[Sca-cooks] Why food history drives me crazy

[JIMCHEVAL at aol.com]

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