[Sca-cooks] Squash was Re:Helewyse's latest feast

[Louise Smithson]

David/Cariadoc wrote: 
Looks pretty unambiguous to me--yellow flowers. New World squash.

Thanks. Also for the descriptions of how to cook them.

Does this make squash the only New World food for which we have not 
merely evidence that someone, somewhere in Europe, cooked and ate it 
before 1600, but evidence that it was a reasonably familiar 
ingredient with a good deal of information on what was done with it? 
I don't think tomatoes or potatoes satisfy that--what about Turkey? 
Capsicums?
-- 

This is pretty much the class I taught, I believe, two or three pennsics ago.  New World Foods in Old World menus.  It started with trying to verify the section in Massimo Montanaris book, Italian cuisine a cultural history, that stated that recipes for the new world foods, maize, beans, squash and turkey, were contained in Scappi.  Very much like the squash example I gave you I sought information from at least three independent sources for each food, including obscure academic Italian books.  I sumarized the evidence for each and gave at least one of the recipes.  The presence of these foods was in all cases additionally confirmed by the depiction of them in art work of the time.  I ended up with a lot of research, and came to the conclusion (much as the eminent Italian food scholars themselves had done) that indeed these foods, more so the beans, squash and turkey, were quickly and seamlessly incorporated into Italian cuisine remarkably quickly.  The
 corn a little less so, with little/no evidence for chilis/tomatoes and potatoes.  
I ended up using a modern crop science research paper to go some way to explain the rapid spread of these foods.  
According to horticulturists the success of new crops depends on several factors, some of these were as relevant in the 16th century as they are today [1]. These include:
a. Do they grow in the new agro climate? I.e. crops requiring the same temperature, humidity and photo period will do better in the same areas (tropical plants do not grow in arctic climes). The higher the genetic diversity in the introduced plants the more likely a "fit" will be found.
b. Easy adaptation to the cultural practices common in the main crops of the new region. It is easier to grow a plant if you can use the same system you are using currently.
c. Prolonged production and supply periods - a crop that fruits or yields for an extended period of time will be preferred over one which has a short few weeks of production.
d. Resistance to transport and handling, and extended post harvest life - can you get it to market in one piece
e. Can it be sold through existing marketing channels
f. Attractive to consumers, suitable taste for consumers - do they want it
g. Easy to consume or prepare - can they cook it in familiar ways?
Prohens, J., A. Rodriguez-Burruezo, and F. Nuez, New crops: an alternative for the development of horticulture. Food, Agriculture & Environment, 2003. 1(1): p. 75-79.

Once you start fitting the various crops into this list you can see why some crops/animals (e.g. beans) fit right into the existing system.  The answer was in the positive for all of them.  And why some crops (e.g. tomatoes) really didn't.  
I really recommend that you read the article it is in the florilegium and also on my web page (www.geocities.com/helewyse/newworld.pdf )
 I spent a lot of time pulling the research for it and am relatively certain that formentone (large wheat) listed in scappi is maize not einkorn (as scully has it translated) but that is based on one single Italian academic source which gives all the names used for maize in Italy (and there are lots of them).  
If you search google books I discorsi di M. Pietro Andrea Matthioli is now there, page 417 has a great picture of formento indiana (or indian wheat), along with a full description of how it is planted, harvested and made use of.  In the same book, for contrast, is the first mention of the tomato, which gets a whole two lines in the two page section on eggplant (pg 1135-6).
At the bottom of my article is also a list of suggested art works to look up for images from about 1540 onwards, some from Italy others from Flemish artists.  All of which show acurate pictures of new world crops. 
I make pains to point out in the article that the proofs I gathered are strictly for late 16th century Italian peninsula and that for other countries and time points people will have to do their own research.  What was true in Italy may not hold true for Germany, France or any other country. 

Helewyse
ps I'll be at Midrealm 40 yr and if you are going to be there am more than willing to bring the entire massive folder with me.