[Sca-cooks] Spirit of the Earth by Beverly Cox

[Terry Decker]

Why would you characterize any of this as an attack?  The original comments 
were obviously questionable as fact and convoluted enough that as an attempt 
at sharp humor it failed, making it the butter knife of facetiousness as 
opposed to the razor of sarcasm.  The question was raised as to what was 
meant.  This is a perfectly valid question in the context of a mailing list 
where we have no other clues than the actual writing and our limited 
knowledge of the character of the authors.  I am certain that if Ian feels 
slighted, he will repay the favor the next time he catches any of us off 
base.

Bear

From: "Betsy Marshall" <betsy at softwareinnovation.com>


> Please also remember this is 'Pennsic season'; what you may think is an
> attack could just be a lame attempt at a joke; let's be generous to each
> other!
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> I would say the comments are facetious rather than sarcastic.
>
> You're thinking of the Mayan codices of which there are three legible that
> are known to exist.  There is a fourth which may be a good forgery.  A
> handful from gravesites that may or may not be preseved and made readable.
> And many forgeries.  None, to my knowledge, have any recipes.  Most of 
> what
> we know about native cuisine comes from European texts written in 16th
> Century.
>
> Sopie Coe's work in culinary historical anthropology mixes historical
> description, archeological information, and anthropological study of 
> region
> to produce a very rational and thorough examination of the culinary
> practices of the Aztecs, the Mayans, and the Incans.  She was a professor 
> of
> anthropology and a translator (from Russian) of at least one text on the
> Mayan language.  Her husband Michael is an eminent archeologist of
> Pre-Columbian societies.  Her book, America's First Cuisines, is a 
> superior
> example of the work you are describing.
>
> I think I'll go with Coe rather than Cox for pre-Columbian historical
> cooking.
>
> Bear
>
>> Can't tell if this is sarcasm. Pre- Colombus generally refers to the
>> Americas unless otherwise specified to be different. Pre Colombus in
>> the Americas you probably won't find recipes, though I do recall some
>> texts/manuscripts in Mayan that had some sort of recipes but i think
>> it is medical. You pretty much have through archeology the regional
>> veggies and critters with type of cooking. Then a comparison of
>> current home cuisine and cooking traditions, influence(Spanish
>> -Central and South Amer. and Spanish,French, Dutch, and English for
>> N.Amer.) and what is found through archeology which gets you a
>> possible basis for an very old recipe. It isn't very exact.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> Pre-Columbus cuisine!  Now with extra potatoes!
>>
>> Wait, did you mean European Pre-Columbus, or Americas Pre-Columbus?
>> And for American, what would you quote as a source?  Mayan engravings?