[Sca-cooks] Ibn Battula"s Meals

[Terry Decker]

> The reference to macaroni puzzles.  It references some sort of pasta of 
> that I'm reasonably sure.  I'm suspecting that he is likely talking about 
> broad flat noodles.  Would they be made from wheat?
>
> Dan

Triticun durum (AKA T. turgidum) , the wheat most commonly used in making 
pasta, has been grown in North Africa since at least Roman times.  It would 
have been a trade good in the Moslem world of the 14th Century, so there is 
a good possibility that the pasta mentioned was made from T. durum.  Since 
durum was being grown in Dhufar (west coast of the Arabian Peninsula), the 
Horn of Africa would have had easy access to it.

Bear