[Sca-cooks] Medieval water

[The Eloquent Page]

If you were in a village the local cesspits, not to mention the local 
animals, might be contaminating the water - or it might be fine.  I 
stayed at a farmhouse here in Vermont once.  The little pond near the 
house had a high bacterial count (due to the number of local birds that 
frequented the site), and even swimming was potentially hazardous.  No 
every villager could afford a well.  In town and cities water 
contamination was nearly always a problem.   The most desirable water, 
according to some period medical sources, was rainwater.

Katherine

On 6/21/2016 10:41 AM, Laureen Hart wrote:
> I think the masses are convinced that all of Europe was covered in feces, and people had no sense.
> The cookery texts advising "use fair water" might lead some to believe that most people weren't using clean water.
>
> We have remote vacation property and drink water from the large, rushing, mountain stream.
> There are no people or farms upstream.
> People have warned us for years that we are courting microbial disaster. No one has gotten sick yet.
> We are clear that we are at risk for Giardia at the least, but the general agreement is - should you get sick tell the Dr. you have been drinking untreated water.
>
> Randell Raye
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sca-cooks [mailto:sca-cooks-bounces+lhart=graycomputer.com at lists.ansteorra.org] On Behalf Of Drew Shiel
> Sent: Tuesday, June 21, 2016 6:09 AM
> To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] I Tried a Medieval Diet, and also watered wine
>
> On 21 June 2016 at 06:08, <JIMCHEVAL at aol.com> wrote:
>
>> There is simply no evidence that medieval water in general was
>> especially dangerous, given that a lot of it was rural (springs,
>> wells, etc) and at any  rate the real damage done by cities
>> (over-population, industry) was some ways  off.
>
>     I'm always a little puzzled by this. I grew up in rural Ireland, and our running water in the house was just diverted from a stream, fed from a spring a few hundred metres up the hill. Most rivers here (those that are not downstream of factories or major towns) are clear and entirely drinkable - and that's now, in 2016. Indeed, I'd often be happier drinking water from the Avoca or the Slaney than the water from the taps in some parts of Dublin.
>
>    What do people think was in medieval water to make it anything less than safe?
>
>    Le meas,
>    Aodh
>
> --
> Ebb & Flow: A fortnightly letter about stuff.
> http://tinyletter.com/ebbandflow
> "Luck affects everything. Let your hook always be cast; in the stream where you least expect it there will be a fish." -- Ovid.
> _______________________________________________
> Sca-cooks mailing list
> Sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
> http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/sca-cooks-ansteorra.org
> _______________________________________________
> Sca-cooks mailing list
> Sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
> http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/sca-cooks-ansteorra.org
>