books-food-msg - 7/11/17
Books about food. Not cookbooks.
NOTE: See also the files: cookbooks-msg, cookbooks-bib, cookbooks-SCA-msg, cb-rv-Apicius-msg, cb-novices-msg, merch-books-msg, merch-cookbks-msg, online-ckbks-msg.
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This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org
I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.
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Thank you,
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Stefan at florilegium.org
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From: ferzocog at ere.umontreal.CA (Ferzoco George)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: A must-read on medieval cuisine
Date: 9 Apr 1993 20:02:04 -0400
For all of you interested in the state of the art of research on medieval
cookery, get the book
Carole Lambert, ed., "Du manuscrit a la table. Essais sur la
cuisine au moyen age et repertoire des manuscrits medievaux
contenant des recettes culinaires." Montreal and Paris: Presses
de l'Universite de Montreal and Champion-Slatkine, 1992.
It contains 25 articles in English and French (with abstracts for each in
English and French), an incredibly useful (to scholars) list of manuscripts
containing culinary recipes, a complete bibliography, and indices of:
titles and authors of cookery books
Incipits of culinary texts
titles of isolated recipes
language of the texts
place of production of the manuscripts
Ciao, George Ferzoco ferzocog at ere.umontreal.ca
From: David Schroeder <ds4p+ at andrew.cmu.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Sweet Thoughts, etc.
Date: Sat, 10 Apr 1993 15:04:25 -0400
Organization: Doctoral student, Industrial Administration, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Greetings good gentles --
I have recently been reading an entertaining volume, "Seeds of Change," by
Henry Hobhouse (a journalist, not a professional scholar). The book looks
at the historical import of five key plants or plant products: quinine,
sugar, tea, cotton, and potatoes. [c.1985 ISBN: 0-06-091440-8 (ppbk)].
Some of the more interesting tidbits are worth sharing. For example, here's
a chart of the relative cost of 10 pounds of sugar expressed as a percentage
of 1 ounce of gold (taken as an average of London, Paris, and Amsterdam)...
Period Sugar % Honey %
1350-1400 35.0 3.30
1400-1450 24.5 2.05
1450-1500 19.0 1.50
1500-1550 8.7 1.20
Note that Hobhouse doesn't cite his sources for this table and doesn't
mention that the "value" of an ounce of gold may have changed in the
last period due to the huge captured troves of the Aztecs and Incas,
but it's still an interesting chart, if only to see the relative expense
of sugar and honey. Clearly, using refined sugar in a dish would have
been an expensive proposition during almost all of the Society's scope.
Hobhouse also says:
"The sugar industry survived the gradual expulsion of the Moors from
the Mediterranean littoral, and was carried on by both Moslems and
Christians as a profitable, expanding concern for two hundred years
from about 1300. [Production was centered in Syria, Palestine, the
Dodecanese, Egypt, Cyprus, Crete, Sicily, North Africa, and Southern
Spain. *B*] The trade (as opposed to production) was under the domi-
nance of the merchant bankers of Italy, with Venice ultimately con-
trolling distribution throughout the then known world. The first sugar
reached England in 1319, Denmark in 1374, and Sweden in 1390. It was
an expensive novelty and useful in medicine, being unsurpassed for
making palatable the odious mixtures of therapeutic herbs, entrails,
and other substances of the medieval pharmacopoeia."
Apparently, sugar cultivation in the Caribbean basin was substantial in
the second half of the 16th century leading to cheaper sugar prices and
a shift in leadership in the trade from Venice to Amsterdam.
TEA
On the matter of tea Hobhouse reports that in 1700 England was importing
50 short tons of tea with a wholesale value of 4,000 pounds sterling or
about two pounds of money for one pound of tea. Again, not a cheap item!
He further states (in what is probably a typographical error) that:
"Tea, coffee, and cocoa all arrive in London in the same year, 1652.
[Could it be 1562 or 1552?] The word "tea" occurs in Shakespeare
and "cha," the Canton-Macao form, crops up in Lisbon from about 1550."
It's hard to understand the Bard's use of a term for something introduced
to England years after his death...
I'd best sign off now and return to my reading... I found the book
remaindered for $1.98 at my local Borders Bookstore, so you may have
good luck finding a copy of your own.
My best -- Bertram
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
Bertram of Bearington Dave Schroeder
Debatable Lands/AEthelmearc/East Carnegie Mellon University
INTERNET: ds4p at andrew.cmu.edu 412/731-3230 (Home)
+------------------------ PREME * Press On * PREME ---------------------+
Angharad/Terry asks for enough info about that book out of Montreal
that I mentioned to order it. The Following might be helpful.
Title: _Du Manuscrit a` la Table_
Editor: Carole Lambert
Publisher: Les Presses de l'Universite' de Montre'al
2910, boul. E'douard-Montpetit, Montre'al (Qc), Canada
H3T 1J7
tel. (514) 343-6929, facs. (514) 343-2232
Distributer (?): gae[umlaut]tan morin e'diteur
diffuseur exclusif des Presses de l'Universite' de
Montre'al
C.P. 180, Boucherville (QC), Canada, J4B 5E6
tel. (514) 449-7886, facs. (514) 343-2232
ISBN: 2-7606-1564-2
and to whet your appetite:
TABLE DES MATIE`RES
(extraits)
Forward (or preface) by Carole LAMBERT
_I - ESSAIS SUR LA CUISINE AU MOYEN A^GE_
1. SOURCES
Constance B. HIEATT "Listing and Analyzing the Medieval English
Culinary Recipe Collections: a Project and its Problems"
Johanna Maria van WINTER "Une livre de cuisine ne'erlandais du XVIe
sie`cle"
Allen J. GRIECO "From the Cookbook to the Table: a Florentine Table
and Italian Recipes of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries"
Bi SKAARUP "Sources of Medieval Cuisine in Denmark"
Danie`le ALEXANDRE-BIDON "A` la table des miniaturistes: arche'o-
iconographie des gestes et des mets"
2. DIFFUSION DES LIVRES ET DES RECETTES
Philip et Mary HYMAN "Les livres de cuisine et le commerce des
recettes en France au XVe et XVIe sie`cles"
Melitta WEISS-AMER "The Role of Medieval Physicians in the Spread of
Culinary Recipes and Cooking Practices"
Mary Ella MILHAM "Platina and Papal Politics"
3. CUISINE ET DISTINCTIONS SOCIALES
Bruno Laurioux, "Table et hie'rarchie sociale a` la fin du Moyen A^ge"
Odile REDON "La re'glementation des banquets par les lois somptuaires
dans les villes d'Italie (XIVe - XVe sie`cles)
Agathe LAFORTUNE-MARTEL "De l'entremets culinaire aux pie`ces
monte'es d'un menu de propogande"
4. PARTICULARITE'S RE'GIONALES
Barbara SANTICH "les e'le'ments distinctifs de la cuisine me'die'vale
me'diterrane'enne
Rudolf GREWE "Hispano-Arabic Cuisine in the Twelfth Century
Jeanne ALLARD "Nola: rupture ou continuite'?"
Noe[umlaut]l COULET "La cuisine dans la maison aixoise du XVe sie`cle
(1400-1450)
Jean-Louis FLANDRIN "Structure des menus francais et anglais aux XIVe
et XVe sie`cles
Michel BALARD "E'pices et condiments dans quelques livres de cuisine
allemands (XVe-XVIe sie`cles)
5. CUISINE ET CONTRAINTES
Terence SCULLY "Les saisons alimentaires du _Me'nagier de Paris_"
Carole LAMBERT "Astuces et flexibilite' des recettes culinaires
me'die'vales francaises"
Laurier TURGEON et Denis DICKNER "Contraintes et choix alimentaires
d'un groupe d'appartenance: les marins-pe^cheurs francais a' Terre-
Neuve au XVIe sie`cle"
6. LES DOUCEURS ET LE PLAISIR
Liliane PLOUVIER "Le <<letuaire>>, un confiture du bas Moyen A^ge"
Lucie BOLENS "Les sorbets andalous (XIe-XIIIe sie`cles) ou conjurer
la nostalgie par la douceur"
Mary HYMAN "<<Les menues choses qui ne sont pas de ne'cessite'>>: les
confitures et la table"
Bruno ROY "Trois reagards sur les aphrodisiaques"
_II - RE'PERTOIRE DES MANUSCRITS ME'DIE'VAUX CONTENANT DES RECETTES
CULINAIRES_
Pre'sentation
Re'pertoire
Bibliographie
Index
Now doesn't that make your mouth water! If no enterprising Pennsic
merchant offers one for sale, my parents have offered (without too
much arm twisting) to get me it for my birthday. Grad student budget
or not, I cant miss this one. I've just got to start those French
lessons now...
Hoping that helped,
Thomas/David
David Tallan (tallan at flis.utoronto.ca)
or David_Tallan at magic-bbs.corp.apple.com
snail: 42 Camberwell Rd. Toronto ON M6C 3E8
From: "Philip W. Troy" <troy at asan.com>
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 13:49:23 -0400
Subject: Re: SC - Guinea pigs
Christi Redeker wrote:
>
> Also the same I believe with Guinea Pigs. They have Capybara (sp?) in
> most central and south American areas. Which are the largest rodent and
> in the same direct family with the Cavy (guinea pig) that we know today.
> The guinea pigs they eat in those countries are very large,
> comparatively, to what are raised as pet shop $$. They have an average
> weight of 2-3 pounds more than the average pet type guinea pig. (Yes
> ladies and gentlemen, I raised guinea pigs and rabbits as a child and
> actually showed them, there is and an association called the ACBA
> (American Cavy Breeders Association) just for those out there who do.
Have a great book somewhere. It is called "Unmentionable Cuisine," and
concerns all the foods against which taboos exist in various cultures,
i.e. in the continental U.S., that means virtually EVERYTHING. Author
is Charles Schwabe, if I remember correctly. There's a neat chapter on
guinea pigs, among several such. I seem to recall most of the recipes
call for the cavy to be scalded and de-haired, but not skinned.
Yum!
Adamantius, thinking about pies now
Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 22:51:40 -0600
From: Bob Angelone <epicurus at epicurus.com>
Subject: Epicurus Online
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.brewing,rec.food.drink.beer,rec.org.sca,alt.beer,ba.food,alt.food.wine
As publisher of 'Epicurus Online', I would like to personally invite all
of you to visit our newest issue.
This month's focus is on Flowers as Food. Articles by Carol Wilson, Bob
Pastorio and others are among the many interesting and recipe filled
tidbits you will find in this issue.
Please join me in thanking Cindy Renfrow, our Editor-in-Chief for a job
well done by visiting the ezine and enjoying it's wonderful, informative
articles. And while you're there, please sign our guestbook.
Epicurus Online - http://www.epicurus.com/ezine1.htm
If you like Epicurus Online, please check out our main site as well:
Thanks and I hope to see you there soon!
Bob Angelone
Publisher
From: alysk at ix.netcom.com (Elise Fleming )
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 1997 14:21:03 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: SC - PPC and Markham
Greetings! PPC (Petits Propos Culinaires) is published by Prospect
Books and is in English. If you live in the US, one year is $23.50 and
two is $45. Your check should be made payable to PPC North America and
sent to PPC North America, 45 Lamont Road, London SW10 OHU. One year
consists of three issues of a small hand-size treatise. To me it is
well worth the price, for if there is something on the Middle Ages or
Renaissance you can be sure it is documentable. A recent issue had a
brief article on Aphrodisiacs which I meant to send to this list. Ask
for it as a gift from relatives!
Alys Katharine
Date: Mon, 8 Sep 1997 10:19:32 -0500 (CDT)
From: nweders at mail.utexas.edu (ND Wederstrandt)
Subject: Re: SC - Columbus cookbook
Here's the info on the Columbus book plus some of the info in it.
The name of the book is Columbus Menu, Italian Cuisine after the First
Voyage of Christopher Columbus, by Stefano Milioni printed by the Istituto
Italiano per il Commercio Estero (Italian Trade Commission) It came out in
1992.
One of the more entertaining topics he author talks about is the
reason why forks started being used. He states it was the introduction of
the tomato to Italian cooking that caused the fork to be noticed. Milioni
states that the fork was around but that it was regarded as an oddity.
With the use of tomatoes as sauce, Pasta was harder to eat so the fork
started being used and quickly caught on. So thanks to spaghetti with
marinara sauce, forks became hot stuff.
He does have some dates on various food stuffs
Tomato - appeared in Spain early in the 16th century where it was a magical
or medicinal plant. Someone during this time tried eating it and described
the flavor as similar to eggplant but tastless. The book further states
that the tomato while known to Italian botanists in the 16th century was
not introduced until the 17th century. The book also suggests that it was
primarily grown as an ornamental but during a food famine someone succumbed
and cooked one and ate it. No recipes listed in period
Potato - introduced through Spain when it was brought back by the
Conquistadors. Clusius in 1588 described the plant based on tubers he
received from the governor of what is now modern Belguim. He ate them and
compared them to the turnip. During the 16th century, potatoes were being
shipped to the Spanish garrisons in the Flanders area to supplement the
rations of the soldiers there.They are also listed as food items in the
records of the Sangre Hospital in Seville (1573) These are white or
Virginian potatoes. In 1587, Sir Francis Drake sailed into what is now
Columbia and loaded provisions, including potatoes, on his ship. He was
supposed to take them to feed starving colonists in Virginia. When he got
there everyone wanted to go back to England so they and the potatoes went
back. That's the reason they were called Virginian potatoes. No period
recipes listed.
Clare St. John
Date: Sat, 13 Sep 1997 20:49:49 -0600 (MDT)
From: John or Fraya Davis <gameroom at infowest.com>
Subject: SC - Food Book!
Just picked up what I think is the best book for medieval cooks since the
cookbook! It's called "Food" by Waverley Root, Konecky & Konecky, NY ISBN:
1-56852-101-4. It's an authorative and visual history and dictionary of the
foods of the world. It includes much documentation of when foods were eaten
and some on how they were prepared by different cultures. It's amazing
what's in there about the potato! I didn't know that!
Gillian
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 07:27:27 -0600 (MDT)
From: Mary Morman <memorman at oldcolo.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Alphabet pretzels
On Thu, 16 Oct 1997, Ian van Tets wrote:
> doesn't one of the recipes for jumbles recommend cutting them in Ss
> if no other letter springs conveniently to mind?
>
> Cairistiona
I have just gotten a nice little food book called The Dutch Table by
Gillian Riley. It is mostly 16th and 17th century Dutch paintings of food
and kitchens - with some commentary and many undocumented recipes that she
says are from an early 17th century source but does not quote in the
original. there are numerous paintings of bread dough letters both in
homes and in markets and the author talks about them being made for the
Feast of St. Nicholas on December 6th. There are also pictures of
traditional, twisted pretzels. It's hard to tell if the letters are
cookies or plain bread - there are some that look like each. Most of the
paintings are slightly out of period, but this is a lovely book.
elaina
Date: Wed, 29 Oct 1997 16:31:27 -0500 (EST)
From: Mark Schuldenfrei <schuldy at abel.MATH.HARVARD.EDU>
Subject: Re: SC - Cookbooks
Most of the cookbooks you mention are reviewed in back issues of Serve It
Forth (http://oldcolo.com/~memorman/sif_home.html).
Tibor
Here is my review of Fast and Feast:
Fast and Feast: Food in Medieval Society, by Bridget Ann Henisch. Published
by Pennsylvania State University Press, Copyright 1976, fifth printing. ISBN
0-271-01230-7 (hardcover) 0-271-00424-X (paperback, reviewed).
A book review by Mark Schuldenfrei (Tibor of Rock Valley)
So, should a Society cook read a book that doesn't have recipes? Yes, it
seems we should. "Fast and Feast" is well researched and indexed book
covering everything about food and foodways customs from late period, except
the details of redactions. It is also fun to read (I laughed out loud
several times), well indexed and copiously footnoted, and reasonably
priced (I paid $14.95)
It covers everything about food, except the actual recipes. It covers feast
service, entertainment, the role of food in daily life and the ecumenical
calendar, the role and popular opinion of the professional cook and the
housewife, and their everyday tasks. It covers timing of meals, quantities,
beverages, the commercial infrastructure of the time. It even covers the
tools of cooking, and eating. There are many reproductions of period
illustrations, and the illustrations are well used by the supporting text.
The text is heavily footnoted, with 930 notes in 236 pages of text.
The book does lack a glossary, and it does occasionally use terms that a
truly novice cook might not know. However, the index is good enough to
compensate. The bibliography is totally insufficient. Again, however,
the footnotes provide a wealth of sources. Some of Henisch's citations
are in original languages, and are only lightly modernized or translated:
but that doesn't prevent the reader from understanding her points. A
readersknowledge of some of the generalities of history are quite useful.
(For example, page 38 covers the impact of the Reformation on Lenten
practices, without an explanation of the Reformation.)
Ms. Henisch organizational ability is formidable: I was particularly
impressed with her ability to discuss trends in foodways based upon the
corpus of surviving recipes. I found myself wondering why I hadn't seen
those trends myself. Do be warned: on a purely academic level, she can be
slightly suspect. Many is the time I found her drawing broad conclusions on
slender evidence, or worse, supporting narrow conclusions with references
that span the centuries and nations. Read her footnotes more carefully than
you read the text. (I can't say I know enough to doubt her conclusions: I
quite agree with them. But the academic rigor is spotty.) She also
sometimes compromises by glossing details, in order to keep the flow of her
text. (For example, oversimplifying the definitions of caudle or hypocris).
Certainly, she has done an admirable degree of homework. Foodways-related
quotations come from plays, household manifests, wills, period manuscripts
and receipt books, and more besides. She has also obviously studied
hundreds of period illustrations, and makes many useful deductions based
upon them.
She speaks well on Society shibboleths: are forks period, who sits at high
table, should feast halls be lit or dark. She is an evocative writer:
consider the pain this poor man felt:
"For the Hoccleves of this world, their heads throbbing after the
reresopers of the night before, such aggressive, all-around virtue was
far out of reach. Pale on his pillow, the reveler would murmur instead
'I may noght faste, ne do penauns, ne go to cherch, ne bydde my beddys,
for I have a badde heued ... I shal noght ben wel at ese tyl I have
drunkyn agen.' Straightaway, an affable devil settled himself on the
bed, coaxing the sufferer to eat a morsel just to keep his strength up
to serve God all the more vigorously later in the day: [...]"
This is the sort of book that begs to be shared. I want to loan it to my
friend who does period mumming, another who brews and is interested in
viniculture, my wife who makes sotelties, my friends who study period table
service. And I want to revisit some old recipes with new eyes.
The early student of foodways will find much to benefit them in this book,
although they may not spot some of the places where enthusiasm papers over
lack of evidence. The experienced Society cook will love how this book
completes your knowledge of everything except how many onions to chop. I
would recommend this volume heavily, even at twice the price.
Date: Fri, 7 Nov 1997 22:28:03 -0500 (EST)
From: Carol Thomas <scbooks at neca.com>
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: Pumpkins?
I wish I had a copy of "Why We Eat What We Eat" by Sokolov, published by
Summit, long out of print.
It had good information on topics like this. It should be available by ILL.
Lady Carllein
Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 18:49:47 EST
From: melc2newton at juno.com (Michael P Newton)
Subject: SC - Children's book
My lord husband found a children's book at the library the other day I
thought that some on this list might find interesting. It's _A Medieval
Feast_ written and illustrated by Aliki. If you have young children {or
whatch pbs alot.} you may have seen it on Reading Rainbow. Anyways, it
goes through what a lord and his manor had to do to get ready and serve a
feast for visiting royalty. The pictures are based off of medieval
illustrations, and even show several subtleteys and a couple of
cockentrice. Being the Shire's MoC, as well as a novice cook, I thought it
was a really good find.
Lady Beatrix of Tanet
Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 21:03:11 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Children's book
Michael P Newton wrote:
> My lord husband found a children's book at the library the other day I
> thought that some on this list might find interesting. It's _A Medieval
> Feast_ written and illustrated by Aliki. If you have young children {or
> whatch pbs alot.} you may have seen it on Reading Rainbow. Anyways, it
> goes through what a lord and his manor had to do to get ready and serve a
> feast for visiting royalty. The pictures are based off of medieval
> illustrations, and even show several subtleteys and a couple of
> cockentrice. Being the Shire's MoC, as well as a novice cook,I thought it
> was a really good find.
> Lady Beatrix of Tanet
Yes, that's a pretty good book. I don't recall that Aliki attempts to
perpetuate the myth about rotten meat and spices, which is a Good Thing.
One aspect he does mention, which is quite important and rarely
examined, is the question of cost. For some members of the aristocracy,
it could be quite crippling for the family fortune to find yourself on
the Royal Progress, with nothing to be done but grin, bear it, and go
into hock.
You might also check out Piero Ventura's "Food: Its Evolution through
the Ages", which is for somewhat older kids (maybe ten or so?). It gives
an overview of basic culinary history, from paleolithic man to the
present. It includes references to connections between, say, the
invention of better plows, which contributed to the Viking raids on
Northern Europe, etc. Illustrations aren't as pretty as Aliki's but
better detailed and more informative. All in all, very cool.
Got a copy of each for my son, and our friends look at the bookshelves
and say, "Look, how cuuuute! Brennan's got his own little books of
culinary history, just like Daddy!"
Adamantius
Date: Mon, 1 Dec 1997 16:40:48 -0500
From: "Louise Sugar" <dragonfyr at tycho.com>
Subject: SC - Fw: For the Cooks Among Us....
Here is a goodie from a friend of mine on another list
- -----Original Message-----
From: Henderson, Sharon <Meli at agent.infodata.com>
To: dragon at portcullis.maxson.com <dragon at portcullis.maxson.com>
Date: Monday, December 01, 1997 10:58 AM
Subject: For the Cooks Among Us....
An *extremely* cool book, excellent especially for people doing redactions or
trying to understand foreign terminology, is now available in the US again:
Hering's Dictionary of Classical and Modern Cookery.
13th English Edition by Walter Bickel.
Fachbuchverlag Dr. Pfannenberg & Co. 35390 Giessen, Germany.
English - 852 pages and no illustrations or photographs. This hard to find
essential dictionary is the comprehensive gastronomic encyclopedia and
reference work for chefs, culinary students, food and beverage managers, and
other professionals in the food service industry. This precious small red
precious volume with three complete indices contains more than 13,000
curtailed recipes; a comprehensive glossary of kitchen terms in English,
French, German, Italian, and Spanish; information on table service,
wine, dietaries and carving. Available from C.H.I.P.S, 1307 Golden
Bear Lane, Kingwood, TX 77339; Tel. U.S.A. + (281) 359-2270; Fax.
U.S.A. + (281) 359-2277, or by accessing the internet at
Meli
Date: Thu, 4 Dec 1997 16:42:29 -0600 (CST)
From: alysk at ix.netcom.com (Elise Fleming )
Subject: SC - Cookery Myths and a "New" Book (Longish)
Greetings! I've been meaning to write about some of the "new" books I
found when a recent post "tickled" my memory from one of them. Someone
mentioned that Catherine de Medici brought Italian cooks to France,
which is apparantly an "old cooks' legend" and not accurate. Elizabeth
David, one of the cooking "gods" has a new version of her _Italian
Food_ which I was going to tell you all about. (Actually, her estate
does. She died a few years ago.) (ISBN 0-7651-9651-4) The book
currently appears to be on "mark down" at Borders Bookstores for $5.99!
The book is profusely illustrated, mostly with reproductions of
_period_ art which depict various aspects of cookery. For the pictures
and documentation alone, it's worth the price.
The book contains some brief historical information in each of the
chapters and she refutes some of the "legends" that she passed on in
the earlier versions. The recipes are modern but would be useful when
attempting to re-create similar "period" dishes. She refutes the
legend of Marco Polo bringing noodles to Italy as well as the Catherine
de Medici one that someone repeated in an earlier post. This is what
Ms. David writes: "To my original Introduction I have made only one
significant revision, and that concerns the paragraph dealing with the
influence on French cookery traditionally exercised by Catherine de
Medici and the Florentine cooks she is said to have brought with her to
France. These cooks, I now find, are part of a myth originating in
mid-nineteenth-century France, perhaps in the imagination of one of the
popular historical novelists who flourished at that period, and
certainly without historical fact. As briefly as possible, what _is_
historical fact is that when Catherine arrived in France in 1533 to
marry Henri Duke of Orleans, younger brother of the Dauphin, she was
fourteen years old, had barely emerged from the Florentine convent in
which she had been brought up, and had already been granted French
nationality. All her attendants were French.
