Not That I Ever Needed to know...

[fgarvb1]

http://www.godecookery.com/how2cook/howto04.htm


Foods to Never Use

This list is of foods that were generally unknown in the Middle Ages. Please be aware that turkey, the large drumstick of which is ubiquitous at the modern Renaissance Faire, is included here, as well as potatoes. Neither of these foods, so often erroneously associated with medieval feasts, should be served at any authentic medieval dinner, in addition to the rest of the modern or New World items mentioned here.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Minor correction: rhubarb is European and they had it but since they didn't have sugar, it was used solely as medicine. You need a lot of sugar to make rhubarb edible!

 

[The_Fool]

Minor correction: rhubarb is European and they had it but since they didn't have sugar, it was used solely as medicine. You need a lot of sugar to make rhubarb edible!

Rhubarb and edible should never be used simultaneously.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

 

[ishtat]

Because they had no potatoes and few root crops (carrots for example originated in Afghanistan) Europeans prior to the 17th century ate enormous quantities of onions. This fact also justifies their preference for very drafty castles.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Because they had no potatoes and few root crops (carrots for example originated in Afghanistan) Europeans prior to the 17th century ate enormous quantities of onions. This fact also justifies their preference for very drafty castles.

And cabbage, lots of cabbage!

 

[amicus]

Assuming, which is always just a guess, that you discovered this information while researching for a novel or short story, it is amazing what one runs across in the process of research.

The mention of 'sugar', or sweeteners of any kind, led me to the discovery that, 'honey bees' are not indigenous to the locale of a novel I am involved with. It also follows that many of food items available today, were not, in many areas...no cherries, no apples, no pears, which might have been reduced as, 'sweeteners', existed in the area and time period of my interest.

Amicus

 

[R. Richard]

The yam is listed as a 'new world' item. WRONG!!! The yam is an African item.

Historical records in West Africa and of African yams in Europe date back to the sixteenth century.

The sweet potato is of South American origin. The sweet potato is NOT a yam, although it's sometimes called a yam.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

The yam is listed as a 'new world' item. WRONG!!! The yam is an African item.

Historical records in West Africa and of African yams in Europe date back to the sixteenth century.

The sweet potato is of South American origin. The sweet potato is NOT a yam, although it's sometimes called a yam.

I fear the people who wrote up that list don't know the difference. A true yam would be a very rare dish in the U.S. I don't believe I've ever seen one but I've consumed about a truckload of orange sweet potatoes. Whoooboy!

 

[R. Richard]

I fear the people who wrote up that list don't know the difference. A true yam would be a very rare dish in the U.S. I don't believe I've ever seen one but I've consumed about a truckload of orange sweet potatoes. Whoooboy!

About the only places in the USA where you can actually get partial yams [not sweet potatos labeled as yams] is African specialty food stores where they actually import yams from Africa. [The yam is a very long root and what is normally done is to slice off a segment of the right size for cooking. The taste is nothing like a sweet potato.]

 

[TE999]

No coffee, huh? No wonder it's called the Dark Ages.

 

[vrosej10]

Because they had no potatoes and few root crops (carrots for example originated in Afghanistan) Europeans prior to the 17th century ate enormous quantities of onions. This fact also justifies their preference for very drafty castles.

I heard this a while ago. They apparently used to eat parsnips in instances where we'd used potatoes. I agree about the drafty castle. Considering how many beans were on the menu, you wouldn't want to strike a match (which of course they didn't have, but you get the idea; fire bad).

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Ah, but those were broad beans, not the dry ones we're so familiar with. All the dried beans are New World products, as well. Peas, they had.

 

[sadangel]

Minor correction: rhubarb is European and they had it but since they didn't have sugar, it was used solely as medicine. You need a lot of sugar to make rhubarb edible!

I love to eat rhubarb fresh from the garden. No sugar, no anything, just give me the rhubarb stalk and get out of my way.

I know, thread derail. Please return to your regular programing in 3.....2.......1......now!

 

[kimbalee]

Rhubarb and edible should never be used simultaneously.

I whole-heartedly agree.

