[Sca-cooks] plantain, bananas, herbals

[Judith Epstein]

On Sep 1, 2009, at 11:33 PM, David Friedman wrote:

>> ...all species of the Musa genus are indigenous to the tropical  
>> region of Southeast Asia. It's thought (again, citing Wikipedia)  
>> that Portuguese Franciscan friars are responsible for bringing the  
>> plantain to the Americas. FROM Africa.
>>
>> So, if that is accurate information (and yes, I know that's a BIG  
>> IF), that argues that plantains are Period for Southeast Asia,  
>> Africa, and the cute little territory that lies between them (Near  
>> East).
>
> I don't follow that. The are period for Southeast Asia. They may be  
> period for Africa, if the friars brought them to the Americas from  
> there before 1600. But how does that make them period for the Near  
> East?

Because the plantain had to make it from Asia to Africa. There are two  
ways of doing that: going through the Near East, or going by sea.

The presence of bananas in the Qur'an argues for them going through  
the Near East.

> Incidentally, I'm not sure how (or if) people in this discussion are  
> distinguishing "near east" from "middle east." I think of them as  
> roughly synonymous.

 From Dar Anahita, Urtatim's website (http://home.earthlink.net/~lilinah/Library/library.html#near 
):

"The Limited Middle East
The term Middle East does NOT include North Africa and the middle and  
western Mediterranean regions in which i'm interested.

In fact, the term Middle East does not include much of the Ottoman  
Empire. First, it includes none of the European parts of the Ottoman  
Empire, such as the Balkans, Greece, and points west. And second, it  
doesn't include the North African parts. So if your persona is an  
Egyptian Ghawazee dancer, you aren't Middle Eastern, sorry.

So what does the Middle East include? It only spans the East shores of  
the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas to, but not including, India. This  
covers the Levant - Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel-Palestine, and  
Anatolia/Asian Turkey, and Mesopotamia/Iraq, and Persia/Iran. In other  
words, Southwest Asia. Not bad, just a rather limited area compared to  
the possibilities."