"Whatever the Italian influence exercised on French cultural life in
general and on culinary developments in particular by Catherine's
marriage to the boy who was later to become Henri II of France, that
transalpine influence had already been active at least since the end of
the previous century...." She goes on for another paragraph and a half
detailing what influences occurred under Charles VIII and in
Catherine's reign as Queen Consort and Queen Dowager.
On the topic of "puff pastry", etc, part of another paragraph reads,
"One of her pastrycooks is credited with the invention or at any rate
with the introduction of flaky pastry, but then so are other
personages, among them the much later painter Claude Lorrain, who is
said to have learned how to make it in Rome. Many food historians
would say that some form of fine-leaved pastry had been known at least
since the days of the Romans, and I think they would be right, but
equally I have doubts about the claim that Catherine's pastrycooks made
their "feuillete' " with butter rather than with oil or lard. One does
not hear much about the use of butter in France at this period...."
A lovely book! Do you have a Borders Bookstore in your area??? I've
bought six books already for use as gifts!
Alys Katharine
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 1997 16:34:07 -0500
From: margali <margali at 99main.com>
Subject: Re: SC - nasty medieval food was re: pre 1500 cookery
There is a fairly good book by Ann Hagen called A Handbook of
Anglo-Saxon Food:Processing and Consumption, isbn
0-9516209-8-3,Anglo-Saxon Books, 25 Malpas Dr, Pinner, Middlesex, Eng.
that I rather enjoyed and is relatively scholarly, though some of her
conclusions are not what I would have drawn given the same data, but
those are my personal opinions.
I got it from, iirc Poison Pen Press or Small Churl Books at an even several years ago.
margali
Date: Sun, 11 Jan 1998 22:58:24 EST
From: Seton1355 <Seton1355 at aol.com>
Subject: SC - New book - very good!!
Greetings to all the good gentles on this list!
I just found this wonderful book at Borders Bookstore. Perhaps some of you
might be interested.
The Food Chronology by James Trager, Henry Holt Publisher, 1995
It's basicly a food timeline and chock full of useful & interesting info.
Pax, Phillipa Seton
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 14:43:30 -0600
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - New book - very good!!
>I just found this wonderful book at Borders Bookstore. Perhaps some of you
>might be interested.
>
>The Food Chronology by James Trager, Henry Holt Publisher, 1995
>
>It's basicly a food timeline and chock full of useful & interesting info.
>
>Pax, Phillipa Seton
I agree, it's a good book. I use it as a starting point for outlining
things I want to research. However, I will make a few caveats.
Trager, both in his The Food Chronology and his earlier The Foodbook,
does not appear to do a great deal of research, depending on the
scholarship of others for accuracy. He presents a generally accepted
view of food history, but he tends to ignore scholarly disputes. His
major sin is not providing source notes of a bibliography.
BTW, I think the MS Encyclopedia has incorporated parts of The Food
Chronology. A number of the subjects in the Encyclopedia use precisely
the same wording as The Food Chronology.
Bear
Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 08:22:23 -0600 (CST)
From: alysk at ix.netcom.com (Elise Fleming)
Subject: SC - Period Dairying, Etc.
Greetings. For the person looking for information on period dairy
practices and cheesemaking try _The English Housewife_ by Gervase
Markham, 1615. There is a good edition out by Michael Best,
McGill-Queen's University Press, 1986, ISBN 0-7735-0582-2. He has a
chapter on the practices that a good housewife should follow. While I
don't believe there are "recipes" per se he does mention certain types
of cheeses and what one should do with the whey, curds, etc.
There is also another fascinating book, _The Country House Kitchen,
1650-1900_, edited by Sambrook and Brears. While the dates indicate
OOP, this book takes some of the manors belonging to England's National
Trust and details the architectural plans and layout of the kitchens
and related rooms. Tucked in with all the OOP material are references
to period practices. There are numerous references to dairies and
dairying. I don't know where one might find the book. It is esoteric
enough that most public libraries wouldn't have it and expensive enough
that most SCAers wouldn't have it. I have a copy, but then, I'm single
and a pack rat for books! If there's something specific - dairy
layout, items needed for a "perfect" dairy or dairyroom, post me and I
will send what I can find, time willing.
Publisher is Alan Sutton Publishing Limited (in association with the
National Trust). Date is 1996, and ISBN is 0-7509-0884-X. If you have
Poison Pen Press's e-mail or address, I believe I got it from her two
Pennsics ago.
Alys Katharine
Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 17:28:09 +0000
From: James and/or Nancy Gilly <KatieMorag at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Period Dairying, Etc.
Amazon.com lists it two ways:
*The Country House Kitchen*, $21.56
*The Country House Kitchen 1650-1900, Skills and Equipment for
Food Provisioning*, $23.77
Alasdair mac Iain
Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 12:12:41 -0200 (GMT)
From: Jessica Tiffin <melisant at mweb.co.za>
Subject: RE: SC - A Good Book
Bear wrote:
>For food history, I like Reay Tannehill's Food in History. There is at
>least one other translated from the French, but I can not remember the name
>at the moment.
I've always had a lot of fun with Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat's History of
Food - is that the one you mean? A lot of what she says refers to food
types and sources in modern France, but she gives wonderful historical
overviews and is very entertaining to read. I also picked up a new
paperback copy at a ridiculously low price, so I'm somewhat enchanted with it.
Mesliant de Huguenin
Minister of Arts and Sciences, Shire of Adamastor, Drachenwald
Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 07:17:20 -0500
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - A Good Book
> Bear wrote:
> >For food history, I like Reay Tannehill's Food in History. There is at
> >least one other translated from the French, but I can not remember the name
> >at the moment.
>
> I've always had a lot of fun with Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat's History of
> Food - is that the one you mean?
>
> Mesliant de Huguenin
That's the one! I don't own a copy, so I keep forgetting the author and
title. Like Tannehill, it has the pleasant attribute of being in print.
Bear
Date: Mon, 02 Nov 1998 22:28:56 -0500
From: "Philip W. Troy & Susan Troy" <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - "On Food and Cooking" book
Donna Hrynkiw wrote:
> On Food and Cooking -- The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
> Harold McGee
>
> Fireside / Simon & Schuster
> 1984
> ISBN 0-684-84328-5
> $21.00, very thick trade paperback
>
> Chapters on grain, meat, plant matter, milk, sugar, etc. Very readable.
>
> Elizabeth
Oh, yeah. That's pretty much been one of my culinary Bibles. Learn how food
behaves, and why, and you can predict what it will do under a given set of conditions. Very, very valuable.
Adamantius
Østgardr, East
From: alysk at ix.netcom.com(Elise Fleming)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Elizabethan Dining Question
Date: 17 Nov 1998 00:31:21 GMT
"DnA" <dna at z95.com> writes:
>A friend of mine's daughter is doing a high school report on the type
>of food that was eaten during the late 1600's - early 1700's (she's
>studying Shakespeare).
A good out-of-print book is _Dining With William Shakespeare_ by Madge
Lorwin. A library (or interlibrary loan) might find it. She takes
quotes from Shakespeare and recipes from cookery books of the late
1500s and the 1600s with modernized versions. She also explains some
of the customs of the times. Once you get into the mid-1600s there are
quite a few cookery books. You might also try _Martha Washington's
Booke of Cookery_ by Karen Hess. The recipes are from the early 1600s
up to the end of the century.
Alys Katharine
Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1998 08:16:43 -0500
From: Melanie Wilson <MelanieWilson at compuserve.com>
To: LIST SCA arts <sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu>
Subject: More on Food & Society Books ed C Anne Wilson
AS requested further blurb !
Food for the community- Monastic Medieval diets in England, Servants
feeding from middle ages to 19th C, Sailors diets 1530-1830. School dinners
Louis XIV, Workhouse soup Yorkshire, soldiers food in the 19th C
Liquid Nourisment -Possets, cider, pery, hot ale, water of life, pottages &
soups, sherbets prehistory to present day
Appetite & the eye visual aspects of food, its presentation within their
historical context.
Waste not want not-hording methods etc from prehistory to present day.
Hope that helps ?
I have a couple of copies if anyone wants them.
Mel
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1998 09:51:15 -0600
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - barley
> << I have borrowed a friend's copy of History of Food >>
>
> Could someone please send the information about this book? Thank you,
> Molly Kekilpenny
Toussaint-Samat, Maquelonne, The History of Food; Blackwell, ISBN
0631194975, paperback, $29.95.
Tannahill, Reay, Food in History; Crown, ISBN 0517884046, paperback, $16.00.
Both of these are in print. They are primarily global reviews of the
history of food and eating from prehistory to the present. Their scope is
such that they tend to be shallow in the particulars of any given foodstuff.
They do make good starting points for deeper research.
Comments have been made about errors in both books and about
Toussaint-Samat's Franco-centric view, but as surveys of the field, they are
the best available.
Bear
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 12:59:10 -0600
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - Period Chili
> << Trager places the introduction of paprika into Hungary as 1529 when the
> Turks first took Buda. >>
>
> What part of the date is open to questions, when the Turks took Buda or
> when they introduced paprika?
>
> Noemi
The introduction of paprika is the questionable aspect. This particular
entry is from The Food Chronology, which is a useful timelime, but which is
not fully indexed, has some errors of fact, does not properly differentiate
between the factual and the apocryphal, and provides no bibliography of
sources. I use The Food Chronology to locate temporal relationships in food
and cooking, but unless I have or can locate other sources, I consider the
information I find there questionable.
As for the capture of Buda, it was taken by the Turks in 1529, appears to
have been lost or ceded following the first siege of Vienna in 1529, and
retaken in 1541. It was liberated in 1683 after the second siege of Vienna.
Which is about all the information and mis-information I have on the
subject.
Bear
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 08:09:56 -0600 (CST)
From: alysk at ix.netcom.com (Elise Fleming)
Subject: SC - Re: Old World/New World Foods
Cariadoc/David mentioned that PPC had articles on New World foods and
suggested that you look for back issues. Acanthus Books now carries
back issues. I’m lousy for URLs, but Amanda haunts this list and might
provide it. They are approximately $7.50 per issue (at least from
Prospect Books) but worth it.
Also, look for Sophie Coe’s _America’s First Cuisines_, Univ. of Texas
Press, 1994, ISBN (paperback) 0-292-71159-x. It contains basically the
same material (but greatly expanded) that appeared in the PPC articles
mentioned above. She details Aztec, Maya, and Inca foods. What I
found so interesting was the influence of Old World foods on the New
World, why some New World foods didn’t catch on right away, and so
forth. This might explain why, even though capsicums were _brought_ to
the Old World in period they were not _used_ . (That is, they might
have been cooked and presented to royalty, and noted in a report - from
which we get historical “proof” - but they weren’t incorporated into
dishes served at feasts.)
A third source would be the older _The Columbian Exchange, Biological
and Cultural Consequences of 1492_, by Alfred W. Crosby, Jr., Greenwood
Press (Connecticut), 1972, ISBN 0-8371-7228-4 for the paperback. It
has had at least four printings. To me, it is a “dryer” read than
Coe’s book, but I haven’t read it for quite a few years now.
Alys Katharine, having a second "snow day" following yesterday's free
day!
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 09:30:14 -0500
From: renfrow at skylands.net (Cindy Renfrow)
Subject: SC - Re: Petits Propos Culinaires, was old world/new world foods
>Petits Propos Culinaires is an international journal on food, food history,
>cookery and cookery books. Inquiries should be addressed to PPC North
>America, c/o Jennifer & Nic Spencer, 5311 42nd St NW, Washington, D.C.
>20015. Currently a subscription costs $18 for one year (three issues).
>
>(from the Miscellany; I don't know if the address and price are still
>correct).
>
>David/Cariadoc>http://www.best.com/~ddfr/
Here is a post from Sept.? by Dame Alys with the current information:
To forestall the inevitable posts about where to get this lovely
pamphlet/booklet:
Cost for 3 issues (1 year): In the UK: 12 pounds; in the USA, $23.50. Cost
for 6 issues (2 years): In the UK: 23.50 pounds; in the USA, $45.
In the UK: 45 Lamont Road, London SW10 OHU. Make sterling cheques payable
to Prospect Books Ltd.
In the USA: same address as above. Make dollar cheques payable to PPC North
America.
In Canada: c/o Ann Semple, 1897 Prince of Wales Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K2C
3J7. Make cheques payable to Ann Semple.
In Australia: c/o Barbara Santich, 13 King Street, Brighton 5048. Cheques
payable to Barbara Santich.
In New Zealand: c/o Helen Phare, PO Box 5775, Wellesley Street, Auckland.
Cheques payable to Helen Phare.
When PPC comes into my mailbox, my day is automatically brighter and my
bathroom stays become longer!
Alys Katharine
Cindy/Sincgiefu
renfrow at skylands.net
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 11:06:47 EST
From: Acanthusbk at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - PPC
Cariadoc wrote:
> Petits Propos Culinaires is an international journal on food, food history,
> cookery and cookery books. Inquiries should be addressed to PPC North
> America, c/o Jennifer & Nic Spencer, 5311 42nd St NW, Washington, D.C.
> 20015. Currently a subscription costs $18 for one year (three issues).
>
> (from the Miscellany; I don't know if the address and price are still
> correct).
>
> I wouldn't expect most libraries to carry it.
Current details for US PPC subscriptions are:
Six issues (2 years) $45, three issues (one year) $23.50
If you would like to subscribe send your US$ check to:
PPC (Petits Propos Culinaires)
45 Lamont Road
London SW10 0HU
ENGLAND
tel/fax (from the US) 011-44-171-351-1242
email AEDavidson at compuserve.com
Tell them Amanda at Acanthus Books referred you. Also, FYI, Acanthus will
shortly have in stock the complete inventory of back issues of PPC.
Amanda
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 11:49:53 EST
From: Acanthusbk at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - PPC
Alys Katherine wrote:
> Cariadoc/David mentioned that PPC had articles on New World foods and
> suggested that you look for back issues. Acanthus Books now carries
> back issues. I’m lousy for URLs, but Amanda haunts this list and might
> provide it. They are approximately $7.50 per issue (at least from
> Prospect Books) but worth it.
I just received word yesterday the first shipment of back issues is in transit
and will arrive within the next couple of weeks. Issues up to the most recent,
#60, will be available. PPC's standard retail price for back issues is $7.95.
Acanthus' standard retail will be $7, and there will be standard quantity
discounts offered, as well as discounts on assembled packages of interest to
SCA cooks.
I'll be posting more details soon, and pending Alan Davidson's permission will
have scans of the table of contents pages available. An online index for PPC
issues 46-55 is currently available on Russell Harris' homepage at
http://members.tripod.com/~rdeh/index.html
and you can download a text file containing the complete index for issues
1-55.
Russell's homepage also has an index to the Oxford Symposium proceedings for
the years 1981-1994. Acanthus Books has proceedings from the years
1986-current in stock, plus earlier years available as used books.
Anyone with questions about PPC (or the Oxford Symposium) can email me at
acanthusbk at aol.com.
Amanda
Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1999 10:08:42 -0500
From: "Daniel Phelps" <phelpsd at gate.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Salsify-update and useful info
My copy of "Larousse Gastronomique the Encyclopedia of Food, Wine and
Cookery" in English translation (Prosper Montagne, Crown Publishers, Inc. NY
1961 Library of Congress Cat. # 61-15788) says that what is called Salaify
is actually two plants the "...root of the plant of the Compositae family
which alone is entitled to it, but also for that of another plant on the
same family which botanically is called scorzonera." The entry goes on to
say that the flesh of the roots of both plants are very similar in taste and
are prepared in exactly the same way. The word Scorzonera comes from
Catalan "escorso" or in English viper as it was formerly believed to be a
specific against its bite. The entry in my edition provides 11 recipes.
Copies of Larousse Gastronomique, at least in West Palm Beach, can often be
found in the book secions of charity thrift stores for about $5 or $6 if you
keep your eye out for it, about $20 in used book stores and over $75 new.
Daniel Raoul Le Vascon du Navarre'
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 11:20:51 -0800
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Byzantine Sources
At 3:00 AM -0800 1/28/99, James L. Matterer wrote:
>Several years ago there was in circulation a newsletter entitled EARLY
>PERIOD. I know very little about this publication except that it dealt
>with mostly pre-1000 recreation, and was produced by people involved
>with the SCA.
I read it for some time. It was an admirable effort, but not very reliable
in terms of historical authenticity, in part because a lot of what they
were trying to do was stuff for which period sources were scarce to
nonexistent.
David Friedman
Professor of Law
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 01:14:53 EST
From: Vanishwood at aol.com
Subject: SC - Question about source "All Manners of Food"
Has anyone read "All Manners of Food: Eating and Taste in England and
France From the Middle Ages to the Present"
It doesn't have recipes but it (through what I've read) appears to be an
analysis of eating habits. So far it appears to be a good source for cooks to
understand the economic and social factors in cooking during the period the
SCA covers.....
If you read it, what did you think about it? So far I found it very
informative.
Ethelwulf
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 07:19:59 -0600
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - Question about source "All Manners of Food"
> Has anyone read "All Manners of Food: Eating and Taste in England and
> France From the Middle Ages to the Present"
>
> Ethelwulf
It is interesting and possibly useful, but it is also the source of an
erroneous quote I made about Piers Plowman, so caveat emptor.
Bear
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1999 11:04:46 -0500
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Shakespeare
Cindy Renfrow wrote:
> Hello! Does anyone have a listing of food & feasting references in
> Shakespeare's plays?
You might check out Madge Lorwin's "Dining With William Shakespeare",
1976 Atheneum, New York City, ISBN 0-689-10731-5 .
Mostly this is yet another forum for Renaissance and Early Modern
English recipes from sources like Plat, Digby, May, Rabisha, etc., but
there are quite a few actual food references from Shakespeare's plays
and sonnets in there too.
Adamantius
Østgardr, East
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1999 21:30:06 -0500
From: Bonne <oftraquair at hotmail.com>
Subject: SC - Horseflesh, guinea pigs, insects etc.
> See James Frazer's "The Golden Bough" for more on this, as well as
> Calvin W. Schwabe's "Unmentionable Cuisine";
Funny you should mention this. Last week while rummaging through the Chapel
Hill public library for sources for my feast I came across it and spent much
too much time reading it instead of more pertinent books. I took some notes
to tell the list about it, here it is anyway for the others that hadn't heard
about it.
Unmentionable Cuisine
Calvin W. Schwabe
Univ. of Virginia Press 1979
ISBN 0-8139-0811-6
Schwabe was some sort of vetrinary researcher who travelled the world and
began collected recipes for portions of animals, or entire animals that are
considered inedible in the U.S. This book could be considered the evil twin
to "Diet for a Small Planet". While that book argues that feeding animals
grain in order to butcher them for meat is an inefficient way to feed the
world, this one argues that if we are going to feed the grain to the animals,
we might at least eat the animal more efficiently. Being picky about which
parts of the animals we eat is silly in his view. Regarding the usual meat
animals (cattle, pigs, sheep, goat, chicken) there are recipes for all sorts
of organ meats, including stuffed eyeballs. There are also chapters devoted
to less often eaten animals like guinea pigs and various game animals and to
insects.
Bonne
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1999 08:45:19 -0400
From: Melanie Wilson <MelanieWilson at compuserve.com>
To: LIST SCA arts <sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu>
Subject: Books on eBay Gardening & Cookery
Appetite & The Eye ed C Anne Wilson
Vol 2 Chapters include: Ritual Form & colour in the Medieval Food
Tradition, From Medieval great hall to country house dining room: the
furniture and setting of the social meal, Decoration of the Tudor & Stuart
table, Ideal meals and their menus from the Middle Ages to the Georgian
Era. , Keeping up appearances: the Genteel art of dining in Middle class
Victorian Britain.
A book originating in the Leeds Symposium on Food. Leading Food
Historians share their insights. NEW PB. Buyer pays actually shipping
costs.
Mel
Date: Sat, 27 Feb 1999 01:22:34 -0000
From: "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nanna_R=F6gnvaldard=F3ttir?=" <nannar at isholf.is>
Subject: Re: SC - Summertime Cerulean Blue Sauce
>Excellent quote. Could you please provide the title of the work? I don't
>recognize the author.
John Ayto, British, author of many reference works, mostly concerning the
origin of words and names, like The Dictionary of Word Origins, The Oxford
Dictionary of Slang, some translations from Middle English I believe, and
the work I´m quoting from, A Gourmet´s Guide, which is mostly concerned with
the origin and development of food terms. A valuable and entertaining work
in my opinion, and one I´ve made much use of. For some reason it was earlier
published as both The Diner´s Dictionary and The Glutton´s Glossary.
Nanna
Date: Mon, 1 Mar 1999 17:59:41 EST
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: SC - Opinions needed
I purchased 'Culinary Cultures of the Middle East; ed. by Sami Zubaida and
Richard Trapper " to day. Any opinions on this book? The collection of
lectures, papers and essays includes Perry and many others. Since it is
definitely written for more academically minded individuals, I was wondering
about accuracy, etc. before devoting my time to reading and studying it
since it will take much time.
Ras
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 10:43:09 -0600From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>Subject: RE: SC - Book opinion wanted
> Hey, Amazon came up with this book on my reccomendations page> today, and I was wondering if anyone out there had read it, and> would care to comment? Thanks in advance.> -----Gille MacDhnouill>> All Manners of Food : Eating and Taste in England and> France from the Middle Ages to the Present> by Stephen MennellI would recommend you borrow it from the library first. It deals primarilywith the social history of food, only the first few chapters deal withmedieval food, and there are some errors (i've been bit, using it as areference). The book is not particularly useful in redacting recipes,although the hardbound edition had some recipes on the endpapers (IIRC).This is one to read before you buy.Bear
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 11:59:43 -0700
From: "James L. Matterer" <jlmatterer at labyrinth.net>
Subject: Re: SC - What's cooking at the Tabard?
You might like to check out my website on Chaucerian Cookery. I've
researched Chaucer's writings for references for food and have related
them to corresponding period recipes. All of "Chaucer's Foods" are
listed there (bread, cheese, ale, wine, bake mete, etc.) with the
location in Chaucer's poetry where they might be found. And there are
some pretty graphics, too, and other literary/food info.
It's at:
A Chaucerian Cookery
http://www.labs.net/dmccormick/ccookery.htm
I received my laurel for researching the food of Chaucer's time and
poetry, so this is certainly one of my favorite subjects!
Maste Huen/Jim Matterer
- --
A Boke of Gode Cookery
http://www.labs.net/dmccormick/huen.htm
Date: Thu, 24 Jun 1999 16:13:40 EDT
From: THLRenata at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - Book opinions
Since Bonne asked:
<< The Food Chronology : A Food Lover's Compendium of Events and
Anecdotes, from Prehistory to the Present ~ James Trager / Henry Holt
(Paper) / June 1997 >>
This is a fascinating book! I did notice a tendency toward the "medieval
food was over-spiced to disguise bad meat" attitude and should point out that
more than 50% of the book deals with the 20th Century. Still, I do plan to
get my own copy someday.
Renata
Date: Sat, 11 Sep 1999 21:36:11 -0400
From: "Jennifer Conrad" <CONRAD3 at prodigy.net>
Subject: SC - Shakespeare and Food (web page)
http://www.soupsong.com/ibard.html
This site lists foods mentioned in Shakespeare's plays and where in the
play the mention happens.
Luveday
Date: Fri, 08 Oct 1999 21:57:36 +0100
From: Thomas Gloning <Thomas.Gloning at germanistik.uni-giessen.de>
Subject: SC - Food in high medieval theology (new book)
Philip Lyndon Reynolds just announced his new book about food in
medieval theology:
<<< Dear Colleagues:
(...) I wanted to announce that my book, _Food and the Body: some
peculiar questions in high medieval theology_ (Leiden: Brill), is now
out. As a result of an experiment with our kitchen scales, I can reveal
that it will cost about 3 dollars and 25 cents per ounce. (...)
Philip Lyndon Reynolds >>>
I must confess that I know something about the role of medicine in
medieval nutrition and cookery, but not much about the role of theology.
Therefore, I look forward to see this book.
Thomas
Date: Fri, 08 Oct 1999 14:53:38 -0700
From: "Laura C. Minnick" <lcm at efn.org>
Subject: Re: SC - Food in high medieval theology (new book)
Thomas Gloning wrote:
>
> Philip Lyndon Reynolds just announced his new book about food in
> medieval theology:
>
> <<< Dear Colleagues:
> (...) I wanted to announce that my book, _Food and the Body: some
> peculiar questions in high medieval theology_ (Leiden: Brill), is now
> out. As a result of an experiment with our kitchen scales, I can reveal
> that it will cost about 3 dollars and 25 cents per ounce. (...)
