[Sca-cooks] Why food history drives me crazy
JIMCHEVAL at aol.com
JIMCHEVAL at aol.com
Sat Jun 29 14:13:33 PDT 2013
I truly think that a lot of food historians simply count on no one else
knowing much about what they're writing about and so just go ahead and
write.... whatever they feel like.
I just pointed to Snodgrass' Encyclopedia of Kitchen History, a volume
which does indeed include some useful information. Then I look up Anthimus, and
find:
"The earliest medieval etiquette document, Count Anthimus' letter to the
Frankish king Theodoric, written around 530 CE, instructed the king about
the dangers of gluttony and intemperance.... Anthimus insisted on self-control
and inveighed against overindulgence at table. One polite custom he
initiated, the use of no more than three fingers to pick up meat, put an end to
unsightly grabbing."
http://books.google.com/books?id=D7IhN7lempUC&pg=PA357&dq=Snodgrass-Kitchen+
History+anthimus&hl=en&sa
Where do I start?
First of all, Anthimus' work is a dietetic, not a work of etiquette. He
says virtually nothing about how one is supposed to act at the table.
If he gently recommended temperance in eating, he certainly did not
"inveigh" against "gluttony"; in fact, he uses the word "we" in describing those
who tend to over-indulge. And his love of good food is so pronounced that
one scholar calls him "a gourmet doctor".
But, most egregiously, he says NOTHING about fingers. Not a word. And even
if he did, it would be unlikely to have initiated anything. We have no
proof at all that anyone acted on his letter, which was as much a diplomatic
courtesy as anything else.
Yet here is the above, printed in a relatively authoritative work.
Meanwhile another book, written by a credentialed professor who teaches at
a university, says that ginger is one of the spices he uses the most.
He mentions it exactly once.
If anyone wonders why I continually return to prime sources, these are two
very good illustrative examples.
Jim Chevallier
Comparing early and late medieval food in France
http://www.chezjim.com/food/pre-v/comparisons.html
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