d.decker at att.net <t.d.decker at att.net> wrote:

> From: t.d.decker at att.net <t.d.decker at att.net>
> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] maize and cubits
> To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
> Date: Sunday, November 29, 2009, 7:17 AM
> 
> > My memory is that _Maize in the Great Herbals_, by
> Finan, says that 
> > Maize was called Indian corn not because of the
> Amerind connection 
> > but because it was misidentified with an Indian corn
> described by 
> > Pliny. I have no idea if that was a variety of millet
> or not. 
> > -- 
> > David/Cariadoc 
> 
> A lot of the problem is Columbus identifying the Caribbean
> islands with the islands off Asia and the question of how
> soon people were differentiating between the New and Old
> Worlds.
> 
> I have encountered Pliny's quote and that his Indian Corn
> is usually identified as a type of millet, but it and some
> Indian (sub-continent) carvings and paintings are used by
> Diffusionists to "prove" that maize arrived in the Old World
> before Columbus.  I think it was probably a type of
> millet.  While I haven't found any contemporary linkage
> between Pliny and New World corn, I'm quite willing to take
> Finan's comment at face value until disproven.
> 
> Just to add to the fun, there was apparently a botanical
> report that a plant native to China was a form of
> maize.  Outside of hearing about this report, I haven't
> located much on the subject.
> 
> Bear
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