> Philip Lyndon Reynolds >>>
>
> I must confess that I know something about the role of medicine in
> medieval nutrition and cookery, but not much about the role of theology.
> Therefore, I look forward to see this book.
Thomas and all,
If you are interested in the theological implications of food,
particularly in the practices of the female mystics, Caroline Walker
Bynum has several titles on different aspects of the subject. _Holy
Feast and Holy Fast_ is probably her best known work on the subject. In
the academic community, the subect of female mysticism and related food
disorders, etc., has been hot for the past ten years or so. I even wrote
a paper on the subject a couple of years back, titled "Bite me:
Eucharistic Devotion and the Corporeal Christ". I thought it was awful
but I got a good grade on it- ain't academics wonderful?
'Lainie
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 1999 21:20:15 -0700
From: "Laura C. Minnick" <lcm at efn.org>
Subject: Re: SC - Book Review
Kekilpenny at aol.com wrote:
> Is anyone familiar with this book?
>
> "Medieval Feast, by Aliki. This picture book for ages 7 to 11 details the
> elaborate preparations that had to be made whenever a lord and lady had to
> prepare to entertain the King. It took them weeks to set up the rooms and
> prepare the feast itself. And they really did bake four and twenty blackbirds
> into a pie! This is a must-read for those studying medieval history. Cat.
> #72, $5.95."
>
> It is available at Amazon right now.
>
> Molli Rose
> Sol Haven (LMoC)
It's a really cute book- one of the better children's books on the
subject- useful for demos, working with pages, etc. Roughly set in the
reign of one of the Three Edwards. Been a few years since I've seen it,
but I remember it- which is a good sign!
'Lainie
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 1999 15:37:14 +0100
From: Christina Nevin <cnevin at caci.co.uk>
Subject: RE SC - Recommended Books
A book you really do want is Terrence Scully's "The Art of Cookery in the
Middle Ages" (1995 Univ of Rochester Press; ISBN: 0851156118). Admittedly
there are no recipes (though reading it always inspires me to go cook!), but
I learnt a lot from it which affected the way I cooked and thought of
medieval cooking and food.
Lucretzia
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Lady Lucrezia-Isabella di Freccia | mka Tina Nevin
Thamesreach Shire, The Isles, Drachenwald | London, UK
Date: Sat, 30 Oct 1999 08:56:20 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Book Review
Kekilpenny at aol.com wrote:
> Is anyone familiar with this book?
>
> "Medieval Feast, by Aliki. This picture book for ages 7 to 11 details the
> elaborate preparations that had to be made whenever a lord and lady had to
> prepare to entertain the King. It took them weeks to set up the rooms and
> prepare the feast itself. And they really did bake four and twenty blackbirds
> into a pie! This is a must-read for those studying medieval history. Cat.
> #72, $5.95."
Overall, I like it. Not all of the historical information is strictly
accurate, but it's pretty close, and it's hard to be both general and
accurate on the topic of A Medieval Feast; so much of what is true of
one isn't true of another, so you have to be very slective. There's
nothing in there about overspicing bad meat or anything like that. The
subtlety of a pie of live birds seems to me, based on what I've seen, to
be more a renaissance thing, but that's a minor quibble when you
consider that the information is given to children in such a way as to
portray these people's customs and actions as reasonable and
understandable, even if a bit alien to us. For example, the author
speaks of the stress on the lord of the Castle who may not be able to
afford the financial burden of a Royal Progress visit and series of
feasts without spending most of his stores and fortune, and possibly
even endangering his serfs as they struggle through the winter to come,
all with the risk of Official Displeasure and its various tangible
ramifications, should the feast not go well for some reason.
It paints with a pretty broad brush, but I think it does its job, which
is to educate and entertain children on this topic, and if the kids find
out later about the four-and-twenty blackbirds, that won't negate the
benefits of the rest of it.
Or, to put it another way, my kid liked it, and related it to SCA feasts
he's been to, some of which I've cooked, and he had a better sense of
all that went into producing such a feast, even now. Then he went around
the hall telling people, "See that rice stuff? My Dad cooked that for
you! Do you like it?"
Adamantius
Date: Sat, 30 Oct 1999 12:20:56 -0500
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Book Review
At 11:52 PM -0400 10/29/99, Kekilpenny at aol.com wrote:
>Is anyone familiar with this book?
>
>"Medieval Feast, by Aliki.
I read it some time back and thought it did a pretty accurate
job--certainly much better than I expect of children's books.
David/Cariadoc
Date: Thu, 04 Nov 1999 22:32:35 PST
From: "kylie walker" <kyliewalker at hotmail.com>
Subject: SC - witchcraft, food and jesus
I hope that got your attention - didn't quite know how to summarise 15 essay
titles in one line...
The Research Centre for the History of Food & Drink at the University of
Adelaide (in Australia) is about to launch a book I thought might interest
some of you. "Food, Power and Community: Essays in the History of Food and
Drink" is a collection of refereed papers from the research centre's first
International Conference, held earlier this year. Some of the essays have an
exclusively Australian focus, but there are a couple of much earlier ones:
Michael Symons on "Did Jesus Cook", Barbara Santich on "Who were the most
temperate and best mannered people in medieval Europe?" and John Cashman on
" 'La cuisine diabolique': the functions of food in early modern European
witchcraft".
If anyone wants further details, let me know. (I have nothing to do with the
book. My only connection is that as a member of the centre, I pay my $10
every year, longingly read the list of events and conferences and then admit
reluctantly that I can't be in two places at once...)
Kylie
Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1999 14:37:52 -0600
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - Re: SC-Olives, and I've got a new book
> Funny you should bring this up. I just got a new book (new to me, it is a
> used book) it is titled:
> Four Seasons of the House of Cerruti trans. by Judith Spencer. It is said
> to be a facsimile of I think a 13 or 14th century manuscript. <clipped>
>
> I was going to write to the list today and ask if anyone else had looked
> over the book and what they thought about it. I am, for now, treating it
> as a source of information that needs verifying until I can determine it's
> accuracy.
>
> Angeline
IIRC, The Four Seasons of the House of Cerruti is a decent modern
translation of a 14th Century translation and commentary of an 11th Century
work by Ibn Butlan, On the Management of Diseases for the Most Part Through
Common Foodstuffs and Medicine for the Use of Monks of the Cloister and
Whoever is Far From the City. (I had to check a crib sheet for that one.)
Ibn Butlan (d. 1066) was a Christian physician originally from Baghdad who
travelled widely in the Middle East before settling in Antioch and becoming
a monk. He is supposedly the Ellbochasim mentioned in The Four Seasons.
I only have a few excerpts from the book, but what I have seen is
worthwhile.
Bear
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 02:44:05 +0100
From: Thomas Gloning <Thomas.Gloning at germanistik.uni-giessen.de>
Subject: SC - Four seasons of the House of Cerruti / Tacuin sanitatis [books]
This is about some books and manuscripts.
<< IIRC, The Four Seasons of the House of Cerruti is a decent modern
translation of a 14th Century translation and commentary of an 11th
Century work by Ibn Butlan >>
The Four seasons of the House of Cerruti (Hausbuch der Cerruti) is a
manuscript now asserved in the "Oesterreichische Nationalbibiothek" in
Vienna under the shelfmark Cod. ser. nov. 2644. It is from the end of
the 14th century. Other manuscripts of this type are asserved in Rome
(Bibliotheca Casanatense), in Paris (National Library of France), in
Vienna again (Cod. vind. 2396; some pages reproduced in Zotter) and in
other libraries.
These are not really translations of Ibn-Butlan's text. Rather, they are
picture manuscripts with a very much abbreviated text. The original text
of Ibn-Butlan has no pictures, but is in the form of _tables_. Of
course, the abbreviated picture manuscripts are valuable for their
illustrations in other respects.
If you want to have the original Ibn-Butlan text, you might want to look
at the critical edition prepared by Hossam Elkhadem [with a translation
into French]:
- -- Elkhadem, H. (éd.): Le Taqwim al-Sihha (Tacuini Sanitatis) d'Ibn
Butlan: un traité médical du XIe siècle. Histoire du Texte, Édition
Critique, Traduction, Commentaire. Louvain (Peeters) 1990.
Elkhadem also wrote a short article about the textual history of the
tacuin sanitatis:
- -- Elkhadem, H.: Le Taqwim al-Sihha (Tacuini Sanitatis): Un Traité de
Diététique et d'Hygiène du XIe Siècle. In: Jansen-Sieben, R./ Saelemans,
F. (réd.): Voeding en Geneeskunde/ Alimentation et Médecine. Bruxelles
1993, 75-93.
There are several Latin manuscripts, but there is no critical edition of
the Latin version up to now. In the meantime you can use a printed
edition from 1531:
- -- Tacuini Sanitatis Elluchasem Elimithar Medici de Baldath, De sex
Rebus non naturalibus, earum naturis, operationibus, & rectificationibus
(...). Straßburg (Joh. Schott) 1531.
Based on this edition, there is a German translation prepared by Michael
Herr in 1533 (reprinted as a facsimile several times):
- -- Herr, M.: Schachtafelen der Gesuntheyt (...) Durch bewarung der Sechs
neben Natürlichen ding (...) durch erkantnussz/ cur/ vnd hynlegung Aller
Krankheyten (...) Aller lxxxiiij. Tafelen sonderlich Regelbuch (...).
Straßburg 1533. Nachdruck Leipzig 1985.
Some useful commentary material can be found in:
- -- Tacuinum Sanitatis. Das Buch der Gesundheit. Hg. von L.C. Arano.
Einführung von H. Schipperges und W. Schmitt. München 1976. [There is
also an English version of this book.]
- -- Zotter, H. (Hg.): Das Buch vom gesunden Leben. Die
Gesundheitstabellen des Ibn Butlan in der illustrierten deutschen
Übertragung des Michael Herr (Straßburg 1533). Mit Einleitung,
Faksimile, neuhochdeutscher Übersetzung und Abb. aus dem Cod. vind.
2396. Graz 1988.
Best,
Thomas
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2000 01:20:07 -0500
From: "Robin Carroll-Mann" <harper at idt.net>
Subject: SC - Spanish food/health manual
I just got in an intersting book via ILL. It's a modern reprint of a 16th
century Spanish food/health manual. (In Spanish -- it hasn't been
translated that I know of.)
The book is "Banquete de Nobles Caballeros" ("Banquet of Noble
Gentlemen") by Luis Lobera de Avila, who was physician to the Spanish
Emperor Carlos V. It was written in 1530. I would compare it to Platina
minus the recipes. The book contains many 1-2 page chapters, each
on a different type of food, with comments on how it affects the
humours, and what Galen and Avicenna and other authorities have to
say about it. There are also some chapters on the scheduling and
sequence of meals, as well as comments on the health benefits and
risks of such activities as baths, sex, and midday naps.
The bibiographic information:
Lobera de Avila, Luis, "Banquete de Nobles Caballeros", San Sebasti·n
: R & B Ediciones, 1996. ISBN 8488947593
There's also a 1952 edition, published in Madrid.
I don't know how many libraries carry it; I'm in New Jersey, and the ILL
copy I received was from the Library of Congress.
I haven't had a chance to do more than skim the book. A few tidbits of
information:
Raw apples cause flatulence and indigestion. These problems can be
avoided by eating apples that have been preserved with sugar, or
roasted and served with sugar or anise.
Eating radishes will protect against the venom of a scorpion, if one is
stung that same day. (I'm in the wrong kingdom to test this. Any
Ansteorrans out there who'd like to conduct some research?)
Bread is more nutritious and easier to digest when made from flour
which has not had the bran removed out of it.
Roasted chestnuts are healthier than raw. Those of choleric
temperament should eat them with sugar; those who are phlegmatic,
with honey.
Beef (especially from older cattle) should be eaten infrequently, in small
quantities, and with mustard sauce to counteract its melancholic
humours.
I wouldn't call it an essential title in the field, but it's an intriquing book
for those interested in period Spanish cuisine.
Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2000 17:14:03 -0600
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Spanish food/health manual
At 1:20 AM -0500 1/21/00, Robin Carroll-Mann wrote:
>I just got in an intersting book via ILL. It's a modern reprint of a 16th
>century Spanish food/health manual. (In Spanish -- it hasn't been
>translated that I know of.)
>
>The book is "Banquete de Nobles Caballeros" ("Banquet of Noble
>Gentlemen") by Luis Lobera de Avila, who was physician to the Spanish
>Emperor Carlos V...
This sounds a lot like the _Taciunum Sanitatas_, which is a Latin
version of an Arabic original. We have two modern editions in
translation with illustrations, _A Medieval Health Handbook_ and _The
Four Seasons of the House of Cerrutti_ (that's by memory, so I may
not have them exactly right.) This book gives, for each food or
activity, its nature by the theory of the humors, its benefits, its
risks, and how to neutralize the risks.
Elizabeth/Betty Cook
Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2000 22:37:02 -0500
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Sausages
Huette von Ahrens wrote:
> > <<Unmentionable Cuisine>>
> Is this cookbook worth buying? If so, please list the
> author, publisher etc.?
Calvin W. Schwabe, University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville, 1979
and 1992. ISBN 0-8139-1162-1
I think it's worth buying, although to be honest it isn't always what I
would consider the definitive source for several of its recipes. Its
whole point/crusade is to get people to admit that we are eating
something like 20% of our viable protein sources, and that a measurable
proportion of the world's population is starving to death because we
aren't using our resources properly, in his view due to food prejudices.
Basically, eat a squid, or an armadillo, a piece of calves' liver, or a
witchetty grub and help fight world hunger.
While there are no other easily available sources for some of its
material, some of what it does contain is available elsewhere, better.
So, for example, while Schwabe does want us all to eat little bony fish,
and they are included in his bouilliabaise recipe, and quite
authentically so, it's not the first place I'd look for a proper
bouilliabaise recipe: I'd check out Curnonsky, or Larousse, or even
Julia Child, first. But they don't tell you how to skin and bake a
muskrat ; ).
Another thing about UC is that if you're the kind of cook that needs (or
even _wants_, Huette ; ) ) everything spelled out in detail, you may
be mystified with Schwabe's instructions that call for some large turkey
testicles sauteed in just enough olive oil, and then add some mushrooms
and cook till done, I'd say you'd have to be at least an enthusiastic
amateur cook, rather than a complete beginner, to benefit fully from it.
With those caveats, though, I'll simply say it's fun, informative
reading and I'm very glad to own a copy.
Adamantius
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 17:19:18 -0000
From: Christina Nevin <cnevin at caci.co.uk>
Subject: SC - Book Review WAS Verjus
Magdalena asked:
> Gillian Riley (RENAISSANCE RECIPES) in her glossary states that
> the English (not big grape growers) used the juice of green plums and
> gooseberries instead.
I've seen recipes for crab apples, but not green plums. Does she
document her sources?
Not at all. Here is my review of her book - YMMV:
"RILEY, Gillian. Renaissance Recipes
Pomegranate Artbooks. 1993.
An amusing enough coffee table book. It talks about renaissance cooking and
customs, has redactions, and mentions original sources, but has the
irritating flaw of giving no solid references outside the bibliography.
Nonetheless, it is a nice book to have for the pictures of food and feasts -
useful for tabledressing and selection of feastgear. It also is the first
place I've found that mentions zabaglione as being in period, for which I am
happy to forgive it much!
Recommended as a picture book only or an on-sale buy."
Lucretzia
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Lady Lucrezia-Isabella di Freccia | mka Tina Nevin
Thamesreach Shire, The Isles, Drachenwald | London, UK
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 15:22:16 -0800
From: lilinah at earthlink.net
Subject: SC - Book: A Feast of Words
"A Feast of Words: Banquets and Table Talk in the Renaissance"
by Michael Jeanneret, Jeremy Whiteley (Translator), Emma Hughes (Translator)
Paperback / University of Chicago Press / October 1991 / $21.00
Anyone familiar with this book? I found it while meandering around
Barnes & Noble
"Synopsis
The first part of this study considers "the Renaissance banquet as
alimentary experience: Food, diet, hygiene, nutrition, cuisine,
gastronomy, appetite, and table manners. . . . The Renaissance feast
provided both an outlet for hedonistic pleasures and the occasion for
disciplining natural drives into refined behavior. . . . Part 2 takes
up talk at table. . . . Renaissance banquet literature, like the six
dialogues of Erasmus's Colloquies set at table feasts on words, takes
up elements of philology, lexicography, linguistics, and semantics."
(Am Hist Rev) Index."
While my persona is Near Eastern (and i'm collecting related stories
for table talk), i figure Renaissance table talk is more appropriate
than such standards as "my job, my car, waddaya thinka (title of
latest popular exploding movie), didja catch the latest episode of
(popular sitcom), how about them (fill in popular sports team)", et
al ad nauseum.
Gotta fill in all the space in my mind left by all the stuff i've forgotten,
Anahita Gauri al-shazhiyya bint-Karim al-hakim al-Fassi
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2000 11:36:25 -0600
From: "Bob Dewart" <gilli at seacove.net>
Subject: SC - Re: Book Enquiry - long
>I have in front of me a book I just checked out of the library. It is
>called _Food: a Culinary History from Antiquity to the Present_ published
>by Columbia University Press.
>It is part of a series called "European Perspectives". The editors are
>Jean-Louis Flandrin and Massimo Montanari. According to the book jacket
>Flandrin is a Professor Emeritus at the University Paris VII-Vincennes and
>a founder of the international review "Food and Foodways". Montanari is a
>Professor at the University of Bologna specializing in food of the Middle
>Ages.
>
>Is anyone familier with this work? It does not appear to have any actual
>recipes in it, but seems to cover everything else from argricultural
>economics to kitchen utensiles from different time periods in Europe.
>
>HL Darcy Evaline of Lasgwm
>Ansteorra
The English edition was supervised by Albert Sonnenfeld and translated by
Clarris Botsford, Arthur Goldhammer, Charles Lambert, Grances M.
Lopez-Morillas and sylvia Stevens.
The ISBN is 0-231-11154-1
General: The book is broken down into 7 major sections and each section is
subdivided into specific topics. Each chapter has its own biliography.
There are two small sections of black and white reproductions of paintings
which to my mind are rather dark and murky. Indexed.
Contents:
Preface by Albert Sonnenfeld
Introduction to the Original Edition by Jean-Louis Flandrin and Massimo
Montanari
PART ONE - Prehistory and Early civilizations
Introduction - the Humanization of Eating Behaviors by Jean-Louis Flandrin
Chapter I - Feeding strategies in Prehistoric Times by Catherine Perles
Chapter 2 - The social function of Banquets in the Earlier Civilizations by
Francis Joannes
Chapter 3 - Food culture in Ancient Egypt by Edda Bresciani
Chapter 4 - Biblical reasons: The dietary Rules of the Ancient Hebrews by Jean
Soler
Chapter 5 - The Phoenians and the Carthaginians: the Early Mediterranean Diet
by Antonella Spano Giannellaro
PART TWO - The Classical World
Introduction - Food Systems and Models of Civilization by Massimo Maontanari
Chapter 6 - Urban and Rural diets in Greece by Marie-Clare Amouretti
Chapter 7 - Greek Meals: A Civic Ritual by Pauline Schnitt-Pantel
chapter 8 - The culture of the Symposium by Massimo Vetta
Chapter 9 - the Diet of the Etruscans by Giuseppe Sassatelli
chapter 10 - The Grammar of Roman Dining by Florence Dupont
Chpater 11 - The Broad Bean and the Moray: Social Hierachies and Food in
Rome by Mireille Corbier
Chapter 12 - Diet and Medicine in the Ancient World by Innocenzo Maxxini
Chapter 13 - The Food of Others by Oddone Longo
PART THREE From the late Classical Period to the early Middle Ages (5th - 10th
Centuries)
Introduction - Romans, Barbarians, Christians: The Dawn of the European Food
Culture by Massimo Montanari
Chapter 14 - Production Structures and Food Systems in the Early Middle Ages by
Massimo Montanari
chapter 15 - Peasants, Warriors, Priests: Images of society and Styles of Diet
by Massimo Montanari
PART FOUR - Westerners and Others
Introduction - Food Models and Cultural Indentity by Massimo Montanari
Chapter 16 - Christians of the East: Rules and realities of the Byzantine Diet
by Ewald Kislinger
chapter 17 - Arab Cuisine and Its Contribution to European Culture by Bernard
Rosenberger
chapter 18 - Mediterranean Jewish Diet and Traditions in the Middle Ages by
Miguel-angel Motis Dolander
PART FIVE - The Late Middle ages (11th - 14th Centuries)
Introduction - Toward a New dietary balance by Massimo Mantanari
Chapter 19 - Society, Food and Feudalism by Antoni Riera-Melis
Chapter 20 - Self-Sufficiency and the Market: rural and Urban Diet in the
Middle Ages by Alfio Cotonesi
Chapter 21 - Food Trades by Francoise Desportes
Chapter 22 - the Origins of Public Hostelries in Europe by Hans Conrad Peyer
Chapter 23 - Medieval cooking by Bruno Laurioux
Chapter 24 - Food and Social classes in Late Medieval and Renaaisaance Italy
by Allen J Grieco
Chapter 25 - Seasoning, cooking and Dietetics in the Late Middle ages by
Jean-Louis Flandrin
chapter 26 - "Mind your Manners" Etiquette at the Table by Daniela Romagnoli
Chapter 27 - From Hearth to Table: Late Medieval Cooking Equipment by
Francoise Piponnier
PART SIX - The Eurpean Nation-States (15th - 18th Centuries
Introduction - the Early Modern Period by Jean-Louise Flandrin
Chapter 28 - Growing without knowing why: Production, Demographics and Diet
by Michel Morineau
Chapter 29 - Colonial Beverages and the Consumption of Sugar by Alain Huetz de
Lemps
Chapter 30 - Printing the Kitchen: French cookbooks, 1480-1800 by Philip Hyman
and Mary Hyman
Chapter 31 - Dietary Choices and culinary Technique, 1500 - 1800 by Jean-Louis
Flandrin
Chapter 32 - From dietetics to Gastronomy: the Liberation of the Gourmet by
Jean-Louis Flandrin
PART SEVEN - the Contemporary Period (19th and 20th Centuries)
Introduction - From Industrial Revolution to Industrial Food by Jean-Louise
Flandrin
Chapter 33 - the Transformation of the European Diet by Hans Jurgen
Teuteberg and Jean-Louis Flandrin
Chapter 34 - The Invasion of Foreign Foods by Yves Pehant
Chapter 35 - the Rise of the Restaurant by Jean-Louis Flandrin
Chapter 36 - The food Indusrty and New Preservation Techniques by Giorgio
Pedrocco
chapter 37 - The Taste for Canned and Preserved Food by Alberto Capatti
Chapter 38 - the Emergence of regional Cuisines by Julia Csergo
Chapter 39 - The Perils of Abundance: Food, Health and Morality in American
History by Harvey A. Levenstein
Chapter 40 - The McDonaldization" of Culture by Claude Fischler
Conclusion - Today and Tomorrow by Jean-Louise Flandrin and Massimo
Montanari
Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2000 20:13:57 +1030
From: "David & Sue Carter" <sjcarter at dove.net.au>
To: <sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu>
Subject: New Book - All the Kings Cooks
Our local book store is getting to know me so well that they are buying in
books for me to look at, unordered, with almost complete certainty that I
will succumb (deliciously evil people that they are)
This was the latest, and I thought I would share it with you, as it is a lot
more that a collection of recipes:
Peter Brears
All the Kings Cooks: The Tudor Kitchens of King Henry VIII at Hampton Court
Palace 1999, Souvenir Press (note odd spelling)
43 Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3PA
ISBN 0 285 63533 6 (hardback) 192 pgs
As the jacket says, it is a practical guide to the running of the Royal
Kitchens in the last years of King Henry's reign.
Peter Brears, and a band of volunteers actually cook period food in the
period way in the real kitchens for a few days each year (Has someone on
this list been to one of these? If so, what was it like?)
He talks about the joys, pitfalls and all the required problem solving
inherent in this sort of living history work, and the book is divided into
topics according to the function of certain parts of the kitchen complex.
