fd-Portugal-msg – 9/19/05
Food of medieval Portugal. References.
NOTE: See also the files: fd-Spain-msg, fd-Morocco-msg, Spain-msg, Moors-msg, Guisados1-art, saffron-msg, saffron-art.
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Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2005 22:02:13 -0500
From: Robert Downie <rdownie at mb.sympatico.ca>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] More Translations of Portuguese Food Stuff (long)
To: Medieval_Spain at yahoogroups.com, mk-cooks at midrealm.org,
SCAFoodandFeasts at yahoogroups.com, sca-cooks <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>,
ns-cooks at northshield.org
I recently picked up a copy of _À Mesa Com Luís Vaz de Camões _ o
romance da cozinha no Portugal das Descobertas (At the Table With Luís
Vaz de Camões - the romance of cuisine in Portugal during the Age of
Discovery). Since at this point we only know of the one extant medieval
Portruguese cookbook (Livro de Cozinha da Infanta D. Maria), I though
this book may provide other literary references for Portuguese food in
the Renaissance period. I was quickly skimming through some of the
chapters, and this section dealing with food evolution through cultural
exchange caught my eye. I have tried to translate it as directly as
possible (and add explanatory comments where I could), my apologies in
advance if the language sounds somewhat stilted as a result.
Faerisa/Fernanda
Excerpt from the beginning of Chapter XIII "O poema da barriga vazia"
(the poem of the empty belly)
Comparisons between the novelties found, and those that were already
known from the homeland or other destinations already visited, are
always present in the descriptions of the travelers, whether Portuguese
or foreign. An example of this is illustrated in a letter written from
Goa by Thomas Stevens:
"I have not yet seen here a tree similar to those I have seen in Europe,
with the exception of grapevines, which here are useless, since all
wines come from Portugal."
Also curious are the references of Álvaro Velho, witness to the arrival
of Vasco da Gama to India. In his Guide, "jacas" (jack-fruit?) are
compared to melons <<except that outside they are crispy, but inside
they are sweet>>, and bananas to figs, which <<taste very good>>. To
melons he also compares coconuts of Moçambique, <<the interior pulp is
what is eaten and tastes like "junça aveladada" (the footnote says:
there are those who disagree with this interpretation, nevertheless, the
taste of junça avelanada, Cyperus esculentus, well know to the
Portuguese of the time, and from which was made a whitish beverage, with
a hazelnut-like flavour, appears to indicate this direction.)
[I looked up Cyperus esculentus. It is modernly listed as yellow
nutsedge, a North American problem weed, which doesn't sound right. The
footnote also refers to the making of an "orchata" with this plant, but
it's definition is: 'a refreshing beverage made with seeds of cucurbita'
or 'a drink made from a decoction of barley and ground sweet almonds',
again implying this is a different modern definition of the plant in
question.]
The "Soldado Prático" (practical soldier) by Diogo do Couto, says there
he ate <<wild grapes, like the ones from Portugal, and melons like those
from Abrantes>> and even a great sage of medicine, Garcia da Horta
doesn't resist comparing Indian products to national ones. To him
"assa-fétida" (a resinous syrup extracted from <celery?>) is/has an
<<appetizing bitterness, like that of olives>> and cinnamon smells
like oregano, <but with a milder scent>>. To refer to the cooking of
rice with coconut milk, (he) says that this <<is like rice with goat's
milk>>, and of bananas can affirm that that <<baked and placed in wine
with cinnamon on top (they) taste like baked quinces, and much better.>>
> From comparison to comparison, the Lusitanian palate begins to get used
to Asian tastes. Raised with a taste for bread and meat, wine, sauces
of olive oil and vinegar, the Portuguese of India do not immediately
become accustomed to fish fried in butter and rice with special sauces
from the natives. Gently they begin to blend, to make culinary
symbioses. They perfect and improvise (the dishes).
Their traditional delicacies mix with the local products. Bastardised
recipes, of "caldo-verde" with spinach and without olive oil, or stews
[modernly caldeirada denotes a fish/seafood stew] with ginger and
tamarind exist, still today, among the Goan peoples. The very
Lusitanian "cabidelas" of blood [stew of organ meats, necks, wings and
blood of birds] added t with tamarind, ginger and "curcuma" [a member of
the Zingiberaceae family, commercially referred to as
'saffron-of-the-Indies' - based on this definition, I suspect this is
galangal.]; "presunto" (ham), dried and salted, is seasoned with
cinnamon; tripe appears adorned with "saffron-of-the-Indies" and
tamarinds; simple "chouriços (sausages), so Christian, (now) use spices
in the manner of the orient. In the matter of sweets emerge delicate
tidbits that are placed on par with pear pastes and traditional
marmalades, with the use of new fruits in sugar preserves: are the mango
or coconut pastes, often enhanced with eggs. Of the confusion of those
first times, in which familiar names were adapted to living realities,
we have a similar sweet, made from bananas, which is, still today,
called "figada" [figos are figs], prepared with "figos-da-India"
(figs-of-India).
The inverse also occurs, the Portuguese transmitting some of their
tastes to the natural inhabitants. Still among sweet dishes, we may
count the original "pão-de-ló", a "bolo podre" (name of a very sweet
cake recipe- 'podre' means rotten), "pastiés de nata" (cream tarts), and
"pasties de Sta. Clara" (pastries from the convent of Saint Clara),
perhaps left by the nuns of St Monica, (who were) famous for their
sweets. Delicacies that remain for ever rooted between the populations
of the Portuguese territories in India, demonstrating well the ancient
influence of Lusiadian tastes in those distant lands. "Vinha d'alhos"
(a common Portuguese marinade) takes on the role of the primordial
example of European tastes, spreading from Goa to China and to the
Malasian Islands, finally being transported, in more recent times, to
countries like England and America, where it is known as vindaloo.
Extremely interesting is the saga of "Sarapatel" (dish of blood, liver,
kidneys, meat and heart of pork or mutton, with broth) food of humble
folk in Portugal, made with the economic organs of the animals that this
people will introduce everywhere they travel. Sarapateis exist in Goa,
for many years supplemented with hot spices, of ginger, cinnamon and the
oriental "curcuma", the-saffron-of-the Indies [galangal?] which here
substitutes saffron of the flower. But sarapateis are also present in
the recipe collections of Cabo Verde, Angola, Moçambique, Brasil, and
even in the more distant stops of Timor or Macau it appears, always with
natural adaptations, convenient to the palate of each nation.
Nevertheless, the most interesting (fact) is that that dish, which has
also been called"sarrabulhada", "laburdo" or "bazulaque", has returned
to our tables, now as a foreign curiosity, almost exclusively served as
an exotic specialty in Goan restaurants.
Very important, in relation to the national culinary panorama, is also
the story of one of the foods given to the sick in India, made of
<<water from cooking rice with pepper and cumin (which they call
'canje')>>, in the words of Garcia da Horta, or as he states farther
along: <<sour milk mixed with rice and shredded chicken in the water
from this rice, (which they call 'canje')>>. Ask any modern Portuguese
person and he will swear that canja is one of the most genuine
Portuguese foods.
<the end±>