I love to eat rhubarb fresh from the garden. No sugar, no anything, just give me the rhubarb stalk and get out of my way.

I know, thread derail. Please return to your regular programing in 3.....2.......1......now!

blech!

 

[vrosej10]

Ah, but those were broad beans, not the dry ones we're so familiar with. All the dried beans are New World products, as well. Peas, they had.

My bad. Your right. I was thinking of split peas, pease porridge that sort of thing. Still, my gas comment stands.

 

[slyc_willie]

My bad. Your right. I was thinking of split peas, pease porridge that sort of thing. Still, my gas comment stands.

I remember seeing a cartoon in Playboy, I believe, a couple decades or so ago. It depicted a group of Native Americans on one side of a long table with pilgrims on the other. One of the pilgrims was depicted as being launched off the bench upon which he sat by a column of fire and smoke emanating from his backside.

The caption read: "White Man's first corn fart."

Until the 20th century, most diets around the world were fairly simple. In Europe during the so-called Dark Ages, the menu called for lots of meat, bread, cheese and some greens. Around the Mediterranean, there were beans, various nuts, and peas (hummus, anyone?), with pasta coming later.

The sophistication of diets is a relatively recent thing.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

The blending of Eastern and Western Hemisphere crops is what made it possible to eliminate famine. Without the combination of the two, we simply wouldn't be able to feed as many of us as there are.

Additionally, without the combination, a vegetarian diet approaches impossible, as well. The history of vegetarianism is hysterical. There is a book, (written by a vegetarian!), on the highly dubious things people have done to promote the diet. I haven't ready anything but the reviews, so far, but it is on my upcoming reading list.

 

[ms.read]

beans beans
the more y'eat'em
the more y'toot.
the more y'toot,
the better y'feel
then yer ready fer anotha Meal!

-maine accent included.

why're sweet taters named yams?

 

[R. Richard]

why're sweet taters named yams?

In the United States, firm varieties of sweet potatoes were produced before soft varieties. When soft varieties were first grown commercially, there was a need to differentiate between the two. African slaves had already been calling the ‘soft’ sweet potatoes ‘yams’ because they resembled the yams in Africa. Thus, ‘soft’ sweet potatoes were referred to as ‘yams’ to distinguish them from the ‘firm’ varieties.

Today the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires labels with the term ‘yam’ to be accompanied by the term ‘sweet potato.’ Unless you specifically search for yams, which are usually found in an international market, you are probably eating sweet potatoes!

 

[voluptuary_manque]

beans beans
the more y'eat'em
the more y'toot.
the more y'toot,
the better y'feel
then yer ready fer anotha Meal!

-maine accent included.

why're sweet taters named yams?

I think that it's a marketing thing. Sweet potatoes are sort of tan outside and palid yellow inside. I have no idea what they taste like. 'Yams' are a variant sweet potato with purplish red outside and brilliant orange inside. I love 'em! I suspect that the first farmer to come up with the brighter colored version had heard that there was a root vegetable in Africa called the yam and decided to use the name to push his type.

 

[fgarvb1]

Wow!

I Yam impressed!

Actually I found this while searching for a recipe for roasted Swan to see if I could get yelled at in a thread Killswitch started over on the GB.

I received my usual amount of respect...ignored again!

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Wow!

I Yam impressed!

Actually I found this while searching for a recipe for roasted Swan to see if I could get yelled at in a thread Killswitch started over on the GB.

I received my usual amount of respect...ignored again!

Is that all? Heck, roasting a swan can't be any harder than roasting a goose, just bigger. And if you're talking about those giant Canada geese they get back in the mid-west, not all that much bigger. Meaner, yes. Bigger, I wouldn't bet on it. Ya just need a big rotisserie.

 

[fgarvb1]

LOL!

It's like this, he really had his panties wadded up!


http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=666634&highlight=Swan

 

[voluptuary_manque]

LOL!

It's like this, he really had his panties wadded up!


http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=666634&highlight=Swan

He's never dealt with a live swan, obviously. The big cobs can kill you with those wingbutts. I wish people would understand that the wild isn't a Mother Goose story? Here in California, we've declared the mountain lion sacred and what was the result? They eat people!