(see below: contents page)
There are some wonderful colour pictures of huge coloured marchpanes, wild
boar, peacock, garnished brawn and a set table, and lots of black and white
illustrations of equipment.
There are lots of high quality recipes, but this is my one frustration with
the book: the original and the source are not given next to each recipe,
although they are numbered to an source index in the back. Luckily I own
enough of his published recipes to have copies of most of them that DO have
these other bits of info, but anyone else would have to track them down to
check them.
The contents are:
Introduction
1. The Counting House : the hub of the enterprise
2. Serving The Court: numbers, quantities, Costs
3. The Outer Courts: poultry, Bakehouse, Woodyard
4. The Greencloth Yard:Jewel House, spicery chandlery
5. The Pastry Yard: saucery, Confectionary, Pastry
6. The Paved Passage: Larders, Boiling House, Workhouses
7. The Hall-place and the Lord's-side Kitchens: Boiling, Broiling and
Roasting
8. The Privy Kitchen: Food for the King
9. Preparing for Dinner: Pantry and Cellars
10. Serving the King: a Royal ceremony
11. Dining in Chamber and Hall: Etiquette and Ritual
Bibliography, notes, indices.
I haven't had a thorough read of all of it, yet, but it is promising to be a
very good book.
Cheers
Esla of Ifeld
mka Sue Carter
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2000 09:58:52 -0700 (MST)
From: Mary Morman <memorman at oldcolo.com>
Subject: Re: SC - new book
> Someone just wrote me with a good review of a fairly new book called"All
> the Kings Cooks". It seems to be more of a what-was-what rather than
> primarily a cook book. Has anyone read this and could tell us more?
> gwyneth
i've ordered it, and seen some reviews. it is a discussion, with lots of
photos, of king henry vii's time at hampton court and uses household
records to talk about food, purchases, staff, etc. supposed to be VERY
good.
elaina
From: David & Sue Carter <sjcarter at dove.net.au>
To: <sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu>
Sent: Monday, 20 March 2000 8:13
Subject: New Book - All the Kings Cooks
Our local book store is getting to know me so well that they are buying in
books for me to look at, unordered, with almost complete certainty that I
will succumb (deliciously evil people that they are)
This was the latest, and I thought I would share it with you, as it is a
lot more that a collection of recipes:
Peter Brears
All the Kings Cooks: The Tudor Kitchens of King Henry VIII at Hampton Court
Palace. 1999, Souvenir Press (note odd spelling)
43 Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3PA
ISBN 0 285 63533 6 (hardback) 192 pgs
As the jacket says, it is a practical guide to the running of the Royal
Kitchens in the last years of King Henry's reign.
Peter Brears, and a band of volunteers actually cook period food in the
period way in the real kitchens for a few days each year (Has someone on
this list been to one of these? If so, what was it like?)
He talks about the joys, pitfalls and all the required problem solving
inherent in this sort of living history work, and the book is divided into
topics according to the function of certain parts of the kitchen complex.
(see below: contents page)
There are some wonderful colour pictures of huge coloured marchpanes, wild
boar, peacock, garnished brawn and a set table, and lots of black and white
illustrations of equipment.
There are lots of high quality recipes, but this is my one frustration with
the book: the original and the source are not given next to each recipe,
although they are numbered to an source index in the back. Luckily I own
enough of his published recipes to have copies of most of them that DO have
these other bits of info, but anyone else would have to track them down to
check them.
The contents are:
Introduction
1. The Counting House : the hub of the enterprise
2. Serving The Court: numbers, quantities, Costs
3. The Outer Courts: poultry, Bakehouse, Woodyard
4. The Greencloth Yard:Jewel House, spicery chandlery
5. The Pastry Yard: saucery, Confectionary, Pastry
6. The Paved Passage: Larders, Boiling House, Workhouses
7. The Hall-place and the Lord's-side Kitchens: Boiling, Broiling and Roasting
8. The Privy Kitchen: Food for the King
9. Preparing for Dinner: Pantry and Cellars
10. Serving the King: a Royal ceremony
11. Dining in Chamber and Hall: Etiquette and Ritual
Bibliography, notes, indices.
I haven't had a thorough read of all of it, yet, but it is promising to be
a very good book.
Esla of Ifeld
mka Sue Carter
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 14:24:46 -0500
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: SC - Food A Culinary History
"Food A Culinary History from Antiquity to the Present" arrived today. A
quick look at the book suggests it is going to be an important addition to
my historical research bookshelf.
The book is divided into periods; Prehistory and Ancient Civilizations, The
Classical World, From the Late Classical to the Early Middle Ages, etc.
Each chapter is a separate paper covering some aspect of cooking and culture
within the period. Each paper has its own bibliography and/or notes.
I'll probably start with "Diet and Medicine in the Ancient World", "From
Hearth to Table: Late Medieval Cooking Equipment", and "Seasoning, Cooking
and Dietetics in the Late Middle Ages." I expect it will take me a couple
weeks to read the entire book. I'll be able to give a more detailed opinion
then.
In case anyone is interested, the book is:
Flandrin, Jean-Louis and Montanari, Massimo, Food A Culinary History from
Antiquity to the Present; Columbia University Press, New York, 1999. ISBN
0-231-11154-1.
The price is $39.95, but it may be cheaper through one of the large
booksellers.
Bear
Date: Tue, 2 May 2000 16:09:20 -0400
From: "Gaylin Walli" <gwalli at infoengine.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Period Corks
Balthazar wrote:
>If I'm not mistaken, the greeks used to seal Amhorae with clay corks, and
>then waterproof them with either wax or pitch. I have made several sizes of
>clay corks for my brewing bottles out of Sculpey clay, which works well
>(aside from the fact that it is not meant to be used with comestibles...)
I seem to remember doing a bit of research on this when I was
looking into typical closures used for containers that might
have held ointments in period. One of the books I do remember
reading that may have additional information in it, secondary
reference type only, is:
Yarwood, Doreen. The British Kitchen: Housewifery Since
Roman Times. Batsford. 1981.
Someone may want to check on that publishing info, though,
because I'm going on what's scribbled on the back of a lunch
napkin in my desk drawer rather than the Library of Congress
(my connex to it is down right now).
A good book in general related to our cooking stuff here,
but only about the first half of it is useful. Tons of very
interesting information, though, both in period and out.
Jasmine
Iasmin de Cordoba
Date: Thu, 04 May 2000 20:37:05 -0700
From: "Laura C. Minnick" <lcm at efn.org>
Subject: Re: SC - Holy Feast and Holy Fast
Marian Deborah Rosenberg wrote:
> For those who have read it, what was their opinion of Caroline Walker Bynum's
> Holy Feast and Holy Fast? Expecting something more on food and maybe cooking,
> I was rather surprised to discover the main focus being spirituality of food
> and the context of that spirituality in the middle ages.
I have not only read it, I have worked with the book in an academic
context. I own two of her other books- and they are wonderful. Fine
work.
As to the unrealized expectations- you missed part of the title on the
first pass- 'Holy'. Food and fasting and body issues are deeply imbedded
into the medieval psyche. There are female mystics, particularly in the
14th and 15th century during the heyday of something called 'affective
piety', who eat nothing but the Host, or report mystical experiences
while eating it. There are those who imagined/dreamed/envisioned
drinking from the wound in Christ's side. Really weird stuff. More
similar weird stuff has been written by Karma Lochrie (best known for
her work on Margery Kempe). I have others but the books are in Eugene
and I am not. Really interesting stuff though, if you are interested in
the flakier side of medieval life. Some of these folks, if living now,
would be heading for Roswell and telling the _Weekly World News_ about
being abducted and probed and made to eat large quantities of
Cheez-Whiz...
You might have been looking for _Fast and Feast_ by Barbara Ann Henisch,
which _is_ about food and eating and not eating (Lent and such). I
highly recommend it.
'Lainie
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 17:55:03 -0700 (PDT)
From: Huette von Ahrens <ahrenshav at yahoo.com>
Subject: SC - does anyone have this book?
Has anyone seen or own this book?
Parkinson-Large, Pamela.
A taste of history : the food of the Knights of
Malta / by Pamela Parkinson-Large ; illusstrated by
George Large. Lija, Malta : MAG Publications, 1995.
190 p.
ISBN 9990996555
The Library of Congress give these subjects to this
book:
Cookery--Europe--History
Cookery, Medieval
Knights of Malta--History
Cookery, Malta
If someone has this book, is it worth buying? I have
already checked Amazon.com who says it is
out-of-print. Before I go check the OP dealers, I
would like to know if this book is worth pursuing.
Huette
Date: Tue, 16 May 2000 17:37:55 -0700 (PDT)
From: Huette von Ahrens <ahrenshav at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Fooles and Fricassees
- --- "Adler, Chris" <Chris.Adler at westgroup.com> wrote:
> This exhibit booklet was mentioned recently. I tried to find it on the Net
> at the Folger Library bookstore, but couldn't find it. Is this the Folger
> Library in Washington DC, or is there a Folger in England?
>
> Would the gentle who has this booklet please post
> the website of the museum where they saw this exhibit?
>
> Thanks muchly, Katja
I think that you could buy this from any reasonable
bookstore.
Here is the Folger Library library catalog
description:
Folger Shakespeare Library
Fooles and fricassees : food in Shakespeare's
England / edited by Mary Anne Caton ; with an essay by
Joan Thirsk ; [foreward by Rachel Doggett].
Washington, DC : Folger Shakespeare Library ; Seattle
: Distributed by University of Washington Press, 1999.
128 p.
ISBN 0295879267
Perhaps our AnTirean friends could pick us up a few
copies?
Huette
Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2000 03:42:33 +0200
From: Thomas Gloning <gloning at Mailer.Uni-Marburg.DE>
Subject: SC - School of Salerno
A version of the famous Regimen sanitatis of the School of Salerno with
some food content is on Ulrich Harsch's site too (this address is sort
of mirror site of his fh-augsburg-site):
http://www.cefe.de/~harsch/Regimen/reg_sana.html
Best, Thomas
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 12:08:04 -0400 (EDT)
From: alysk at ix.netcom.com
Subject: SC - "Eat, Drink & Be Merry" (long)
Stefan asked for more information on _East, Drink & Be Merry:
The British at Table, 1600-2000_, edited by Ivan Day, Philip
Wilson Publishers, London, 2000, isbn 0 85667 519 9.
"The publication of this book accompanies a three-venue touring
exhibition...a collaboration between Norfolk Museums Service, the
York Civic Trust and English Heritage...Comprising over thirty
important paintings, some four hundred decorative arts objects and
numerous culinary masterpieces, all brought together in historic
room settings, and cased displays, the exhibition helps bring to
life in a very tangible way the daily rituals of the British at
table."
The meals are recreated in real items (sugar paste, for example) and
in plastic, so real that a particular visitor (a marine biologist?)
was trying to determine whether the seafood was authentic. The
particular meals recreated are: The Garter Feast of 1671; Duke of
Newcastle's Feast (c. 1710) which uses recipes from May; a British
breakfast, teatime, a picnic from 2000, and an Elizabethan
banquet.
Each particular section of the book gives historic information for
that meal, along with specific descriptions of some of the re-created
foods/dishes. I was enthralled to learn that the white decorations
on one of the edges of a dish were cock's combs, which turn white when
cooked. I still am flabbergasted at the exquisite reproduction of
some of May's pies, which have to be seen to be appreciated.
While OOP for us, the descriptions, pictures of the dishes on the
table, etc. for the meals from the 1600s and 1700s helped me more
clearly see how little we really recreate when we do foods. If you
are interested in late period cookery, you will get some good nuggets
of information.
I went to England for two days last April to attend the Leeds Food
History Symposium at which Ivan Day gave a presentation from this
touring display. He showed photos (similar to the photos in the book)
and went into more detail about the construction and re-creation of
some of the items. Obviously, I was most interested in the Elizabethan
banquet that was recreated. While one can see things in the photos in
the book, it's not always obvious what they are. The white "stuff"
marking the walkways surrounding the sugar paste banqueting house is
actually hundreds and hundreds of comfits.
One of the rooms in the display is a kitchen, with sugar paste flowers
hanging to dry, some sugar paste statues (Grecian) in various stages of
completion, a mold for making them, the hanging basin and tools needed
to make comfits, and so on. The frontispiece for the book shows the
completed statues and the parterre (?) of dough and (custards?) that
complete the display on the table.
The book is a good resource for facts and information about late period
foodways. This includes things such as how much of particular items
was ordered or used, how the staff served the food to the king, the
table arrangements (one of the displays is an accurate reproduction
of a table display from a cookery book), and so on. There is clear
evidence (p. 87) that the king, for example, didn't eat some of every
dish that was in a course. IIRC, we had a discussion something similar.
Were folk supposed to eat some of every dish or only certain ones? This
notes that the king had 20 dishes to choose from in each of two courses,
but only picked 4 dishes in the first and perhaps one in the second.
Obviously, because of the dates (1600-2000), most of the
emphasis is on OOP food, but I am very happy to have this as part of
my collection. I am doubly happy that I decided to be bold and travel
up to York from Leeds on my one "free" day, so I could personally see
the exhibit rather than just read about it in the book. It helped to
have read the book the night before. I could then sound "intelligent"
when I pointed out to other visitors the cocks' comb decorations. That
particular lady countered with an explanation of one of the pies... She
knew from its contents just what it was and had eaten some like
it when she was a child. I wanna go ba-a-a-ck!
Alys Katharine, stuck in the US
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2000 22:36:23 +0200
From: Thomas Gloning <gloning at Mailer.Uni-Marburg.DE>
Subject: SC - New Book: Food and nutrition around 1000
There is a new book (for those with a command of German):
- -- Gesellschaft und Ern‰hrung um 1000. Eine Arch‰ologie des Essens.
Herausgegeben von Dorothee Rippmann und Brigitta Neumeister-Taroni.
Vevey: Alimentarium/MusÈe d'alimentation/Food museum 2000.
ISBN: 2-940-284-05-9
('Society and nutrition around the year 1000. An archaeology of food and
eating'.)
Many good articles, lots of beautiful and interesting images from old
manuscripts, e.g. from the Ms. Hrabanus Maurus, De rerum naturis,
Montecassino 1023. In addition there are new archaeological findings
from Switzerland and France ...
Thomas
Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 21:13:43 -0500
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - History of Food
I like Toussaint-Samat for casual reading. There is a bunch of good
information, but the writing is Francocentric and stresses the "French
connection." I've spotted the occasional error and (IIRC) some of the work
based on archeological evidence is debatable. At $5 it's a good buy. If
this is a HB, then it sounds like B&N is remaindering a print run they used
to distribute at $19.95.
Bear
> My husband picked up this for me at B&N for $5 -- The History of Food by
> Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, translated by Anthea Bell. Can anyone tell me
> how good this is?
>
> Raoghnailt
Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2000 09:21:57 -0700
From: "E. Rain" <raghead at liripipe.com>
Subject: SC - The Oxford Companion to food WAS: filo/phyllo
Adamantius asked:
> BTW: How much should I pay for The Oxford Companion to Food? I saw it
> the other day in The Strand for, IIRC, ~$40, which I gather is a fair
> markdown from the cover price. Is it worth it?
Yes! I have had this book out of the library almost non-stop for the last 4
months. (List price is $60 and I'm on book probation till I get to Europe).
It was very useful in updating the Reference Manual & for answering
questions on this list. It has several good articles on various cuisines
both modern & historical. No it doesn't give historical background on every
single item, but it's a good tool nonetheless. It's on my wishlist for the
holidays this year along with "Art Culture & Cuisine" and the perenial
request for my own copy of Florio :->
Eden Rain
Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2000 10:32:42 -0700 (PDT)
From: Huette von Ahrens <ahrenshav at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Filo/phyllo-- was [Re: SC - duck and bread]
- --- Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com> wrote:
> BTW: How much should I pay for The Oxford Companion to Food? I saw it
> the other day in The Strand for, IIRC, ~$40, which I gather is a fair
> markdown from the cover price. Is it worth it?
>
> Adamantius
The cover price is $60. Amazon.com has it for $48.
Yes, in my opinion, it is well worth any one of the
prices, even $60. It is a huge book full of the most
amazing facts and insights. And it has a wonderfully
large bibliography. The only negative thing that I
have heard about it was from Nana, who said that the
Icelandic article had a few inaccuracies.
Huette
Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 01:24:48 -0000
From: "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nanna_R=F6gnvaldard=F3ttir?=" <nannar at isholf.is>
Subject: SC - Re:Oxford Companion to Food was: Filo/phyllo
Huette wrote:
>The only negative thing that I
>have heard about it was from Nana, who said that the
>Icelandic article had a few inaccuracies.
Actually, it has a whole bunch of inaccuracies and has already been
completely rewritten for the next edition - I¥m just now waiting for Alan to
send me a copy of the new entry on Iceland and a few related entries to read
through.
After having waited for years for this book to be published, I was very
disappointed with the entry on Iceland and was rather wary of the book at
first because of the inaccuracies this single entry contained. But, I¥ve
been using the OCTF extensively for almost a year now (in fact I¥ve got two
copies, one at home, one at work) and this is the only major defect I¥ve
found - of course there are some minor inaccuracies and omissions but I
haven¥t seen anything bad. I find the OCTF quite invaluable and the
bibliography has already helped me many times (and cost me some money
because I¥ve found so many books there that I really need).
Nanna
Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2000 09:12:43 -0000
From: "Nanna Rognvaldardottir" <nanna at idunn.is>
Subject: Re: SC - Another Catalan/Spanish translation resource
Brighid wrote:
>Thank you for the information. What is "Mediterranean Seafood"? A
book? It sounds like something I should know about.
One of Alan Davidson’s (author of the Oxford Companion to Food) early books;
a reference work/cookbook and a very informative and enjoyable book (it was
Alan¥s North Atlantic Seafood, a work of similar scope, that first got me
interested in food writing). Both books are divided into two sections. The
first half deals with all the edible species found in the area, with
descriptions, drawings, some history, information on cooking, and a list of
names in the various languages. The second half is divided by countries and
gives authentic seafood recipes from each country. Both books have extensive
bibliographies.
Sadly, Mediterranean Seafood is out of print but you could probably find an
used copy for around $20. Or that was the price of the last copy I came
across.
Nanna
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 17:42:50 -0400
From: "Daniel Phelps" <phelpsd at gate.net>
Subject: SC - New Book
Just when I thought it was safe to go back into the book store I read a
review of a new foodie book! The review is in the latest issue of the
"Economist" Oct. 14 thru 20th. The title "Pickled, Potted and Canned: The
Story of Food Preservation" by Sue Shepard. If I read the blurb right its
published by Headline and runs 368 pages and 15.99 pounds.
Looks to be a very interesting book. If anyone on the other side of the
pond picks it up please give us a cooks list review. One bit of trivia, I
learned about the worship of Roguszys.
Who was Roguszys you ask?
Why the ancient Lithuanian diety of pickled food. You guessed it the god
of sauerkraut.
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2000 02:23:21 GMT
From: "kylie walker" <kyliewalker at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: SC - New Book
I'm reading Pickled etc at the moment - actually, I've had it for about a
month, but I'm often reading several books at once, so my lack of progress
is not necessarily a reflection on how interesting the book is.
My general impression so far is that it's interesting, but not all that
specific (from memory, she doesn't use a lot of footnotes, but says she is
happy to be contacted if people want specific references); a good general
primer that gives a good idea of why various preserving practices developed
or died out (lack of salt here, wars there). And there's a nice 16th century
illo on the front ...
Kylie
Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2000 17:19:02 -0500 (EST)
From: Jenne Heise <jenne at mail.browser.net>
Subject: SC - Book review from _Choice_
Reviewed in Choice magazine:
"Symons, Michael. A history of cooks and cooking. Illinois, 2000. 388p
bibl index afp ISBN 0-252-02580-6, $30.00 . Reviewed in 2000dec CHOICE.
Symons's book contains accurate history, is a fascinating read, and
will delight anyone interested in food. He shows food to be one of the arts, albeit a consumable one. The wonderful mix of present day and ancient times presents aspects as diverse as the relationship of food to gender, literature, the Industrial Revolution, and global exploration and immigration. Symons shows us that lore and history of food is factual, fascinating, and fundamental. Food is so fundamental to language that many food terms have been absorbed into language and have long lost their original association.
Food is so fundamental to culture that, like language, it can define it. Symons serves all these topics and more in foretastes, entrÈes (entrees) and desserts with word derivations, stories, historical accounts, and even a look at a chef creating his art in fusion cuisine restaurant. Anyone with an even slight connection to food will want this award-winning, well-written, and well-documented volume to sit with and read, and to have as a resource. All levels."
Subject: Re: ANST - good cooking resource book
Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2001 17:31:44 -0600
From: willow taylor <jonwillowpel at juno.com>
To: ansteorra at ansteorra.org
Hi everyone this is willow
I just got a new book at Barnes and Nobles. It is called 'Acquired
Taste, the French Origins of Modern Cooking" by T. Sarah Peterson. It
is a wonderful resource book giving detail essays on ancient,
medieval, Renaissance and modern cooking.. It even touches on the
medical use of food. It is at half price right now so it costs
about five dollars.
Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 10:12:57 -0500
From: "John Page" <kdp at tiac.net>
Subject: SC - Re: sca-cooks V1 #3020
Copies from the AIA new publications post:
Ancient Food Technology. By Robert I. Curtis. Cloth with dustjacket (xxx,
510 pp., 21,6 x 30 cm., 75 illus.) ISBN 90 04 09681 7
List price EUR 121.- / US$ 149.- / DGL 266.65
Price for subscribers to the series EUR 115.- / US$ 141.- / DGL 253.43
Technology and Change in History, 5. (Forthcoming from Brill).
Employing a wide variety of sources, this book discusses innovations in
food processing and preservation from the Palaeolithic period through the
late Roman Empire.
All through the ages, there has been the need to acquire and maintain a
consistent food supply leading to the invention of tools and new
technologies to process certain plant and animal foods into different and
more usable forms. This handbook presents the results of the most recent
investigations, identifies controversies, and points to areas needing
further work.
Robert I. Curtis, Ph.D. (1978) in Ancient History, University of Maryland,
is Professor of Classics at the University of Georgia. He has published on
Roman social and economic history, including Garum and
Salsamenta. Production and Commerce in Materia Medica (Brill, 1991).
A little early but probably useful
Eithne
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2001 21:17:29
From: "Vincent Cuenca" <bootkiller at hotmail.com>
Subject: SC - re: Workshop (long)
>Does anyone have any books or articles that they can recommend which are
>good on these topics - especially the religious restrictions topic?
>('Lainie?) Only in English please (dangling appropriate foreign language
>texts in front of me is merely cruelty disguised as helpfulness ;-). MTIA.
A really good book (IMHO) on European food culture (not just Middle Ages) is
"The Culture of Food" by Massimo Montanari. He touches on the impact of
famines and prosperity on social stratification, on the impact of Roman vs.
barbarian cultural models of consumption, and on the social implications of
humoral theory. It's a whacking good read. I don't have my copy with me
right now; I can get publication info to the list on Monday.
Vicente
Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2001 23:17:16 -0500
From: "Daniel Phelps" <phelpsd at gate.net>
Subject: SC - Odd Book
Went by my favorite used book shop the other day and found a rather odd
book, Columbus Menu; Italian Cuisine after the First Voyage of Chistopher
Colmbus" by Stefano Milioni, Istituyo Italiano per il Commercio Estero,
Italian Trade Commission.
Its chapters are short histories of the tomato, the potato, corn (Maize),
Beans and Green Beans, squashes, sweet and hot peppers, the turkey and
cacao. Nice general historical notes, most of the historical recipes are
out of period though. There is one Italian recipe for turkey from
Bartolomeo Scappi, 1570 quoted in translation. It contains a description of
the "rooster of India" which clearly by its description identifies the bird
as being a turkey. As the book does not have a bibliography can anyone tell
me anything about the source?
Daniel Raoul
Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2001 23:22:49 -0600
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - Odd Book
> There is one Italian recipe for turkey from
> Bartolomeo Scappi, 1570 quoted in translation. It contains a description of
> the "rooster of India" which clearly by its description identifies the bird
> as being a turkey. As the book does not have a bibliography can anyone
> tell me anything about the source?
>
> Daniel Raoul
Cuoco Secrete di Papa Pio Quinto (Cooking Secrets of Pope Pius V), commonly
referred to as Scappi's Opera. Published in Venice in 1570. The book has
28 copperplate illustrations of cooking utensils and kitchens. I don't know
of an English translation, but the illustrations occasionally are reprinted.
