[Sca-cooks] Who Likes Mustard?

[Sam Wallace]

Not Eustache Deschamps! He wrote a rather scathing review of Flemish food
in the 14th century that left no doubt as to where he stood on the subject.
It also provides a list of things that were (probably) served in taverns in
the region at the time. It is short enough that I am going to provide the
translation (from Eustache Deschamps: Selected Poems edited by Deborah M.
Sinnreich-Levi, Ian S. Laurie) as well as some links for reference.

Always, never asking, mustard
In Hainaut and Brabant I made
attempts to order sauce with care,
but in every in at which I stayed
they always brought me, with my fare,
with every roast and mutton dish,
with boar, with rabbit, and with bustard,
with fresh and with salt-water fish
always, never asking, mustard.

I took fresh herring, said I’d like
carp at the pub for midday dinner,
and called for a simple boiled pike
and some large sole, to be my supper.
In Brussels, I asked them for green sauce;
a cleric stared and looked disgusted
and a varlet brought me in, of course,
as always, never asking, mustard.

I couldn’t eat or drink without it.
They add it to the water they
boil the fish in and – don’t doubt it –
the drippings from the roast each day
are tossed into a mustard vat
in which they’re mixed, and then entrusted
to those who bring – they’re quick at that –
always, never asking, mustard.

Envoy

Prince, it’s clear that ginger, clove,
saffron, pepper are never trusted.
There’s just on thing these people serve:
always, never asking, mustard.

It's a ballad, which the translators did a fair job of rendering into
English while maintaining the poetic structure. The content reminds me of
parts of Mark Twain's *A Tramp Abroad.*

- Guillaume

References

Deschamps, Eustache, Oeuvres complètes d'Eustache Deschamps, ed. Queux de
Saint-Hilaire and Gaston Raynaud, Société des Anciens Textes Français, 1894
http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/CadresFenetre?O=NUMM-5129&M=tdm

Englebert, Annick, Eustache Deschamps et la moutarde, Gastronomie
Historique, 2015
http://www.diachronie.be/textes_gastronomie/1385-deschamps/1385-deschamps.html

Sinnreich-Levi, Deborah M., Laurie, Ian S., Eustache Deschamps: Selected
Poems, 2004
https://books.google.com/books?id=wJILngvQ-dYC