[Sca-cooks] medieval/renaissance architectural construction crews &, related food references

[Daniel Myers]

> From: Suey <lordhunt at gmail.com>
> Date: Mon, August 13, 2012 5:59 pm

[...]

> If talking about what construction workers ate  - J.C. Drummond in his 
> book "The Englishman's Food, Chapter III titled "Meals of the People," 
> divides the people of medieval times into four classes: the nobleman, 
> villager laborer, the artisan, and wealthy merchant, pp 47-64:

[snip]

It is worth remembering that Drummond's "The Englishman's Food" is a
tertiary source, and while it does contain some information of value, it
is also riddled with erroneous unsupported (and unsupportable)
statements presented as undeniable fact.  While it's been revised over
the years, the book still includes passages talking about how medieval
Englishmen used spices to cover the taste of spoiled meat, that they
were constantly dropping dead of food poisoning from the spoiled meat,
and that even though the meat was rotten they ate quite a lot of it.

In short, the section of "The Englishman's Food" that deals with the
medieval period is a very low quality source.

- Doc