IIRC, Scappi was the cook for Cardinal Michaele Ghislieri and was his cook
after Ghislieri became Pope Pius V (1566-1572).
Bear
From: Christina Nevin <cnevin at caci.co.uk>
To: "'SCA Cookslist'" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 16:24:03 +0100
Subject: [Sca-cooks] FW: RE: SC - new/old Speculum article - Scully article
>Are you talking about his commentary on Mayneri's Opusculum de
Saporibus?
That's the one! Where can I find it?
Vicente
Details below of where I got it from.
Ciao,
Lucrezia
<snip>
> a really great resource for those (like me) without access to either a
> good library or friendly librarian - the University of Heidelburg Library,
> which has loads of different magazines including Speculum and Medium
> Aevum, sells articles over the Internet and sends them via mail, fax, and
> electronically.
> I ordered the "A medieval Sauce Book" article (Thorndike, L. "A medieval
> sauce-book" Speculum 9 1934) and Scully's commentary on it (Scully, T.
> "The 'Opusculum Sporibus' of Magninus Mediolanensis" Medium Aevum LIV
> 1985) on the Wednesday and got notification of where to download them from
> on the Friday. It cost me about US $7.50 or UKP 5.00.
> Needless to say I am a very happy girl!
> <Lucrezia does the Happy Hamster Dance>
Ordering forms and information are supplied in English and you can
pay by credit card over the net. Here's the URL:
> Al Servizio Vostro, e del Sogno
> Lucrezia
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Lady Lucrezia-Isabella di Freccia | mka Tina Nevin
> Thamesreach Shire, The Isles, Drachenwald | London, UK
Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2001 03:53:01 +0200
From: tgl at mailer.uni-marburg.de
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: dietary theory/humors (was: what is your project?)
> I was reading a few months ago in a magazine (I think Scientific American?)
> that someone was bringing out a book on the history of dietary theory, which
> would naturally include a section on humors. Does anyone have details of
> this?
Whatever you saw mentioned, you might also look for:
-- Ken Albala: For the stomach's sake. Food and nutrition in the
Renaissance. Berkeley (Univ. of Calif. Press) 2001.
To appear in fall, if I am not mistaken. I saw the source list, which
looks VERY promising.
Th.
Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2001 23:12:05 +0200
From: tgl at mailer.uni-marburg.de
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Michalangelo's Lunch & a question on Pontormo
Speaking of the daily food of artists, the diary of Pontormo (1554-56)
comes to mind. I have a German translation, but the translator left out
major portions, stating that it contained "only reports on food and
dishes". I know that there is a 1956 Italian edition and a 1996
fac-simile of Pontormo's diary, but I did not see them yet.
Parts of the text are online in English at:
-- http://www.thing.de/projekte/7:9%23/pontormo.html
(is there a complete version anywhere??)
Now: does anybody know if and where the diet and food habits of this
artist has been portrayed in some detail?
Th.
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
To: "'sca-cooks at ansteorra.org'" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2001 16:56:11 -0500
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Cambridge World History of Food
Here's the website for the Cambridge World History of Food complete with
links to some of the articles including those for potatoes and water.
http://www.cup.org/books/kiple/contents.htm
Bear
Date: Fri, 03 Aug 2001 22:40:25 +0200
From: Volker Bach <bachv at paganet.de>
To: SCA Cooks List <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Pictures of Medieval Food
An enquiry a while ago, the copy of which i
inadvertently deleted from my mailbox, had as its
subject books regarding the appearance and form of
medieval foods. I have now relocated the book I
was anbout to recommend at the time, namely:
Bruno Laurioux: Le Moyen Age a Table (Adam Biro,
Paris 1989)
(An English translation may well be available. A
German one is)
Its text is restricted largely to france, but it
provides a wealth of pictorial sources (mostly
manuscript illuminations, with a leavening of
stained glass windows, tableware and sculpture)
from all over Europe regarding medieval food,
eating habits and table manners, much of it in
color.
Also, the text isn't half bad :-)
Giano
Date: Sun, 05 Aug 2001 10:29:16 -0400
From: johnna holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Re:Larousse
Johnnae llyn Lewis sends greetings.
Actually Larousse has other errors as well, but
people actually never sit down and read it from
cover to cover. I did a very comprehensive project
for a graduate advanced reference course
on sci/tech literature back in 1982 and did a major
investigation of Larousse then for that project.
It's always been one of those works that was an
accepted reference source that Librarians never
questioned when answering queries from the public.
My argument then as now was that it was questionable
in a lot of cases. I just pulled up the three reviews
from 1988 that were in major newspapers. It got 2
short reviews and a longer one from the LA Times that
noted that the wording even in the new edition was
quaint and arbritrary. That some definitions read
like they were still written for the UK although this
was a US edition. That the "tandoori" entry focused
on the wrong meat, etc. It also noted that the 8500
recipes had been reduced to 4000. There are of course
other editions than this 1988 American one, inc. one
that Books In Print lists for $350.00.
I have not seen anything about the new edition except
that it was slated for publication.
Of course, if you picked it up at a remaindered $10.
then buy it. It makes a nice bookend.
Speaking about the Oxford Companion, you ought to
also take a look at the Cambridge World History
of Food which went Oxford one better by making
theirs a two volume set and twice the price.In very
odd ways they really compliment each other in coverage.
Johnna Holloway
Daniel Phelps wrote:
>
> Johnnae llyn Lewis so sagely wrote:
>
> I wouldn't
> >recommend Larousse to anyone less than expert level
> >because of the number of food history mistakes and
> >errors that are in the work. Classic, it might be
> >but accurate it isn't. Save your money and buy
> >the Alan Davidson THE OXFORD COMPANON TO FOOD
> >and I would price that through some online sources
> >for the best buy.
>
> Indeed my lady I've been meaning to take a look at the Oxford. I suggested
> Larousse because it has such an encyclopedic approach to food and its
> preparation and second hand older editions are so cheap. I use it to check
> a redaction against a modern standard for the same foods. I didn't realize
> that its forays into food history were so flawed. Francocentric and
> Anglophobic I recognized as a given, ...presumedly its remarks about Henry
> VIII and "Sir Loin" and the "Baron of Beef" in the 1961 copy I own are to be
> taken with a grain of salt. :-P
>
> Daniel Raoul
Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2001 22:18:04 -0400
From: johnna holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] documentation search: snack and tourney food...
jenne at fiedlerfamily.net wrote:>
> I'm interested in information from published sources about what kind
> of 'snack' food people in the Middle Ages and Renaissance consumed.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Take a look at:
London Eats Out. 500 Years of Capital Dining.
London: Museum of London, 1999.
It dicusses the 16th and 17th centuries with
lots of footnotes. cookshops, street food, etc.
Johnnae llyn Lewis Johnna Holloway
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 09:10:21 -0400
From: johnna holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] documentation search: snack and tourney food...
jenne at fiedlerfamily.net wrote:>
> I'm interested in information from published sources about what kind of
> 'snack' food people in the Middle Ages and Renaissance consumed.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Carlin, Martha. "Fast food and Urban Living Standards
in Medieval England." Food and Eating in Medieval England,
edited by Martha Carlin and Joel T. Rosenthal. London: The
Hambledon Press, 1998. ISBN: 1-85285-148-1.
Pages: 27-51. 112 footnotes.
This is probably the paper to start with.
Johnnae llyn Lewis Johnna Holloway
Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2002 09:54:21 -0700 (MST)
From: Ann Sasahara <ariann at nmia.com>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] prehistoric food
_A Taste of History: 10,000 Years of Food in Britain_
Edited by Maggie Black. British Museum Press, 1993.
ISBN 0-7141-1788-9
Ariann
Date: Thu, 07 Mar 2002 17:02:24 -0500
From: johnna holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
To: "sca-cooks at ansteorra.org" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] New Books of Possible Interest
During the past few days I have come across
these new and recent titles that might be
of interest to members of the list. I
thought that I would play librarian and post
them, so that you could keep an eye out for
them or ask at a local library
They are:
Ken Albala
Eating Right in the Renaissance.
California Studies in Food and Culture, 2
Publication Date: February 2002
324 pages, 6 x 9 inches, 12 b/w illustrations
Clothbound: $39.95 0-520-22947-9.
Provides information on foods while
examining the wide-ranging dietary
literature of the Renaissance.
http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9222.html
The following titles are available from
Tempus or Arcadia publishing.
FOOD IN ROMAN BRITIAN
Author(s): JOAN ALCOCK
Series: GENERAL HISTORY
Details: TRADE PAPERBACK / 192 Pages
ISBN: 0752419242 Price: $27.99
no description given by the press.
Scholar's Bookshelf says it uses
new archaeological findings to come
up with what the basic and gourmet foods
were in Roman Britain. Illustrated.
PREHISTORIC COOKING
Author(s): JACQUI WOOD
Series: ARCHAEOLOGY
Details: TRADE PAPERBACK / 176 Pages
ISBN: 0752419439 Price: $26.99
Description:
BASED ON EXPERIMENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY
AT THE AUTHORS WORLD-FAMOUS RESEARCH
SETTLEMENT IN CORNWALL, THIS BOOK DESCRIBES
THE INGREDIENTS OF PREHISTORIC COOKING
AND THE METHODS OF FOOD PREPARATION.
A GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE LIFESTYLE OF
OUR PREHISTORIC ANCESTORS IS FOLLOWED BY
DETAILED SECTIONS (PLUS COOKBOOK-STYLE RECIPES)
ON: BREAD, DAIRY FOODS, STEWS, WATER PITS AND
HUNTING FOODS, CLAY-BAKED FOOD, THE SEASHORE MENU,
BEANS & LENTILS, HERBS & SPICES, VEGETABLES, WINE,
BEER & TEAS, SWEETS & PUDDINGS.
NOTE: I have no idea here what they mean by
"teas" in Roman Britain.
The press also offers:
QUEST FOR FOOD
Author(s): IVAN CROWE
Series: GENERAL HISTORY
Details: HARDCOVER / 258 Pages
ISBN: 0752414623 Price: $37.50
FARMERS IN PREHISTORIC BRITAIN
Author(s): FRANCIS PRYOR
Series: ARCHAEOLOGY
Details: TRADE PAPERBACK / 160 Pages
ISBN: 0752414771 Price: $24.99
and then this one
RECREATING THE PAST
Author(s): VICTOR AMBRUS & MICK ASTON
Series: ARCHAEOLOGY
Details: TRADE PAPERBACK / 120 Pages
ISBN: 0752419099 Price: $19.99
Description:
A DRAMATIC CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY OF BRITISH
HISTORY, AS REVEALED BY ARCHAEOLOGY.
Found at http://www.tempuspublishing.com/p02.htm
Also Penguin has republished
Sydney Mintz's Sweetness and Power: the Place
of Sugar in Modern Society in paperback
for $15.00
Johnnae llyn Lewis
Johnna Holloway
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2003 09:00:00 -0400
From: johnna holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Tannahill was Tomato References
There's also the issue with Tannahill in that one
should be using the revised text that was updated.
Here is my description from my article in
Serve It Forth number 16.
"Food in History, Reay Tannahill, 1973. This was the first general
market mass release food history book and was used as a
textbook in several social history courses. Penguin in the
U. K. re-released Food in History in a =93New, Fully Revised
and Updated Edition=94 in 1988. A U.S. revised paperback edition
was released in April 1995. Do use the revised edition, as
Tannahill corrected and updated information provided in
the 1973 original edition."
See her introduction for details.
Johnnae llyn Lewis Johnna Holloway
Terry Decker wrote:
> Tannahill covers the subject, but not very thoroughly.
>
> Bear
> -------------------------
>> Tannahill's "Food In History" covers the spread of tomatoes throughout
>> Europe quite well.
>> -Lorenz
From: Devra at aol.com
Date: Tue, 6 May 2003 15:21:11 EDT
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: new book rev'd in PPC 72
Just got my PPC 72, and they have a review (fairly favorable) for
BRITISH FOOD; AN EXTRAORDINARY THOUSAND YEARS OF HISTORY. Author is Colin
Spencer, publisher Grub Street, 2002. Since it costs 25 lb, it would be
about $60 US, I'm wondering whether anyone thinks it is any good before I
spend my time and money getting copies in from England
Thanks
Devra
Devra Langsam
www.poisonpenpress.com
Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2003 20:26:01 -0400
From: johnna holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] "All the King's Cooks"
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
I have been recommending it off and on for at least two years,
especially with regard to the sugarwork sections. You might also like
the books The Tudor Kitchens Cookery Book. Hampton Court Palace and also
The Tudor Kitchens Hampton Court Palace which can be ordered from
Hampton Court Palace. You can order them as well as the general guide to
the palace from
http://www.historicroyalpalaces.com/shop/howto.php
Johnnae llyn Lewis
jenne at fiedlerfamily.net wrote:
>>>
Ok, I picked up "All the King's Cooks" at Pennsic and am finding it
fascinating reading, though not for the neophyte-- snipped
I've never seen this book discussed on the Cooks list. Is it because the
originals of the redacted recipes aren't included?
-- Pani Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika
<<<
Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2003 21:03:12 -0400
From: johnna holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] "All the King's Cooks"
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
I recommend it very highly. The original recipes are directly noted as
to source and place. If you can read a footnote, you can find the source
and then locate the original recipes with only a bit of bother. The
original works are now available on EEBO or microfilm or have been
published in facsimiles or reprint volumes.
Just because Brears saved the space and did not include the original
recipes is no reason not to buy this book. Anyone into 16th century
kitchens and/or cookery ought to buy a copy while it is still available.
There is a strong chance that it will go OP and never be printed in
paperback.
And yes the information is very good and as always in any Brears' text
highly readable.
Johnnae llyn Lewis
Greg noted--
It's in Jaella's bibliography:
>>>
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/articles/food_bibliography.html
As you've guessed, she recommends against the recipes.
<<<
Jadwiga wrote
>>>
Actually, to directly quote Jae's annotation:
"An excellent overview of the Tudor kitchens of Henry VIII at Hampton
Court Palace, and what was done there. However, the included recipes do not have the originals included, so this is RECOMMENDED for the
information, and NOT RECOMMENDED for the recipes."
So, can we talk about the information? Pretty please? I'm all excited
about roasts and boiling kettles and food service and so forth...
-- Pani Jadwiga Zajaczkowa,
<<<
Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2003 05:33:16 -0500
From: Robert Downie <rdownie at mb.sympatico.ca>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] "All the King's Cooks"
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
0 285 63533 6
Souvenir Press Ltd
I also recommend it highly!
Faerisa
Cathy Harding wrote:
>>>
anyone have the ISBN for this?
Maeve
<<<
Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2003 14:37:44 -0400 (EDT)
From: <jenne at fiedlerfamily.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] "All the King's Cooks"
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
>>>
Is there much in the sugarwork section on poured and blown sugar, or is
it mostly about sugar paste and such?
<<<
There is a little on poured sugar, though more about sugar paste.
Certainly more about poured sugar than I had seen elsewhere.
-- Pani Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 14:14:15 -0400
From: johnna holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
To: "sca-cooks at ansteorra.org" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] More new titles
Here are some more new titles coming out this fall. Some are rather
weird-- The new Shakespeare title is due out in October.
The Pharaoh's Feast: From Pit-Boiled Roots to Pickled Herring, Cooking
Through the Ages with 100 Simple Recipes
by Oswald Rivera
ISBN: 156858282x Publisher: Four Walls Eight Windows October 2003
Paperback 256 pages
"recreates ingredient lists and recipes to allow modern cooks to prepare
historic delights from Esau's biblical mess of pottage to contemporary
pasta primavera." Packed with fun facts, this culinary history includes
such treats as a seven-course dinner from King Srenika’s royal bash in
first millennial Indus Valley, Colonial New England’s Johny Cakes and
the modern era's meatloaf. B/white illus. accompany this lively history
of cooking."
---------------------
Cuisine and Culture: A History of Food and People
by Linda Civitello
ISBN: 0471202800 Subtitle: A History of Food and People Publisher: John
Wiley & Sons August 2003 384 pages
"examines the relationship between food and history, from prehistoric
times to the 21st century." Amazon has sample sections up to examine."
-----------------------------
A Thousand Years Over a Hot Stove: A History of American Women Told
Through Food, Recipes, and Remembrances
by Laura Schenone
ISBN: 0393016714 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company October 2003 416 pages
"Recounts how American women have gathered, cooked, and prepared food
for lovers, strangers, and family throughout the ages. ... the shared
history of all American women."
-------
I should also mention that C. Anne Wilson's classic Food and Drink in
Britain is out now again in paperback. Borders in Ann Arbor had it
yesterday. It was announced as 2001 and came out in 2003.
Johnnae llyn Lewis
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 14:21:50 -0400
From: johnna holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Two Books on Sweets
To: "sca-cooks at ansteorra.org" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Here are a couple on sweets--
A King's Confectioner in the Orient: Friedrich Unger, Court Confectioner
to King Otto I of Greece
by Friedrich Unger
ISBN: 0710309368 Subtitle: Friedrich Unger, Court Confectioner to King
Otto I of Greece Translator: Merogullari, Renate Translator: Akmak,
Maret Publisher: Kegan Paul International Ltd. September 2003 in the UK
208 pages. Also listed as being pub. in December 2003 in the USA.
Acc. to the publisher-
"This book, written in 1837 by Friedrich Unger, Chief Confectioner to
King Otto I of Greece, is a remarkable window onto what is in many
respects a lost world. Only a professional confectioner could have
understood the techniques, equipment and ingredients sufficiently to
leave a record so invaluable for recreating oriental confectionery. His
book is comprehensive and detailed, with recipes for 97 confections,
some of which have disappeared entirely today. The light the book throws
on relations between Turkish and European confectionery is of particular
interest."
The author Mary Isin has translated over 150 books from Turkish to
English. She began researching the history of Turkish cuisine in 1981,
publishing a Turkish cookery book in 1985, and an annotated
transcription of an Ottoman cookery book into modern Turkish in 1998.
She lives in Istanbul and has two daughters.
This is apparently translated from the German by Merete Çakmak and
Renate Ömerogullari according to a publisher's note.
http://www.keganpaul.com/product_info.php?products_id=741&;osCsid=15355addd75604ee634970ebaf4872fa
lists what the chapters include.
----------------------
Sugar-Plums and Sherbert: The Prehistory of Sweets
by Laura Mason is available again in paperback.
ISBN: 1903018285 Subtitle: The Prehistory of Sweets Publisher: Prospect
Books ( August 2003 Paperback)
Johnnae llyn Lewis
Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2003 10:05:30 -0400
From: johnna holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] "All the King's Cooks"
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Greg Lindahl wrote:
>>>
On Mon, Aug 25, 2003 at 09:03:12PM -0400, johnna holloway wrote:
> I recommend it very highly. The original recipes are directly noted as
> to source and place. If you can read a footnote, you can find the source
> and then locate the original recipes with only a bit of bother.
A footnote is a good start, but have you looked, and are these
redactions good ones? I don't think Jaella actually looked, as it's a
lot of work...
-- Gregory
<<<
The redactions are fine. It's a British book so he gives things such as
900g/ (2 lb) or 1150 ml (2 pt) and oven temperatures are 180 degrees C
(350 degrees F, gas mark 4). The recipe instructions are given in
numbered paragraphs and are quite complete.
Why should we doubt the work of Peter Brears?
Brears after all did the Tudor sections for the English Heritage series
which was released in hardbound as A Taste of History. He also published
some of the sugarpaste/dessert recipes in the conference proceedings
from Leeds that was edited and released as 'Banquetting Stuffe' under
the guidance of C. Anne Wilson. Moreover, these recipes are based on the
work of Brears and his staff through the years of actually working in
these kitchens and putting on these sorts of feasts at Christmastime
beginning in the early 1990's.
All in all it's a very good book and for anyone into Tudor-Elizabethan
cookery a must have volume. Just because I own 10,000 plus cookbooks and
books on food history does not mean that I do not examine and carefully
review volumes that I recommend. As a librarian as well as collector, it
would be professionally irresponsible not to carefully consider which
volumes I care to endorse. This is one of the great volumes. I use and
recommend it often.
Johnnae llyn Lewis
Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2003 12:02:58 -0400
From: johnna holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: originals and redactions Re: [Sca-cooks] "All the King's
Cooks"
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
But this is the question that comes up whenever one approaches any
cookbook that features traditional or heirloom or historical recipes.
The question always arises as to how true the recipes are with what was
actually being cooked. Did the author stand at the grandmother's elbow
and record every measurement that was made? Was the recipe simplified
for an American audience because the ingredients were not available? Was
the recipe and method and amounts improved upon or edited for length by
the author or the editor? Mastering the Art of French Cooking, volume 2,
[1970] contains a recipe for "croissants" that begins on page 96 and
ends on page 103. Most recipes today are at best a page or a long
paragraph. The better books discuss the recipes and the dishes and
mention any changes or variations, but this is not alway the case.
With regard to Brears it ought to be noted that the audience in Britain
for this book is partly made up of teachers who are looking for
information for their National Curriculum studies. With regard to the
original recipes, Brears notes that
"The fact that their recipes consist usually of little more than a list
of ingredients demonstrates that they were simply aides-memoire, for
they already knew by heart all the major repertoires and finer points of
technique. It is worth noting that only in recent years have some
cookery books descended to the level of idiots' guides, proffering
foolproof methods for boiling eggs!"
Had the original recipes been included the book might easily have been
another 50 pages longer and cost perhaps 1/3 more. Given the cost
factors, I think that this is the corner that was cut. They kept the
drawings and color photography and directed the readers to the original
sources via footnotes and a bibliography.
Johnnae llyn Lewis
jenne at fiedlerfamily.net wrote: snipped
>>>
It's interesting to think about this... obviously a combination of
originals and good redactions would be the best sort of source... but we
often recommend books that have the originals even if the redactions are
bad. Is this a good practice? Certainly, it does help people's critical
reading skills.> -- Pani Jadwiga Zajaczkowa,
<<<
Date: Mon, 01 Sep 2003 11:56:31 -0400
From: johnna holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Near a Thousand Tables
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
lilinah at earthlink.net wrote:
> Has anyone on this list read "Near a Thousand Tables" by Felipe
> Fernandes-Armesto? Apparently it presents food as cultural history,
> beginning with when humans figured out cooking...
> Anahita
It's ok but not outstanding. You can get it cheap at the moment in some
of the used book outlets. It's a highlights version of food--history
that offers up tidbits of this and that fact and then quickly moves on
to the next theme that he has chosen to cover. I'd borrow a copy and
read it before buying if you can. It may not be to your taste.
Johnnae llyn Lewis
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 10:20:56 -0400
From: Sandra Kisner <sjk3 at cornell.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] period smoke houses?
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
> Also sprach Stefan li Rous:
>> What do we know about period smoke houses? Do we have any still existing
>> ones? Or diagrams, pictures or illuminations? Do we have any written
>> information on them that might, for instance, tell us which woods they
>> used or preferred to use?
>
> But we know they did it: there are both Roman and 17th-century recipes
> that call for hanging foods up to smoke in the kitchen fire or chimney. It
> may be that the smoke is incidental, and that the warm, dry, updraft is
> the aspect of the process these cooks were going for.
>
> I think, for what you're looking for, we would need a period book on pig
> farming for a really detailed description.
>
> Adamantius
A review just appeared today on the BMR listserve of Peter Fowler, Farming
in the First Millennium AD: British Agriculture between Julius Caesar and
William the Conquerer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Pp.
412. ISBN 0-521-89056-X. $38.00. It mentions "Agriculture includes not
only crop farming but also animal husbandry and associated activities on
the landscape (such as herb production). Despite the title, there is less
about actual methods and processes of production and more concentration on
an overview of country life throughout the examined timeframe. While
landscape organization and exploitation, such as what field systems looked
like in the Roman period, dominates, there are briefer explorations of
social issues, such as belief and conservatism in the countryside, that
enrich the book. Judicious use of textual evidence in certain instances
permits insight into the working and living conditions of those on the
land across the millennium."
The review is a bit long to post here, but is available at the BMCR website
(http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/), or I could mail it to anyone who is
interested.
Sandra
Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2003 16:53:54 -0400
From: johnna holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: more on King's Confectioner
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
On August 27th I posted a note uder the heading Two Books on Sweets
and included details about a new book entitled
> A King's Confectioner in the Orient: Friedrich Unger, Court Confectioner
> to King Otto I of Greece
> by Friedrich Unger
> ISBN: 0710309368
I located some more information about the book. Priscilla Mary Islin who
did the notes for the book did an article that appeared in PPC 69 (Feb.
