[Sca-cooks] SPANISH MEDIEVAL FOOD VOCABULARY
emilio szabo
emilio_szabo at yahoo.it
Wed Oct 13 15:10:29 PDT 2010
Here are some comments.
-- L. Upupa epops
Does the "L." stand for "Linné"? Then it should be placed after the rest. At
least, I think so ...
-- I suggest that you leave out everything that has nothing to do with cookery
(the kind of singing..., the length of the bird, ...). On the other hand, please
quote and document the aspects that are relevant for culinary history. Did
Avenzoar say something about the culinary use of the bird? In which edition of
Avenzoar will we find the information? Is the bird mentioned in the cookery
books? In the dietetic works?
-- Could you please give the bibliographical details of the references? There
are no hyperlinks and no bibliographic entries to Avenzoar, Ibn Zuhr etc.
-- Is there a survey about spanish medieval food sources? What is your "corpus"?
Thank you!
E.
ABUBILLA
OCast. habudilla, L. Upupa epops, Eng. hoopoe. To Spanish ears, this bird sings
“bub-bub-bub” and for this, it was named “little bub.” To Anglo Saxons, he
sings, “burp, burp, burp,” although that has nothing to do with the bird’s
English name. Perhaps the hoopoe’s Spanish and English names indicate that it is
bi-lingual. Avenzoar said that he who takes feathers or the tongue of a hoopoe
will be successful. During the Middle Ages, it was thought that if one ate the
meat it would sharpen the mind. It is about 18 cm long. The hoopoe can be
confused with other birds for its cinnamon colored body, black wings and tail
with white stripes. The wings are wide and rounded while the tail is squared.
When flying, its large, wide, black and white wings flap, beating irregularly
like a gigantic butterfly with a tail. It has an elegant walk and its head moves
as if slightly trotting. The hoopoe has a long, narrow, curved bill to peck the
earth in search for worms and insect larva. It has a prominent erect crest of
large bright pink feathers with black tips that fans out when excited. The
hoopee prefers warm sunny regions with vegetation, open areas with trees
including pines, olive tree groves, orchards and gardens. In Spain, it occupies
Levante and Andalusia. It is found in the Maghreb and northern Africa but not in
the Sahara. In spite of its elegance, it is known as a dirty bird for its
stinking nest as it normally in a hollow. When the chicks leave it, it is easy
to find for the nauseous smell. In spite of the adults’ cleaning efforts,
garbage and the excretions of the chicks cannot be cleaned properly inside the
tree. Five to eight light gray eggs are laid between April and June and hatch
after 19 days of incubation. The chicks remain in the nest for three to four
weeks being fed by both parents. Sometimes there are two broods a season. The
next time the menu includes hoopoe perhaps it should be seriously considered for
its tongue. Don’t forget to ask for a few feathers too. [ES: “Abubilla.” n/d;
Gázquez. Cocina. 2002:139; Ibn Zuhr. 1992:124; and Jutglar. 1999:374]
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