2002) where she talks about the book in detail and includes a number of
recipes. The article "A King's Confectioner in the Orient" appears on
pages 110-121.
Johnnae llyn Lewis
Date: Sat, 13 Dec 2003 11:46:47 -0600
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Le Menagier's chicken in orange sauce
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
> Harold McGee, "On Food And Cooking". If anyone waves a copy of
> Waverly Root's "Food" at you, run. Don't stop and look back, just run.
>
> Adamantius
So what egregious errors did you find in "Food"?
I will agree that McGee is the superior work (for one thing, he includes a
bibliography). I find that Root has his uses, but one needs to check his
quotes and his facts to ensure accuracy. Root is generally correct, but his
errors tend to show when checking specifics against contemporary or quoted
sources.
If you want truly problematic references try James Trager. I find his "The
Food Chronology" useful as a temporal starting point, but I don't depend on
it for accurate information.
Bear
Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2003 17:24:16 -0500 (EST)
From: <jenne at fiedlerfamily.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] "Creatin Community With Food and Drink in
Merovingian Gaul"
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
> Creating Community With Food an Drink in Merovingian Gaul
> by Bonnie Effros List Price: $49.95
It appears to be a book of essays. This is the info about it in the
Oxbow books site:
"Displaying, consuming and abstaining from food were powerful social
metaphors in the early day of Christianity and were widely open to
manipulation. The clergy in particular used occasions of feasting and
fasting to define relationships between themselves and the laity and
enforce their authority and power over them. These five essays by Bonnie
Efos look for evidence of the use of food and drink in the literary works
of early medieval Gaul, including saints' Lives, canonical legislation,
theological tracts, religious manual and so on. She explores the many
different roles of food, for example in defining gender and authority, as
a source of healing and power, as an important part of commemoration and
celebration in funerary contexts, and as forms of hospitality that could
be granted or denied. 174p, b/w illus (The New Middle Ages, Palgrave
2002)"
-- Pani Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 09:30:55 -0500
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] "Creating Community With Food and Drink in
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
This is quick and not at all formal.
Creating community with food and drink in Merovingian Gaul / by
Bonnie Efros.
It's comprised of:
Introduction pp. 1-8
I. The Ritual Significance of Feasting in the Formation of Christian
Community with subtitles:
1. Saints and Sacrifices in Sixth-Century Gaul 2. Saints and the
Provisioning of Plenty 3. Defining Christian Community through the Fear
of Pollution 4. Conclusion
II. Food, Drink, and the Expression of Clerical Identity pp.9-24
1. Defining Masculinity without Weapons: Amicitia among Bishops 2. Monks
and the Significance of Convivia in Ascetic Communities 3. Amicitia
between Clerics and Laymen 4. Bishops and Civitias in Late Antique and
Early Medieval Gaul 5. Conclusion
III. Gender and Authority: Feasting and Fasting in Early Medieval
Monasteries pp. 25-37
1. Feasting and the Power of Hospitality 2. The Claustration of Nuns in
Sixth-Century Gaul 3. Caesarius' Rule for Nuns and the Prohibition of
Convivia 4. Radegund of Poitiers' Relationship to Food and Drink 5.
Conclusion
IV. Food as a Source of Healing and Power pp. 55-67
1. Healing Alternatives in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages 2.
Christian Cures: Blessed Oil and Holy Relics 3. Anthimus' Guide to a
Proper Diet for a Merovingian King 4. Conclusion
V. Funerary Feasting in Merovingian Gaul pp 69-91
1. Ancient Sources and Early Medieval Practices 2. Christian Attitudes
to Funerary Meals in Early Medieval Gaul 3. Interpreting Early Medieval
Archaeological Evidence for Feasting 4. Future Directions for Research
Epilogue pp93-95
Footnotes--pp 97-143
Bibliography 145-167
Library of Congress subject headings for the book include--:
Merovingians Food Social aspects,
Fasts and feasts France History,
Dinners and dining France History,
Civilization, Medieval,
France Social life and customs.
Those are slightly misleading as it's the only book under the first two
headings.
There are no other books at LC with those headings. It's the only book out
there on this subject which does make it rather unique.
It's not a disjointed series of papers as was suggested but a whole work
that examines
various and related aspects of the role of Christianity and food in the
Merovingian communities.
This work is extraordinarily academic and if you hate footnotes
just forget it. There's nearly 50 pages of footnotes to wade through.
The author writes about the Merovingians exclusively. One of her other
titles is:
Merovingian Mortuary Archaeology and the Making of the Early Middle Ages.
For most people it's not a practical book, but if you are into
Merovingian history (or doing
a very special early French or Merovingian event) or want
to collect comprehensively on France, then you may want to interlibrary
loan it and read it.
A knowledge of Latin
and French is also helpful as well as a background in early French history.
(Once upon a time I did a graduate level course on Charlemagne, and I
have both
Latin and French, so I can get things out of it. I am glad that I bought
it. And I did not
pay this price, but got it at a conference special.)
I can't recommend it at $50 for most culinary scholars. If the price
drops to $15 in paperback,
then it might find a wider audience. It's very very specialist.
What it reminds me
of are those works that examine religious women and the role of food in
their lives, such as
Holy Anorexia and Holy Feast and Holy Fast, although they are much
longer and oriented towards
women in history. They are also more accessible to a general audience.
Hope this helps.
Johnnae llyn Lewis
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 19:31:51 -0500
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Bottero book on Mesopotamian Cooking
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
The University of Chicago Press catalog arrived today with
the news that Jean Bottero's book is now out.
The Oldest Cuisine in the World:
Cooking in Mesopotamia.
Translated by Teresa Lavender Fagan. 152 p. 2004
Cloth $22.50 0-226-06735-1 Spring 2004
Cumin, garlic, and leeks. Sound familiar?
What about francolin, halazzu, and kissimu?
In this intriguing blend of the commonplace and the
ancient, Jean Bottéro's The Oldest Cuisine in the World
gives us the first comprehensive look at the delectable secrets of
Mesopotamia. Bottéro's anthropological perspective encompasses
the religious rites, everyday rituals, attitudes and taboos, and even
the detailed preparation techniques involving food and
drink in Mesopotamian high culture during the second
and third millenniums BCE, as the Mesopotamians recorded them.
With offerings including translated recipes for pigeon and
gazelle stews, the elements and uses of medicinal teas and broths,
and the origins of ingredients native to the region,
this book reveals the cuisine of one of history's most fascinating
societies.
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/16219.ctl
Another new one from Chicago is
Ferguson, Priscilla Parkhurst Accounting for Taste:
The Triumph of French Cuisine. 256 p. (est.), 10 halftones, 11 line
drawings. 2004
Cloth $25.00 0-226-24323-0 Spring 2004 Available 05/04.
It's described as a---
"culinary journey [that] begins with Ancien Régime cookbooks and
ends with twenty-first-century cooking programs. It takes us from Carême,
the "inventor" of modern French cuisine in the early nineteenth century, to
top chefs today, such as Daniel Boulud and Jacques Pépin.
Not a history of French cuisine, Accounting for Taste focuses on the
people, places, and institutions that have made this cuisine what it is
today:.."
I was wondering why we needed another history of French cuisine at the
moment-- glad to know this is a "journey"!
Johnnae llyn Lewis
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 18:38:00 -0800
From: "Wanda Pease" <wandap at hevanet.com>
Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] new book review-- _Feast_
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteora.org>
Feast: A History of Grand Eating, Roy Strong, 2002, ISBN 0-15-I00758-6
2. Feast: A History of Grand Eating
by Roy Strong Author) (Hardcover )
List Price: $35.00
Regina
From: sca-cooks-bounces at ansteorra.org
[mailto:sca-cooks-bounces at ansteorra.org] On Behalf Of Wanda Pease
Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2004 10:44 PM
To: Cooks within the SCA
Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] new book review-- _Feast_
I have had my copy since December and I like it very much. It covers
from Greek through Victorian dining, with pictures from the period. Not food as
Johnnae says, but about food service. I was beginning to wonder if it were
somehow "off" because none of the people I expected to say good or bad
had mentioned it.
Regina Romsey
> I bought the English published edition several months ago and like it
> a lot. It's good for reading and the notes are good. Great for
> ideas.
>
> Johnnae
Date: Wed, 06 Oct 2004 14:19:19 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] New In Print
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
The Guardian Review of the Cardinal's Hat is at--
http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/history/0,6121,1217670,00.html
There are used copies and new imported copies available via www.
bookfinder.com for people who are interested in the title.
Johnnae
Elise Fleming wrote: snipped
> 5. _The Cardinal's Hat. Money, ambition and housekeeping in a Renaissance
> court_ by Mary Hollingsworth, 308 pages, 18.99 pounds. I will quote their
> review since in trying to summarize it, I would be saying the same stuff!
> "This is based on the MSS and financial accounts of Cardinal Ippolito
> d'Este, the second son of Lucretia Borgia and the brother of the Duke of
> Ferrara, mostly during the years 1530-40. You will get a true idea from
> its pages of the importance of salad to the Renaissance way of catering,
> and you will have the most immense fun reading a book that extracts the
> maximum from dry details of finance as you can imagine. My second-best
> Christmas present."
>
> Alys Katharine
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 16:36:27 -0500
From: Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise <jenne at fiedlerfamily.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] A question about a book
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
> While Googling, I came across this book ...
> Dangerous Tastes: The Story of Spices
> by Andrew Dalby
Wonderful, wonderful book. If you are interested in the history of
spices, you want this books. However, if, like some SCA-cooks, you are
only interested in period manuscripts and/or period recipes, you don't
need it-- it's a secondary and tertiary source, not a primary one.
-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 15:46:58 -0800
From: lilinah at earthlink.net
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] A question about a book
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Martin G. Diehl wrote:
> While Googling, I came across this book ...
> Dangerous Tastes: The Story of Spices
> by Andrew Dalby
>
> Any comments? Is it good/bad?
>
> Vincenzo
Ooh, ooh. I love this book. Is it the best most complete story of
spices? Probably not. But it has a lot of excellent detail, wonderful
quotes from ancient texts on spices, and it's written really well and
great fun to read. The author is a noted food scholar.
I recommend it.
Anahita
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2005 16:09:09 -0500
From: "Elise Fleming" <alysk at ix.netcom.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] PPC #77
To: "Micheal" <dmreid at hfx.eastlink.ca>, "Cooks wthin the SCA"
<sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>, "Elaine Koogler" <ekoogler1 at comcast.net>
Da wrote:
> I have to ask what are these PPC books, pamphlets , magazines. That I see
> continuously being referred to that is. I am in a little backwater up here
> so I don`t know of them, nor how to get my hands on them.
Petits Propos Culinaires is "an international journal on food, food
history, cookery and cookery books. It is edited and produced in
Britain
and has been coming out three times a year since the beginning of
1979..."
This is the "real" stuff, not "SCA fantasy". I've found that there's at
least one article in the SCA time period in each issue, sometimes more.
For me, the articles that have appeared on confections are priceless!
If you go to the Acanthus Books website and click on Petits Propos
Culinaires you can bring up the numbers of their publications. Click on
the number and see a copy of the table of contents. A number of the
contributors are well-known food historians. While it is somewhat pricey
($34 for a year's subscription of 3 issues), back copies from Acanthus are
usually less expensive ($8-9.50 an issue). It makes a good gift from a
relative who doesn't know what to get for you!
Alys Katharine
Elise Fleming
alysk at ix.netcom.com
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2005 16:15:42 -0500
From: Marian Walke <marian at buttery.org>
Subject: Re: [Sa-cooks] PPC #77
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Micheal wrote:
> I have to ask what are these PPC books, pamphlets , magazines. That I
see continuously being referred to that is. I am in a little backwater
> up here so I don`t know of them, nor how to get my hands on them.
> Da
PPC is the usual abbreviation for Petits Propos Culinaires, a
thrice-yearly journal of culinary studies. "Essays and notes to
do with food, cookery and cookery books," according to the
Library of Congress. It is published by Prospect Books (Totnes,
Devon UK). Subscriptions are $34.00/year; checks should be made
payable to PPC North America and send to PPCNA, Alaleigh House,
Blackawton, Totnes, Devon TQ9 7DL, UK. Although issue #77 was
particularly rich in period articles, every issue seems to have
at least one article of interest concerning our time frame, and
frequently several.
--Old Marian
Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2005 10:20:34 -0500
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Booklist for Culinary Novices-- Non Recipe
texts
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Wanda Pease wrote:
> How do people feel about Roy Strong's Feast: A History of Grand Eating?
> Not as a recipe book which it is not, but as a description of actual
> settings?
>
> Regina
Here's my short review-- it's just a summary.
I haven't done the long version yet. I have included it
in the Recreating the Elizabethan Feast handout, but not in
the essentials basics handouts.
(I have a variety of classes that I give, so I have a number of
handouts tailored to each subject or topic, each designed for the audience
and class. I redo these before each lecture, so they are up to date too. Yes,
I know that's insane, but it's the librarian in me.)
Johnnae
******
Roy Strong Feast
I've owned it since 2002 when it came out in the UK.
Strong writes very well, but it should be noted that Feast is not a cookbook or
a recipe book. It's a descriptive and tantalizing text that covers "eating in the grand fashion." It's going to frustrate Society cooks because it lacks
the details that they are going to want. (Don't count on it providing you with a
list of everything a typical banquet might have had in circa 1300 or 1560.) It's an idea book that stimulates the mind and palate; if you are into reading about past banquets, you will be entertained.
Do plan on reading it closely and then going to the footnotes.
You really need to like reading footnotes too.
It's worth getting, especially at the closeout price of $5.99
which is the price being offered by some dealers now.
Here's the original Guardian review--
http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/history/0,6121,804071,00.html
where it noted "There are endnotes but no bibliography, and it is therefore difficult to follow exactly what and where Sir Roy has been reading: all the ibids rather stick in the throat. Another lack is of specific instructions on how to stage a feast at home."
I would note that upon reflection this is one of those books that really
needs illustrations and lots of them. Oversized book with color photos and illustrations would have made it expensive but a work to really drool over.
Johnnae
Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2005 22:43:20 -0500
From: Elaine Koogler <ekoogler1 at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Booklist for Culinary Novices-- Non Recipe
texts
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Wanda Pease wrote:
> How do people feel about Roy Strong's Feast: A History of Grand Eating?
> Not as a recipe book which it is not, but as a description of actual
> settings?
>
> Regina
I used it as a resource for the Italian feast I did a year or so
ago...found the information it contained very useful and seemed
compatible with some of the ideas/information gleaned from reading other
sources, including period recipes.
Kiri
Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2005 17:49:40 -0500
From: "margaret" <m.p.decker at att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Book Questions...
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
I reviewed this for Serve It Forth! a few years back. Trager mixes fact,
apocryphy, and myth with gay abandon. This is his writing style, so any
works by him are suspect. The work can not be used uncritically. That
being said, the book is useful in tying various food stuffs to locations,
events and dates. I use it as a quick reference to bootstrap further
research. The more one knows about culinary history, the more likely the
book is to be useful.
Bear
> I recently picked up a used copy of
> The Food Chronology by James Trager
>
> It is organized by century, each broken down into years, with significant
> food, economic, and political tidbits with each. It begins with very early
> pre-history (pre-human, in fact) not broken by year :-) The volume i have
> ends with 1995. The book is 783 pages long, with 109 pages devoted to
> pre-1601, 60 pages of index and no bibliography. It attempts to cover the
> whole world, but i assume is stronger on Europe and North America.
> --
> Urtatim, formerly Anahita
Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2005 18:11:47 -0500
From: "margaret" <m.p.decker at att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Book Questions...
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
The Food Chronology is a history timeline with brief entries on a year by
year basis. Tannahill's Food in History and Toussaint-Samat's History of
Food are historical surveys, broad coverage, but little depth.
Toussaint-Samat organizes the work for greater depth than Tannahill, but has
a Franco-centric view. Flandrin and Montanari's (editors) Food: a Culinary
History is a translation (overseen by Sonnenfeld) of their French edition
and is a collection of scholarly essays on culinary history. While the
scope of the book is world-wide, the essays are limited in scope and provide
academic depth, which explains the vocabulary.
All of these books contain errors, so if you are using them for research,
check the sources and the facts.
Bear
> I have just recently started the search and what not
> of history with food. I have not heard of the book
> you mentioned, but, I did find 2 in a local library
> (Virginia Beach, VA). One is titled "Food in History"
> and is by Reay Tannahill most recent copyright is
> 1988. It does the same thing you are mentioning,
> timeline type of stuff starting with pre-cave man type
> all the way up to what they call 'current day'. There
> is references and such through out the book and is
> fairly easy to read.
>
> The other is called "Food: A culinary History" the
> copy I have says the English Edition is by Albert
> Sonnefeld and copyright 1999. Again, it starts with
> prehistory and early civilizations and goes up to
> current day. It is a little more difficult to read
> due to some of vocabulary. It also has references.
>
> Both not only look at food and where they come from,
> but also the cultural aspects of food and how it
> evolved. Not sure if that helps.
>
> Alexa
Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 08:54:17 -0400
From: "The Sheltons" <sheltons at sysmatrix.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] New Book?
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Is anyone familiar with this book that was just published this month? Some
of it covers our time of interest, but I don't know anything about this
author and how good her research is.
John le Burguillun
"Charlemagne's Tablecloth: A Piquant History of Feasting" by Nichola
Fletcher
ISBN: 0312340680
Format: Hardcover, 256pp
Pub. Date: August 2005
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
List Price: $24.95
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Feasts, banquets, and grand dinners have always played a vital role in
our lives. They oil the wheels of diplomacy, smooth the paths of the
ambitious, and spread joy at family celebrations. They lift the spirits,
involve all our senses and, at times, transport us to other fantastical
worlds. Some feasts have give rise to hilarious misunderstandings, at others
competitive elements take over. Some are purely for pleasure, some connect
uncomfortably with death, but all are interesting. Nichola Fletcher has
written a captivating history of feasts throughout the ages that includes
the dramatic failures along with the dazzling successes. From a humble meal
of potatoes provided by an angel, to the extravagance of the high medieval
and Renaissance tables groaning with red deer and wild boar, to the
exquisite refinement of the Japanese tea ceremony, Charlemagne's Tablecloth
covers them all. In her gustatory exploration of history's great feasting
tables, Fletcher also answers more than a few riddles such as "Why did
Charlemagne use an asbestos tablecloth at his feasts?" and "Where did the
current craze for the elegant Japanese Kaiseki meal begin? Fletcher answers
these questions and many more while inviting readers to a feasting table
that extends all the way from Charlemagne's castle to her own millennium
feast in Scotland. This is an eclectic collection of feasts from the
flamboyant to the eccentric, the delicious to the disgusting, and sometimes
just the touchingly ordinary. For anyone who has ever sat down at a banquet
table and wondered, "Why?" Nichola Fletcher provides the delicious answer in
a book that is a feast all its own.
Date: Sun, 07 Aug 2005 10:26:46 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] New Book?
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
It's been out in Canada and the UK for a year or longer now.
It has some interesting material in it, although it's not a cookbook
or a history but rather a reflection on food in history.
It does have some interesting stuff in it. The author did one of those
pastry stags that bleeds wine when an arrow is pulled out and she
included a picture of that for example. My guess is that certain people will like it well enough to read and enjoy it. One can get ideas and inspiration
from it.
Others will dismiss the book as unnecessary and worthless.
I have already heard people dismiss it.
Try interlibrary loaning a copy in before buying a copy.
Johnnae
The Sheltons wrote:
> Is anyone familiar with this book that was just published this month?
> Some of it covers our time of interest, but I don't know anything
> about this author and how good her research is.
>
> "Charlemagne's Tablecloth: A Piquant History of Feasting" by
> Nichola Fletcher
Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 11:12:28 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re:Charlemagne's Tablecloth was New Book?
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Saw the American edition of this at Borders this past weekend.
I was shocked to see that the color photos of the UK edition have
been changed to black and white in the US edition. It does make
a big difference given the various artworks that are reproduced here.
Half of the charm of the English edition lies in the various illustrations.
I thought I would warn people anyway that this is not the same book that
came out in the UK.
http://seriouslygoodvenison.co.uk/charlemagne_s_tablecloth.php features
the UK one.
Johnnae
> It's been out in Canada and the UK for a year or longer now.
> It has some interesting material in it, although it's not a cookbook
> or a history but rather a reflection on food in history. snipped
> The author did one of those
> pastry stags that bleeds wine when an arrow is pulled out and she
> included a picture of that for example. My guess is that certain
> people will like
> it well enough to read and enjoy it. One can get ideas and
> inspiration from it.
> Others will dismiss the book as unnecessary and worthless.
> I have already heard people dismiss it. Try interlibrary loaning a
> copy in before buying a copy.
>
> Johnnae
>
> The Sheltons wrote: Is anyone familiar with this book that was just
> published this month? Some of it covers our time of interest, but I
> don't know anything about this author and how good her research
> is. "Charlemagne's Tablecloth: A Piquant History of Feasting" by
> Nichola Fletcher
Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2005 23:07:22 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Also forthcoming
To: "mk-cooks at midrealm.org" <mk-cooks at midrealm.org>, Cooks within the
SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
New edition of
<>Food and Feast in Medieval England by P W Hammond
The book is now available in a smaller paperback edition with black and
white illustrations. 200p, 35 b/w pls (Sutton 1993, Pb 1995, new Pb edn
2005)
ISBN 0905778251. Hardback. Price US $40.00
Johnnae
Date: Sat, 08 Oct 2005 18:42:04 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Food in the Ancient World
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>,
"mk-cooks at midrealm.org" <mk-cooks at midrealm.org>
Another new Greenwood title comes at the end of the year..
Food in the Ancient World by Joan P. Alcock
http://www.greenwood.com/books/BookDetail.asp?sku=GR3003
(Estimated publication date, 12/30/2005) 49.95 USDollars
Johnnae
Date: Sun, 4 Jun 2006 21:29:50 -0400
From: "Sharon Gordon" <gordonse at one.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Forthcoming book on Eating and Drinking in Roman
Britain
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=052100327X
Eating and Drinking in Roman Britain
H. E. M. Cool
Barbican Research Associates
Paperback
(ISBN-13: 9780521003278 | ISBN-10: 052100327X)
Also available in Hardback
What were the eating and drinking habits of the inhabitants of Britain
during the Roman period? Drawing on evidence from a large number of
archaeological excavations, this fascinating new study shows how varied
these habits were in different regions and amongst different communities and
challenges the idea that there was any one single way of being Roman or
native. Integrating a range of archaeological sources, including pottery,
metalwork and environmental evidence such as animal bone and seeds, this
book illuminates eating and drinking choices, providing invaluable insights
into how those communities regarded their world. The book contains sections
on the nature of the different types of evidence used and how this can be
analysed. It will be a useful guide to all archaeologists and those who wish
to learn about the strength and weaknesses of this material and how best to
use it.
. Draws on the full range of archaeological and literary sources
. Reveals a great regional diversity within Roman Britain
. Covers kitchenware, ingredients, cooking techniques, eating and drinking
customs
Contents
1. Aperitif;
2. The food itself;
3. The packaging;
4. The human remains;
5. Written evidence;
6. Kitchen and dining basics: techniques and utensils;
7. The store cupboard;
8. Staples;
9. Meat;
10. Dairy products;
11. Poultry and eggs;
12. Fish and seafood;
13. Game;
14. Greengrocery;
15. Drink;
16. The end of independence;
17. A brand new province;
18. Coming of age;
19. A different world;
20. Digestif.
Date: Thu, 03 Aug 2006 15:15:02 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Anna Martellotti titles
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
http://www.webster.it/vai_libri-author_Martellotti+Anna-shelf_BIT-
Martellotti_Anna.html
I came across two titles by this author today-- Anna Martellotti.
One deals with foods related to Federico II in the 13th century.
The other with a translation of Arab recipes by Giambonino da Cremona
in the late 13th century.
Thought people might find them of interest.
Johnnae
_I ricettari di Federico II : dal "Meridionale" al "Liber de coquina"
review is here--
http://www.ext.upmc.fr/urfist/menestrel/cralimentation/Martellotti.pdf
also here
http://www.storiamedievale2.net/Rec/ricettari.htm
CULTURE: MIDDLE AGES - COOKBOOK ATTRIBUTED TO GOURMET EMPEROR
FEDERICO II
Rome, Jan. 16th - (Adnkronos) - Emperor Federico II was also a
first-rate gourmet, a passionate connoisseur of the art of cooking. And
to his patronage we owe the writing up, between 1230 and 1250, of the
''Liber de coquina''. This is what is sustained by Anna Martellotti,
former German history professor at the University of Bari, in the essay
''I ricettari di Federico II'' [The recipe books of Federico II],
published by the Olschki publishing house.
The second is:
Il Liber de ferculis di Giambonino da Cremona : la gastronomia araba in
Occidente nella trattatistica dietetica
Review is in PPC 71
Anna Martellotti: Il Liber de ferculis di Giambonino de Cremona: Schena
Editore, Fasano, 2002: ISBN 88-8229-272-X: 420 pp., indexes, p/b,
L.44.000/Euro 22,72.
"In eleventh-century Baghdad, a physician compiled a medical
encyclopedia titled Minh?j al-Bay?n. Among its thousands of entries were
scores of recipes, soon to be excerpted and circulated on their own as a
cookbook. These doctor-approved recipes were plagiarized by several
later Arabic cookbooks, and there is much to be said about that.But what
followed was more surprising. In the late thirteenth century, 82 of the
recipes were translated into Latin by a certain Jamboninus of Cremona
under the title Liber deferculis et condimentis, and in the following
century the Latin was translated into German as P?ch von der Chosten.
Lately there has been an explosion of interest in the European versions,
culminating in the present study."
CHARLES PERRY
Date: Sun, 17 Sep 2006 11:20:32 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Oxford Companion to Food 2nd Edition
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>,
"mk-cooks at midrealm.org" <mk-cooks at midrealm.org>
The Oxford Companion to Food is out in a second edition.
Borders in Ann Arbor had it Friday, but all the copies were
still wrapped, so I didn't open one up to browse it.
The Oxford Companion to Food
Second Edition
Alan Davidson
Edited by Tom Jaine
Consultant Editor: Jane Davidson
Research Director: Helen Saberi
936 pages; 175 line illus.; ISBN13: 978-0-19-280681-9 ISBN10:
0-19-280681-5
http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/HistoryOther/
CulturalHistory/?view=usa&ci=9780192806819
has the details.
Johnnae
Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2006 19:16:41 +0100 (CET)
From: sera piom <serapiom74 at yahoo.it>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Privy Purse Expenses of Princess Mary, afterwards
Queen Mary
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
While searching for "Epulario" at www.books.google.com, I came across
this book:
Frederick Madden: Privy Purse Expenses of Princess Mary, Daughter of
King Henry the Eighth, Afterwards Queen Mary. With a Memoir of the
Princess, and Notes. London: William Pickering 1831.
A quick look at the index shows: dishes of butter, cakes, cheese,
chickens, cherries, cinnamon, cloves, conserves, cucumers, damsons,
spices, ... not to speak of jewels, embroidery and such things.
Serafina
Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2007 07:29:10 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] 6000 Years of Bread was Fermentation Sponge
Question
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
> What do you all think of "Six Thousand Years of Bread: Its Holy
> and Unholy History" by H.E Jacobs. ?
>
> Aldyth
It's considered to be one of the classic volumes. I find it a bit disjointed
which is quite understandable as the writing of the book was interrupted by the author's stays in Dachau and Buchenwald before he and his wife managed to emigrate to the United States. (His wife managed to hide the manuscript from the
Nazis who had already banned his other books.) The book was finished in the States with research at the NY Public Library. The major problem is that the text came out originally in 1944, so it of course doesn't include the past 60 years of research. There have been a number of studies and research done, especially on breads, grains, milling, etc and the medieval period. The book doesn't reflect any of those. However for 16.95 it's a good buy and good value.
Johnnae
Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2007 11:22:18 -0400
From: Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise <jenne at fiedlerfamily.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Fermentation Sponge Question
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
> What do you all think of "Six Thousand Years of Bread: Its Holy
> and Unholy History" by H.E Jacobs. ?
>
> Aldyth
It's a fascinating book, but there's definitely a bias in it related to
handwork and bread quality. Basically what you would expect from a male
academic in 1940-- handmade bread is icky because people are touching it
and sweating and so on, and the primary goal of all society and all
people is to avoid physical labor because that's icky too.
Interestingly enough, I don't think he gives details about kneading
troughs and other large-scale bread kneading gadgets.
-- Jadwiga
Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2007 15:07:18 -0700 (PDT)
From: Huette von Ahrens <ahrenshav at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Period Greek Recipes
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
I am sorry, but "The Frugal Gourmet cooks Three Ancient Cuisines" isn't a very reliable cookbook for historical research. He doesn't document any of this recipes. This cookbook is on par with "Fabulous Feasts" in unreliability.
Huette
--- Georgia Foster <jo_foster81 at hotmail.com> wrote:
> I have a book at home "The Frug Cooks Three ancient Cuisines" ...
> it is in a box but I THINK I know which box (moving is a LOW quality
> recreational experience I assure you). Some of the recipies have dates ...
> some don't
>
> Malkin
> Otherhill
> Artemisia
Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2007 13:00:07 -0400
From: silverr0se at aol.com
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Fermentation Sponge Question
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
Great Book! I got a lot of good background info on bread from this
one, more than I got from Elizabeth David's, although hers has recipes.
Renata
> What do you all think of "Six Thousand Years of Bread: Its Holy and
> Unholy History" by H.E Jacobs. ?
>
> Aldyth
Date: Sun, 8 Apr 2007 10:30:19 -0400
From: "Nick Sasso" <grizly at mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] "Fabulous Feasts"
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Lord Vitaliano commented:
<<< Well, this is all great stuff, I now know what NOT to read, of course,
Fab Feasts was never on my reading lists, and this Frugal Gourmet stuff
never really interested me either. >>>
Actually the first half of "Fabulous Feasts", the section which talks
about the history of various medieval foods and cooking isn't that
bad. The problem is with the recipes in the second half, since many
aren't that good, and no original recipes or attributions are given.
So, it isn't a bad read, just don't use the second half of the book
as good examples of medieval recipes. > > > > > > >
BOTH books have value in and of themselves, from my side of the proverbial
tracks. Fab Feasts is the early incarnation of the desire for more
historically anchored meals in the SCA hobby. The research and recipe
construction lacks the sophistication of the current corpus, some 30 years
later, but needs a tip of the hat as being part of the development of what
we do today.
Frugal Gourmet has many really good recipes in his body of work. His
editorial and production staff did a little background research to give some
color to his ethnic and domestic recipes sets, and I don't think they ever
claimed to be a research resource. They were entertaining and I daresay a
significant part of the "normalization" and popularization of cookery and
food on television. All of the unsavory ajudicated behaviors aside, his
cookbook collection is a very decent source for beginning to intermediate
home cooks to enter some unusual cusines they might not otherwise try.
niccolo difrancesco
Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 20:28:55 -0400
From: Daniel Myers <edoard at medievalcookery.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Book Question
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
On Oct 15, 2007, at 7:25 PM, Diane & Micheal Reid wrote:
> Recently my lady picked up a book called
> Food in History by Reay Tannahill,
>
> Question having read a bit I wondered if it was meant as a
> generalist view or is it a book that can be used for references.
As a general overview it's ok, I suppose (It doesn't talk about
spices and rotten meat). But it's very poorly documented in most
places, and the section on the medieval period is very short and way
over generalized (any book that fails to differentiate the practices
of Italy and England is doing more harm than good in my opinion).
I'd read it and pass it on, and then go pick up anything by Scully or
Woolgar.
- Doc
Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 20:31:49 -0500
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Book Question
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Like most books that are global in scope and cover 15 millenia, it's a
little shallow. While I may reference it, I usually use Tannahill as a
starting point. The bibliography and the illistration sources are of
interest. It's better than a number of other general texts, Trager's
Food, for instance. For general overview, Food: a Culinary History,
edited by Flandrin and Montinari, is a superior work.
Bear
> Recently my lady picked up a book called
> Food in History by Reay Tannahill,
> Published 1973
> Isbn 0-8128-1437-1
> Stien and Day Publishers
> 7 east street, NewYork, N.Y. 10017
>
> Question having read a bit I wondered if it was meant as a
> generalist view or is it a book that can be used for references.
> Cealian
Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 23:23:39 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Book Question
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
The problem is that the book is very old and was published prior to food history
taking off as a field. It covers the entire world in a not very comprehensive fashion. There are numerous other studies out now that are much better-- we
also have numerous companions and guides to food that do a better job.
Johnnae
Diane & Micheal Reid wrote:
> Recently my lady picked up a book called
> Food in History by Reay Tannahill,
> Published 1973
> Isbn 0-8128-1437-1
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2007 21:02:13 EDT
From: Bronwynmgn at aol.com
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Book Question
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
dmreid at hfx.eastlink.ca writes:
<<Question having read a bit I wondered if it was meant as a
generalist view or is it a book that can be used for references.>>
In my opinion, it's a generalist view of food history all over the
world; there is a huge bibliography; and it's a heck of a fun read.
Brangwayna Morgan
Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2008 14:22:48 -0500
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Books of Possible Interest
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Daniel & Elizabeth Phelps wrote:
> What is the consensus on Food, the History of Taste? I have Food in
> History, The History of Food and Fast and Feast.
>
> Daniel
Food the History of Taste
I have to admit to rather liking it generally.
The important thing to remember about this book is that it is a collection of
essays. So here is what who get--
"Introduction:; A new history of cuisine"
by Paul Freedman
"Hunter-gatherers and the first farmers: the evolution of taste in prehistory"
by Alan K. Outram
"The good things that lay at hand: tastes of ancient Greece and Rome"
by Veronika Grimm
"The quest for perfect balance: taste and gastronomy in imperial China"
by Joanna Waley-Cohen
The pleasures of consumption: the birth of medieval Islamic cuisine by
H. D. Miller
"Feasting and fasting: food and taste in Europe in the Middle Ages"
by C. M. Woolgar
"New worlds, new tastes: food fashions after the Renaissance"
by Brian Cowan
"The birth of the modern consumer age: food innovations from 1800"
by Hans J. Teuteberg
"Chefs, gourmets and gourmands: French cuisine in the 19th and 20th centuries"
by Alain Drouard
"Dining out: the development of the restaurant"
by Elliott Shore
"Novelty and tradition: the new landscape for gastronomy"
by Peter Scholliers.
It's a pretty coffee table or gift book as it's an oversized volume filled with very nicely chosen color illustrations and photos.
In many ways it's a limited volume in that it doesn't come close to
covering everything in terms of food and food history, but what
it does cover is well written and interesting. Not ground breaking or
earth shattering, but nice to read.
It's not a reference volume or encyclopedia.
Recipes-- not really. Only in terms of being mentioned in the text. Yes to a Bibliography arranged by chapters.
This is a book that you should be able to see at larger bookstores like
Barnes & Noble and Borders. Make them open up and let you take a look at it.
The editor Paul Freedman has another volume coming out in June 2008
titled Out of the East: Spices and the Medieval Imagination. Yale
is publishing that one. It looks like it may be most interesting.
Johnna, playing librarian
Date: Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:47:31 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Ivan Day's new book
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>,
SCA_Subtleties at yahoogroups.com
Food historian Ivan Day has a new book coming out.
COOKING IN EUROPE 1650-1850
A new book by Ivan Day
Publication Date - 11th November 2008
http://www.historicfood.com/events.htm
While you are reading those details in the left hand column, also
take a look at his pictures of jellies, chocolates, and sugarpaste.
Or you can check out the book also at
http://www.greenwood.com/catalog/GR4624.aspx
(and yes I know it starts at 1650, but some of us will want it anyway.)
Johnnae
Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:54:48 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Good Book or No? The Banquet: Dining in the
Great Courts of Late Renaissance Europe
To: kat_weye at yahoo.com, Cooks within the SCA
<sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Katheline van Weye wrote:
<<< I was asked about a book that I hadn't heard of called "The Banquet: Dining in the Great Courts of Late Renaissance Europe" by Ken Albala. I looked it up on Amazon but the review on there didn't give me a clue as to how knowledgeable the reviewer was in the area of food history.
So to the excellent and knowledgeable cooks on this list, is this a good book or a bad one?
Katheline >>>
Absolutely excellent author and book. He's a history professor with an
interest in food.
Just won the Jane Grigson award for his book Beans.
I described this book back on SCA Cooks in a forthcoming list as
"The second is The Banquet: Dining in the Great Courts of Late
Renaissance Europe by Ken Albala University of Illinois Press; 1st
edition (January 5, 2007)
It's described by Barbara Wheaton as "The Banquet is the first book to
describe developments in the realm of courtly feasting on an
international scale. Few specialists in this field have so broad a
knowledge of the literature in so many languages, and few have read so
widely and thoughtfully. Intelligently written and original, this book
is a pleasure to read."
ISBN: 0252031334 $40.00
It's not a cookbook--- it's a history book about the place of the
banquet in the courts of Europe. If you have
any doubts about it, loan it in from your library first and read it.
Johnnae
Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2008 16:57:16 -0400
From: "Elise Fleming" <alysk at ix.netcom.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Good Book or No? The Banquet: Dining in the
Great Courts of Late Renaissance Europe
To: "sca-cooks at ansteorra.org" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Katheline asked:
<<< I was asked about a book that I hadn't heard of called "The Banquet:
Dining in the Great Courts of Late Renaissance Europe" by Ken Albala.
I looked it up on Amazon but the review on there didn't give me a clue
as to how knowledgeable the reviewer was in the area of food history.
So to the excellent and knowledgeable cooks on this list, is this a good
book or a bad one? >>>
It's absolutely superb! He makes links between cookery and unrelated
activities such as painting/art, etc. I'm underlining and highlighting two
to three sentences on every page, something I haven't done in most books.
Lovely, lovely book!
Alys Katharine
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 01:44:20 -0400
From: "tudorpot at gmail.com" <tudorpot at gmail.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] new book on English food
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
A possible new source for SCA cooks- Taste: The Story of Britain
Through Its Cooking by Kate Colquhoun
Here is a brief quote-
"Colquhoun comes into her own when the written record starts to
include recipes. The spices that disappeared from the British diet
when the Romans left returned with the Crusaders - and were used
because of their flavour, not (in the long-discredited shibboleth) to
disguise tainted meat. She says: 'If so much about the European
Middle Ages seems bewilderingly remote, contemporary Moroccan food,
robust and subtle by degrees, broadly unchanged for centuries, offers
a hint of our own culinary past.'
The most fascinating aspect of the first half of her book, though, is
to do with religion and fish. Christianity brought with it fast days
and their number grew and grew - all of Advent and Lent, Fridays (the
Crucifixion), Wednesdays (Judas's payday), Saturdays (Sabbath Eve) -
not so irrational for an island people, but with only salt to
preserve fish, drearily boring. In 1541 Henry VIII allowed eggs and
dairy produce on fast days and cut the number of them by three-
quarters. By the time of Bloody Mary the Friday fast had to be
reinstated to protect the fishing industry."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/oct/07/booksonhealth.features
Freda
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 07:15:52 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] new book on English food
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
tudorpot at gmail.com wrote:
<<< A possible new source for SCA cooks- Taste: The Story of Britain
Through Its Cooking by Kate Colquhoun
Here is a brief quote-
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/oct/07/booksonhealth.features
Freda >>>
It's not new of course. I've owned it since early November 2007.
Kate Colquhoun is a journalist and not a food historian. I am afraid it
shows.
What I found very disconcerting is that she gets things like dates wrong.
She starts a section on the printed cookery book and of course
immediately gives the wrong date for A Noble Boke of Cookery.
She says circa 1540. There's no no circa 1540 about it. The book
was printed by Pynson in 1500! We know that because there's that
surviving copy at Longleat! There are other flaws and mistakes scattered
throughout the book as well. She credits Catherine of Aragon with "the
use of lip-smacking Seville orange juice in red-meat stews and pies and the novelty of pairing fish and poultry with lemons." One could go on and on.
It's a fun breezy sort of book that reads well, but I would check and
recheck all her "facts" and not trust it. Read C. Anne Wilson first.
Johnnae
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 08:12:45 -0400
From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius1 at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] new book on English food
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
On Sep 15, 2008, at 7:15 AM, Johnna Holloway wrote:
<<< It's a fun breezy sort of book that reads well, but I would check
and recheck all her "facts" and
not trust it. Read C. Anne Wilson first. >>>
I'd also question a couple of her assertions in the quoted passage
alone: first, that with salt as the only fish preservation option
available to most people, the diet was drearily boring (you want
boring, have a go at stockfish, and they would have had the same
problem with meat, and very possibly fewer varieties of domestic
butcher's meat and game combined than the varieties of fish available,
at least for the well-to-do, and for the poor, see the meat comments
above), and second, the implication that Mary Tudor was any more
"Bloody" than her sister, or that the restoration of some of the fish-
day rules were not necessarily directly in service of the fishing
industry. I mean, she is presumably aware that Mary was a practicing
Catholic and Henry was not, right?
Adamantius
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:58:06 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Forthcoming titles Fall 2008 LONG
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
As promised sometime back here's a list of some forthcoming
fall 08- winter 09
titles that might be of interest to readers of this list.
They cover a full range of topics.
I've included details, descriptions or links where I have them.
A number of the lists I used didn't record prices possibly because
they were not yet set.
Johnnae
-----------------
A History of Food by Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat
768 pages Wiley-Blackwell; 2nd edition (November 3, 2008)
*ISBN-10:* 1405181192
? *ISBN-13:* 978-1405181198
This is a "New expanded edition of a classic book" with "a new foreword
by acclaimed food writer Betty Fussell, a preface by the author, updated
bibliography, and a new chapter bringing the story up to date; New
edition in jacketed hardback, with c.70 illustrations and a new glossy
color plate section."
http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/book.asp?ref=9781405181198&;site=1
-----------------
*The Good Wife's Guide (Le Menagier De Paris): A Medieval Household Book
(Hardcover) *
by Donald Phillip Verene (Editor), Gina L. Greco (Translator) 408 pages.
**Cornell University Press (Feb 2009) *ISBN-10:* 0801447380. *ISBN-13:*
978-0801447389.
paperback and hardcover
http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/cup_detail.taf?ti_id=5265
--------------
*The Dining Nobility: From the Burgundian Dukes to the Belgian Royalty
(Paperback) edited
by Paul Janssens, Siger Zeischka 270 pages.
ASP-VUB Press (Dec 2008). *ISBN-10:* 9054874694 ? *ISBN-13:* 978-9054874690
Presenting a rare glimpse into the dining rooms of Belgian nobility from
the Middle Ages to modern times, by professors and specialists in the
field. A bilingual collection?presented in both English and
French?creates a wonderfully rich portrait of the past, from the dukes
of Burgundy to Belgian royalty.
--------------
*Plenti and Grase: Food and Drink in a Sixteenth-century Household
by Mark Dawson 400 pages. Prospect Books (1 Nov 2008). 1903018560.
? *ISBN-13:* 978-1903018569
*Synopsis* This is an important study of the household affairs -
especially as they
relate to the provisioning and consumption of food and drink - of the
Willoughby family of Wollaton Hall in Nottingham and Middleton Hall in
Warwickshire. Made wealthy by inheritance, coal mining and iron
smelting, they built a Tudor wonder-house at Wollaton, designed by the
architect Robert Smythson.
----------------
Not Bread Alone: The Uses of Food in the Old Testament *Author:* Nathan
Macdonald
January 2009 Oxford University Press, $110.00
This is an academic title, so check with your college library.
Not Bread Alone is the first detailed and wide-ranging examination of
food and its symbolism in the Old Testament and the world of ancient
Israel. Many of these symbols are very well-known, such as the forbidden
fruit in the Garden of Eden, the abominable pig and the land flowing
with milk and honey.
Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2008 12:45:35 -0500
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] BOOK: Food: The History of Taste
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Lilinah wrote:
<<< Has anyone read, or at least skimmed through, the following book?
Food: The History of Taste (California Studies in Food and Culture)
by Paul Freedman
Amazon, in its wisdom, just recommended it to me, based on books i've
rated on their site. >>>
The book is pretty good, especially in parts since each chapter
is written by a different person. The authors include Woolgar.
The problem is how much can one say
when one covers centuries in one chapter. Nice illustrations.
UC Press has it on sale at the moment through its Autumn Sale.
Bibliographies were good. It's not essential but as coffee table/gift
volumes go, it was nice.
Johnnae
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:31:38 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
From: lilinah at earthlink.net
Subject: [Sca-cooks] New? Book: The Medieval Cook
To: SCA-Cooks <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
The Medieval Cook
by Bridget Ann Henisch
200 pages
Boydell Press
February 2009
ISBN-10: 1843834383
ISBN-13: 978-1843834380
Anyway, Amazon (US) "recommended" this book to me (can't imagine why :-). So far no one has rated it or reviewed it. So i wondered if anyone here has spent some time with it.
BTW, while no "amazonians" have reviewed it, the web page did include a publisher's description:
"This book takes us into the world of the medieval cook, from the chefs in the great medieval courts and aristocratic households catering for huge feasts, to the peasant wife attempting to feed her family from scarce resources, from cooking at street stalls to working as hired caterers for private functions. It shows how they were presented in the art, literature and moral commentary of the period (valued on some grounds, despised on others), how they functioned, and how they coped with the limitations and the expectations which faced them in different social settings. Particular use is made of their frequent appearance in the margins of illuminated manuscript, whether as decoration, or as a teaching tool."
Sounds like it addresses some of our questions about "ordinary" food, cooks, and diners.
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita
who'll be camping in the rain this weekend (drat!)
and making lots of hot soup
Date: Fri, 01 May 2009 07:49:06 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] New? Book: The Medieval Cook
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Cc: Lilinah <lilinah at earthlink.net>
Johnna Holloway wrote:
<<< I am doing a review even as we speak.
She did Fast and Feast. I think it's worth having although it's a bit
strange.
Will post the review once I have it and the new Hieatt done.
Johnnae >>>
I was asked offlist what bothered me as to this volume.
Briefly, I can report that although the publisher is describing The Medieval Cook as a book where "Particular use is made of their frequent appearance in
the margins of illuminated manuscript, whether as decoration, or as a
teaching tool" the actual number of illustrations is a rather paltry 19.
In fact her volume Fast and Feast which appeared in 1976 contained at
least 44 illustrations.
So this volume has less than half the number of illustrations found in
that book. Her volume The Medieval Calendar Year which appeared in 1999
has more than 100! What bothers me about the lack of illustrations in
this volume is the fact that I know Henisch has been tracking
illustrations of medieval dining and cookery since the early 1980's.
I have a conference proceedings from 1984 which contains a paper that
she presented on the topic. It was titled 'Unconsidered Trifles: the
Search for Cookery Scenes in Medieval Sources.' It seems to me this
volume should have included more illustrations or provided a list of
illustrations and manuscripts to explore on one's own.
(I suspect that the increased fees for illustrations may be playing a
role here. Non-profit university presses are sometimes also able to get
better deals on fees.)
Here's the Contents--
Preface
1 The Cook in Context
2 The Cottage Cook
3 Fast Food and Fine Catering
4 The Comforts of Home
5 The Staging of a Feast
6 On the Edge: the Cook in Art
7 Select Bibliography
8 A Selection of Medieval Recipes
9 Suggestions for Further Reading
The selection of medieval recipes relies on the 1928 Eileen Power
translation of The Goodman of Paris, so nothing new.
Last but not least, one of the papers that she doesn't cite or mention
is one of Constance Hieatt's. In this case I am left wondering why
Hieatt, Constance B. 'A cook of 14th-century London : Chaucer's Hogge of
Ware'. In Walker, Harlan (ed.), Cooks & other people : proceedings of
the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery, 1995 (Totnes: Prospect Books,
1995), 138-43.
would not have been included.
So while I'll recommend the volume because yes there is a lot in it that
society cooks will enjoy, it comes with some questions and reservations.
Johnnae
Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2009 10:36:03 -0700 (PDT)
From: Cheri or Anne <celticcheri at yahoo.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Prehistoric Cookery
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Does anyone have this book?? Recommend or not?
Prehistoric Cookery: Recipes & History
by Jane Renfrew Loyd Grossman
ISBN #1850749345
Here is the write up on Amazon:
Product Description
Many people might imagine that the task of reconstructing the diet of our prehistoric ancestors would be completely impossible. In some ways they are right, but when archaeologists recover the remains of our distant forebears and their tools they also look for clues about their food. The evidence may survive in a variety of different forms: mounds of discarded seashells, for example, or the bones of wild and domestic animals and the remains of plants. So whether the evidence concerns the hunters of the Palaeolithic or the first farmers of the Neolithic or the Celtic chieftains of the late Iron Age, we do have quite a number of clues to help us reconstruct their diet. This book provides a fascinating insight into the foods which were eaten by our prehistoric ancestors and attempts to recreate recipes which are authentic and palatable. There are practical restraints of course - some of the ingredients, like mammoth steaks or rhinoceros joints, are
difficult to find in the modern supermarket. There are also other staples that we take for granted today which were not available to our prehistoric forebears - sugar, yeast, spices, vinegar, onions, sugar, yeast, spices, vinegar, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, oranges and lemons to name a few. They did, however, use much more of our wild vegetation than we do now and this is reflected in recipes such as Nettle Puree, Easter Ledge Pudding (using dandelion leaves) and boiled Sea Urchins. Beautifully illustrated with full colour photography throughout, the book provides a unique insight into our culinary prehistory.
Date: Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:40:20 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Prehistoric Cookery
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
This is part of a series that came out as part of a 1985 English
Heritage series. Then it was included in a hardback and later a paperback compilation.
Now all the volumes including this one, Roman, Medieval, Tudor, Stuart,
etc are out in these nicely photographed editions. So it's been around for more
than 20 years.
It's based on possible recipes of course since we don't have written
recipes here.
Prices vary and the volumes often go on sale through David Brown.
Johnnae
Cheri or Anne wrote:
<<< Does anyone have this book? Recommend or not?
Prehistoric Cookery: Recipes & History
by Jane Renfrew Loyd Grossman
ISBN #1850749345 >>>
Date: Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:09:58 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Forthcoming Books
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
New Books that people might like
Johnnae (playing librarian)
-----------
Over a Red Hot Stove: Essays in Early Cooking Technology edited by Ivan Day
These essays were presented at the seventeenth Leeds Symposium on Food
History, of which this is the fourteenth volume in the series 'Food and
Society.' Their common theme is the way in which we cooked our food from
the medieval to the modern eras, most especially, how we roasted meats.
The authors are distinguished food historians, mostly from the north of
England. David Eveleigh discusses the rise of the kitchen range, from
the 19th-century coal-fired monsters to the electric and gas cookers of
the early 20th century.
Ivan Day, in two essays, talks about techniques of roasting. In the
first he tells of the ox roast - the open-air celebration with the
cooking done on a blazing campfire. In the second he traces the history
of the clockwork spit, the final, most domestic version of the
open-hearth device that had been driven by dogs or scullions in earlier
centuries.
Peter Brears gives us the fruits of many years' involvement in the
reconstruction of the kitchens at Hampton Court and other Royal Palaces
in his account of roasting, specifically the 'baron of beef', in these
important locales. The final two chapters discuss aspects of baking
rather than roasting. Laura Mason tells of the English reliance on yeast
as a raising agent - in the earliest times deriving it from brewing ale,
and Susan McClellan Plaisted gives an account of running a masonry
wood-fired oven in living-history museums in America, discussing the
transmission of cooking techniques from the Old to the New World, and
the problems encountered in baking a satisfactory loaf.
The book is very generously illustrated, both by photographs of
artefacts and reproductions of early prints and engravings that
elucidate their purpose and function. /208p, 78 b/w drawings and photos
(Prospect Books 2009)
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2009 22:10:29 -0700
From: lilinah at earthlink.net
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] New Challenge
On Aug 21, 2009, at 10:59 AM, Deborah Hammons wrote:
<<< I have a first question. What would a Spanish jew have eaten who
"kept kosher" of their time eaten just before they were expelled
from Spain? And the Moorish counterpart living in Spain at the same
time?
Aldyth >>>
"A Drizzle of Honey" is mostly a collection of recipes invented by
the authors, who were inspired to create new dishes based on the
slightest of comments - "my mistress ate chickpeas with honey", so
the authors made up a dish that features those two ingredients. Few
to no recipes in the book are authentic to the late 15th and 16th
centuries. From what i can tell, the recipes are tasty, but they are
far from historically accurate.
For the most part, Andalusian Jews ate what their Muslim neighbors
were eating, with a few different restrictions, and the occasional
twist.
The 13th c. Andalusian cookbook has some recipes identified as being Jewish.
--
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:38:19 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] New Larousse
Came across an ad today for the new edition of
Larousse Gastronomique: The World's Greatest Culinary Encyclopedia,
Completely Revised and Updated
Due out October 13th
Hardcover: 1216 pages
Publisher: Clarkson Potter; Rev Upd edition (October 13, 2009)
Johnnae
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:00:54 -0500 (GMT-05:00)
From: Christiane <christianetrue at earthlink.net>
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Ken Albala's Eating Right in the Renaissance
I picked this up at the MIT bookstore back in October, and just started reading it last night. To say it gives me a lot of food for thought about existing recipes and what our personas might have preferred in food is an understatement.
However, my thoughts also include, "Yes, they may have been told to eat this or that, and it was best for them, but really, how many great rulers and merchants told their physicians and cooks, 'I am not eating any of that, I don't care if it calms my choler/is more stimulating because I am phlegmatic/rouses me from my melancholy/maintains my sanguinity'? Or, "I don't care what Platina says, the last time I made that dish the way he said, my lord refused to touch it.'" And that gets me wondering exactly how strictly some cooks followed the recipes, and if a dish in Ferrara tasted the same as a dish in Paris or in Palermo.
Have any of you read this book? What did you think? Did it change the way you view the extant recipes?
YIS,
Adelisa di Salerno
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:43:27 -0500 (EST)
From: Christiane <christianetrue at earthlink.net>
To: Kathleen Gormanshaw <kgormanshaw at gmail.com>, Cooks within the SCA
<sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Ken Albala's Eating Right in the Renaissance
I haven't gotten that deeply into the book yet, but Albala is essentially asking the same questions you are. :-)
I'll have to dig up an interesting quote he used in the introduction, from a French text from the mid-1500s, where the writer comments that people at table ask the physician whether this food is good for them, or that food is good for them, and don't take the physician's advice but use the discussion as entertainment while eating. That reminds me of the conferences I've been to, where people will chat about Atkins vs. South Beach vs. Weight Watchers, while eyeing up (or indulging) in the dessert buffet.
Albala does discuss at length humoral theories and the switch from the earlier periods of the 1300s, in which recipes and theories and texts of the Arabs were popular, to the 1500s, where the emphasis began to be placed on the classical Greek theories and texts. And just like today, there were scads of books on "proper" diets, so the amount of advice out there was pretty bewildering.
Adelisa di Salerno
<<< I haven't read the book, but any book that says "You should do it this
way" automatically shows that all people are NOT currently doing it
that way and they're trying to persuade people to change.
I've been wondering about the humours that way lately, how many people
followed that theory? How closely? Where & when? Big questions :-)
Eyrny >>>
Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2010 10:50:42 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
To: SCA_Subtleties at yahoogroups.com, Cooks within the SCA
<sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Food & Culture Encyclopedia
This may be a geeky librarian thing but Answers.com now seems to have
articles up from the Food and Culture Encyclopedia by the Gale Group, Inc.
Enables readers to trace the ways in which food affects our lives:
nutrition and biochemistry of food, food science, various conditions
and health disorders associated with food, dietetics, constituents of
food, pharmacological effects of foods, and the physiology of eating,
digestion and nutrition.
Articles include candies and confections by Laura Mason and one on
Jams and Jellies by Liliane Plouvier
http://www.answers.com/topic/candy-and-confections
/www.answers.com/topic/jams-jellies-and-preserves
Medieval banquets is written by Constance B. Hieatt.
http://www.answers.com/topic/medieval-banquets
Johnnae
Date: Wed, 05 May 2010 11:13:29 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Book info to Johnna?
On May 5, 2010, at 10:03 AM, Carol Smith wrote:
<<< I discovered a book titled "Medieval Food Traditions in Northern
Europe", published by the National Museum in Denmark (2007). How
useful is it?
Brekke >>>
Looks interesting. Woolgar's review is below.
SABINE KARG (ed.). Medieval food traditions in Northern Europe
(Publications from the National Museum, Studies in Archaeology and
History 12). 230 pages, 63 b&w & colour illustrations, 45 tables.
2007. Copenhagen: National Museum of Denmark; 978-87-7602-065-1
hardback DKK300.
The scope of this volume is narrower than its title suggests, but it
is nonetheless an important collaborative advance, containing the
first fruits of the HANSA Network Project, established in 2001 by a
group of archaeobotanists. Focused on countries and urban centres with
links to Hanseatic trade (although it excludes those in England,
Flanders and Russia) between AD 1160 and 1650, it has brought together
extensive work with botanical remains with a view to discerning common
points of reference across the region. The contributions take a
standard form, with seven chapters principally on food consumption in
the Hanseatic towns of northern Germany, northern Poland, Estonia,
Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway, concluding with a brief chapter
synthesising results. The book concentrates on some 175 plants, from
156 species, largely food plants, both cultivated and wild, as well as
some arable weeds and a few ornamental plants or plants with
industrial use. One of the achievements is a common pattern of
recording, underpinned by linguistic work (word-lists for plants in
English, Latin and the seven languages of the participants are
included): the volume itself is in English, with an extensive and
welcome bibliography principally of site reports from each of the
countries.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3284/is_318_82/ai_n31909152/
talked about here
http://www.nnu.dk/makro/makrouk3.htm
I've interlibrary loaned it in. It wasn't available or turning up last
year when I did the Viking/Scand. article for TI or I would have
turned it up then.
I searched that subject heading I know. I suspect in fact just weeks
ahead of the book being catalogued.
We'll have to ask if Devra will carry it.
Johnnae
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2010 20:33:33 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Medieval Food Traditions in Northern Europe
Back in early May we discussed this book
SABINE KARG (ed.). Medieval food traditions in Northern Europe
(Publications from the National Museum, Studies in Archaeology and
History 12). Copenhagen: National Museum of Denmark, 2007.
I have interlibrary loaned it, so I've seen the actual volume.
The one thing the volume provides is lists of plant names in Latin, English,
and then by country. So there are plants listed there as found in
settlements from Finland, Norway, Denmark, etc. If you are interested
in which plants were found where, this is the book.
Purchase or not?
I would think it would be worthwhile interlibrary loaning before
trying to order it so you can see it and make your own decision about
how useful it is to you.
What we have found out so far is that it's very expensive to order and
shipping is almost as much as the book. We haven't found a vendor at a
reasonable price.
Johnnae
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:50:31 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Opinion on book sought
All of Ken's books are worth reading. But of course I might be
biased as I am mentioned as a friend and source as a librarian in
his foreword to The Banquet. (I know so cool to get mentioned and
thanked.)
Have you seen my Tournaments Illuminated article The Essentials Or
Culinary Texts A Reader Must Know About? It would be a start for your list.
Johnna
On Jun 22, 2010, at 5:22 PM, wheezul at canby.com wrote:
<<< I just finished reading 'Food in Early Modern Europe' by Ken Abala. I
found myself thinking that I wished that I had read this book back in
November when I decided to dip my toe in the 16th century cooking
waters. I'd imagine the book would be pretty basic to long time researchers,
but I would be interested in reactions from those who have read it.
I'd like to put it in my class bibliography as a good book for beginners
to read, but am also open to other suggestions about general books that
are not cookbooks that consider the renaissance era specifically.
Katherine >>>
Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2010 12:20:52 -0500
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Interesting Book
On Nov 20, 2010, at 12:07 PM, Daniel & Elizabeth Phelps wrote:
<<< Just came across an interesting book that is now out in paperback.
"Taste and Temptations, Food and Art in Renaissance Italy" by
John Variano. Anyone read it and have an opinion?
Daniel >>>
It's not bad. I think it needed more art. It fits in well with the
other Food in Art books.
My review in part said
"rather marvelous literary work. For those that like to read about art
and history (in this case food in art.). it's very satisfying. For
those that would rather look and want lots of pictures, perhaps less
satisfying. 75 listed illustrations-many quite small and not in color."
You may be able to get a used or discounted copy of the hardback if
you look.
Johnnae
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2011 01:19:15 -0600
From: Stefan li Rous <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] "Cooking and Dining in Medieval England" by Peter
Brears
I just noticed that David Brown books has this one on sale. I can't remember if it has been mentioned before or not. I can't afford it right now, but I thought some of you might be interested.
Stefan
======
Cooking and Dining in Medieval England
by Peter Brears
The history of medieval food and cookery has received a fair amount of attention from the point of view of recipes (of which many survive) and of the general context of feasts and feasting. It has never, as yet, been studied with an eye to the real mechanics of food production and service: the equipment used, the household organisation, the architectural arrangements for kitchens, store-rooms, pantries, larders, cellars, and domestic administration. This new work by Peter Brears, perhaps Britain's foremost expert on the historical kitchen, looks at these important elements of cooking and dining. He also subjects the many surviving documents relating to food service - household ordinances, regulations and commentaries - to critical study in an attempt to reconstruct the precise rituals and customs of dinner.
An underlying intention is to rehabilitate the medieval Englishman as someone with an appreciation of food and cookery, decent manners, and a delicate sense of propriety and seemliness. To dispel the myth, that is, of medieval feasting as an orgy of gluttony and bad manners, usually provided with meat that has gone slightly off, masked by liberal additions of heady spices.
A series of chapters looks at the cooking departments in large households: the counting house, dairy, brewhouse, pastry, boiling house and kitchen. These are illustrated by architectural perspectives of surviving examples in castles and manor houses throughout the land. Then there are chapters dealing with the various sorts of kitchen equipment: fires, fuel, pots and pans. Sections are then devoted to recipes and types of food cooked. The recipes are those which have been used and tested by Brears in hundreds of demonstrations to the public and cooking for museum displays. Finally there are chapters on the service of dinner (the service departments including the buttery, pantry and ewery) and the rituals that grew up around these. Here, Brears has drawn a wonderful strip cartoon of the serving of a great feast (the washing of hands, the delivery of napery, the tasting for poison, etc.) which will be of permanent utility to historical re-enactors who wish to get their details
right.
Peter Brears was formerly director of the museums at York and Leeds and has worked all his life in the field of domestic history. He has written extensively on traditional foods and cookery in Yorkshire, as well as a groundbreaking illustrated catalogue of domestic and farmhouse materials in Torquay Museum. He supervised the reconstruction of several important historical kitchens, including those at Hampton Court, Ham House, Cowdray Castle and Belvoir Castle. 557p, 74 b/w illus. (Prospect Books 2008)
ISBN-13: 978-1-903018-55-2
ISBN-10: 1-903018-55-2
Hardback. Publishers price US $60.00, DBBC Price US $48.00
This book is generally in stock.
===============
http://www.oxbowbooks.com/bookinfo.cfm/ID/63115
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous Barony of Bryn Gwlad Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris Austin, Texas StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 2011 13:11:38 -0800 (PST)
From: wheezul at canby.com
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] A Dairie Book
Try this:
Tasso, Torquato, and Bartholomew Dowe. 1975. The householders philosophie
; anexed, A dairie booke. The English experience, its record in early
printed books published in facsimile, no. 765. Amsterdam: Theatrum Orbis
Terrarum.
Think I'll order it! It's in our library system.
Katherine
<<< I have been trying to find A Dairie Book for Good Huswives. Very
profitable and pleasaunt for the making and keeping of white meates.
Printed for Thomas Hacket, London 1588. A facsimile was printed in 1975
by Walter J. Johnson, Norwood NJ. I have had my local librarian searching
for it through ILL, but she can't find it. Any leads?
Lidia >>>
Date: Thu, 06 Jan 2011 16:26:03 -0500
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] A Dairie Book
I own it. It does exist.
Tell your librarian that this librarian says the title to search under
is:
Tasso, Torquato. The housholders philosophie.
[first written in Italian, and now transl. by T.K.]; anexed 'A Dairie
booke [for good huswives' ; by Bartholomew Dowe].
direct from Worldcat--
ISBN: 9022107655 9789022107652
OCLC Number: 2237530
Notes: Translation of Il padre famiglia. Photoreprint ed. Includes
original t.p.: The housholders philosophie : wherein is perfectly and
profitably described, the true oeconomia and forme of housekeeping ...
First written in Italian by ... Torquato Tasso, and now translated by
T.K. Whereunto is anexed A dairie booke for all good huswiues. At
London, printed by F.C. for Thomas Hacket ... 1588.
The 2d work is by B. Dowe. "S.T.C. no 23703." Description: 27 [i.e.
69], [20] p. ; 22 cm. Series
Title: The English experience, its record in early printed books
published in facsimile, no. 765 Other Titles: Householders
philosophie., Padre famiglia. Responsibility: Torquato Tasso.
Worldcat lists at least 94 copies in libraries. You ought to be able
to interlibrary one.
It's also up on EEBO so if you have access to that, you can just
download it.
Looks to me like Stuart Press has also redone it as:
A Suffolk Tudor Dairy
Bartholomew Dowe
illustrated
Publisher Stuart Press, 2007
ISBN1858042275,
9781858042275
Length17 pages
Johnnae, playing librarian
On Jan 6, 2011, at 3:46 PM, Linda Larson wrote:
<<< I have been trying to find A Dairie Book for Good Huswives. Very
profitable and pleasaunt for the making and keeping of white
meates. Printed for Thomas Hacket, London 1588. A facsimile was
printed in 1975 by Walter J. Johnson, Norwood NJ. I have had my
local librarian searching for it through ILL, but she can't find
it. Any leads?
Lidia >>>
Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2011 15:50:18 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>,
SCA_Subtleties at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Brears' All the King's Cooks
Amazon US has listed that a new paoerback edition of Peter Brears' All
The King's Cooks. The Tudor Kitchens of King Henry VIII at Hampton
Court Palace will be published in September 2011.
208 pages
Publisher: Souvenir Press; Second edition edition (September 1, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0285638963
ISBN-13: 978-0285638969
Amazon UK has it listed for publication in May 2011.
Johnnae
Date: Wed, 06 Apr 2011 21:44:58 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Book request?
On Apr 6, 2011, at 9:31 PM, Deborah Hammons wrote:
<<< Has anyone read, or used a book called *Regional Cuisines of Medieval
Europe: A Book of Essays* by Melitta Weiss Adamson?
A sixth grade teacher sent me an email that they were going to be
teaching food in Europe out of it and did I think it was accurate.....
Aldyth >>>
It's accurate and excellent. But it's not probably a 6th grade reading
level.
Better for high school students who could use the footnotes to search
out more material.
For 6th graders I'd recommend the Greenwood books
Adamson, Melitta Weiss. Food in Medieval Times. Westport, Conn.:
Greenwood Press, 2004.
Albala, Ken. Cooking in Europe 1250-1650. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood
Press, 2006.
Albala, Ken. Food in Modern Europe. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press,
2003.
Johnna
Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 19:39:13 -0800 (GMT-08:00)
From: <lilinah at earthlink.net>
To: SCA-Cooks <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Food History
I recently picked up "Writing Food History: A Global Perspective" edited by Kyri W. Claflin and Peter Scholliers, published in 2012 by Berg (London and New York). It's a collection of 12 dry essays on the writing of the history of food, and including an introduction and a conclusion written by the editors. It is commentary on those who have written on the history of food, rather than a history of food.
I'm fine with dry, although this might not appeal to some. Four of the 6 essays in Part One: The West, cover a particular time period: ancient, medieval, early modern, and modern, plus an essay on the U.S., and one on 500 years of Iberian food. Part Two: the Middle East, has 3 essays: one on Ottoman, one on Jewish, and one on Arab food. Part Three has a article about Indian food, and one about a specific historian of food who looked at East Asia: China, Japan, and Korea, and others following in his footsteps. The final Part Four has one essay on the food history of Africa. I suspect these last two section are rather weak because in one case so little is available in Western European languages, and in the other case, there is limited information, and the writing is in its nascency.
Let me reiterate, the essays are not about food history: they are about the history of writing food history. They look at changes in the field, in the availability of documents, in the changing attitudes of writers, in the use of more archaeological, anthropological or sociological methods.
Since i got 5 very different books at the same time, i'm only slowly picking my way through this. But since some of us are food historians and not just cooks of historical food, i thought i'd mention this food historiography: the almost recursive history of writing about food history, in case anyone else might be interested.
Urtatim (that's oor-tah-TEEM)
From the FB "Medieval and Renaissance Cooking and Recipes" group
Galefridus Peregrinu
12:50pm Dec 22
Just got a copy of On the Observance of Foods by Anthimus (5th-6th Roman Gaul). No recipes to speak of, but interesting discussions of medical/humoral properties of foods.
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 23:31:58 -0500
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at att.net>
To: <lilinah at earthlink.net>, "Cooks within the SCA"
<sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Cooking and Eating in Renaissance Italy
<<< Cooking and Eating in Renaissance Italy: From Kitchen to Table
by Katherine A. McIver Rowman & Littlefield Studies in Food and Gastronomy. Hardcover. Due out December 16, 2014
Anyone hears any skuttlebutt about this book? Johnna?
Urtatim (that's oor-tah-TEEM) >>>
McIver is a history prof in Alabama and works with Smithsonian as a subject matter expert for the Italian tours. From the little I've seen, the book is about the structure, operation and social aspects of kitchens and dining rooms in Renaissance Italy rather than a cookbook. Johnna may have a better handle on it than I.
Bear
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 07:04:18 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Cooking and Eating in Renaissance Italy
Some of us have been discussing it already. No reviews outside of the few comments here.
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442227187
The book is being released as part of a series, but the series is all over the place in terms of topics.
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442227187
Will have to wait and see when it is published, I guess.
Johnnae
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 14:37:16 -0500
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] new work on Chinese foods
There's a new work out on Chinese food by an author the list knows.
Food and Environment in Early and Medieval China (Encounters with Asia) Hardcover. October 1, 2014 by E. N. Anderson
"To trace the roots of Chinese foodways, one must look back to traditional food systems before the early days of globalization.
Food and Environment in Early and Medieval China traces the development of the food systems that coincided with China's emergence as an empire.
Before extensive trade and cultural exchange with Europe was established, Chinese farmers and agriculturalists developed systems that used resources in sustainable and efficient ways, permitting intensive and productive techniques to survive over millennia. Fields, gardens, semiwild lands, managed forests, and specialized agricultural landscapes all became part of an integrated network that produced maximum nutrients with minimal input, though not without some environmental cost.
E. N. Anderson examines premodern China's vast, active network of trade and contact, such as the routes from Central Asia to Eurasia and the slow introduction of Western foods and medicines under the Mongol Empire. Bringing together a number of new findings from archaeology, history, and field studies of environmental management, Food and Environment in Early and Medieval China provides an updated picture of language relationships, cultural innovations, and intercultural exchanges."
Johnnae
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2017 13:27:15 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
To: "SCA_Subtleties at yahoogroups.com E-List"
<SCA_Subtleties at yahoogroups.com>, Cooks within the SCA
<sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Medieval MasterChef
No, this is not some sort of a joke or television satire. This is the name of a new book being published by Brepols.
Medieval MasterChef
Archaeological and Historical Perspectives on Eastern Cuisine and Western Foodways
J. Vroom <http://www.brepols.net/Pages/ShowAuthor.aspx?lid=151087>;, Y. Waksman <http://www.brepols.net/Pages/ShowAuthor.aspx?lid=171945>;, R. van Oosten <http://www.brepols.net/Pages/ShowAuthor.aspx?lid=179652>; (eds.)
400 pages
Languages: English
Published papers of the session 'Medieval MasterChef' held at the 20th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA) at Istanbul in 2014.
The archaeology of food is in all sorts of ways 'hot'. The focus in this varied collection of studies by key scholars in the field is on cuisine and foodways in the Mediterranean and north-western Europe during Medieval and Post-Medieval times (ca. 6th- 20th c.). The scope of the contributions encompasses archaeological and historical perspectives on eating habits, cooking techniques, diet practices and table manners in the Islamic World, the Byzantine Empire, the Crusader States, Medieval and Renaissance Europe and the Ottoman Empire. The volume offers a state of the art of an often still hardly known territory in gastronomical archaeology, which makes it essential reading for scholars and a larger audience alike.
'The book's strength lies in the authors' recognition that incorporating archaeological, material culture, and textual evidence with culinary history is of paramount importance in developing a comprehensive and textured comprehension of meals and mealtimes in the past.' - Mary C. Beard.
http://www.brepols.net/Pages/ShowProduct.aspx?prod_id=IS-9782503575797-1
Johnnae
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