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What I enjoy most about SCA events, surrounded by re-created sights and sounds, is the period food: putting good smells of the past in my nostrils, it gives me the chance to eat history! But what are the differences between modern European food, and the foods of medieval Europe? And what are the similarities? The usual food of a culture depends upon many things: Which plants and animals are native to the region? Which foodstuffs can be acquired through trade? Which kitchen technologies are available? What is fashionable in that time and place? What do the people believe about health and diet? My starting point is the availability of raw ingredients: if you can't get it, you can't cook and eat it. At the end of SCA period, a dramatic evolution in available ingredients was underway, thanks to the re-discovery of the New World by sea-faring Europeans in the late 15th century. Many common ingredients in modern European cooking - chocolate, maize (sweetcorn), squashes, capiscum (peppers), tomatoes, most beans, potatoes, allspice - are native to the Americas, and unknown in Europe for most of the SCA period. Others, such as orange carrots, and cheap beet sugar, were only developed in more modern times. Some foodstuffs emerged as expensive trade goods, or novelties, at the very end of the 16th century. I like to try and do without such foods in my quest for the past. No orange carrots? What, no carrots at all? Happily, wild carrots already were known in classical Europe [1], though just for medicinal purposes [2]. In fact, carrot seeds are widely found at Neolithic [3] and Bronze Age [4] archeological sites, and carrot pollen has been found in c. 700 BCE Jerusalem [5]. Wild carrot ("Queen Anne's Lace") has feathery green leaves, and a whitish, tough acrid tap-root. It is probably native to Afganistan [1]. Attempts continue to discover if wild carrots were grown and eaten in those early times [6]. One ancient Greek name for carrots was 'philtron' [7], although cultivated carrots are more blatant 'love charms' than the wild form. Early Roman horticultural writings confusing refer to 'Pastinaca', 'that which one digs up', which seems to include carrot, parsnip and skirret [8*,3]. The name, 'carota' first appears in writings of Athenaeus (C 2nd CE); Pliny the Elder, and Galen (C 2nd CE) use the name 'daucus' to distinguish the carrot from the parsnip, giving the modern botanical Latin name of the carrot, 'Daucus carota'. Wild carrots seem to have been introduced to
the British Isles by the Romans [9], probably as a medicinal herb or
spice. When cultivated in favourable conditions, the wild carrot root
rapidly enlarges [2]. And here we come to the matter of orange carrots:
early cultivated varieties were red, purple or black due to pigments
called 'anthocyanins' [8] (which are potent antioxidents [10], though
to help prevent diseases such as cancer). These were probably brought
to Europe around C 8th - 10th CE. The Arab writer, Ibn al-Awam described
a juicy red variety, and a coarser yellow-green variety, both of which
'were eaten dressed with oil and vinegar, or in mixtures with vegetables
or cereals'. These cultivated carrots appear to have reached Britain
in the C 15th [2]. The yellow cultivated variety, It is generally thought beta-carotene-rich, orange coloured carrots ('that help you see in the dark') were only developed in the C17th, in The Netherlands [8]. Evidence for this comes from contemporary botanical descriptions, and, intriguingly, from paintings, particularly 'Christ and the Adulteress' by Pieter Aetesen (1559) [2. 11]. However, 'Market Woman with Fruit, Vegetables and Poultry' (1564), 'Vegetable Seller' and 'Woman Selling Vegetables' (both before 1574) by Joachim Beuckelaer appear to show pale orange carrots [12]. Without access to the originals, it is impossible to tell whether these paintings do in fact contradict the accepted date for the emergence of orange carrots, coloured by the beta-carotene pigment. My conclusion is, that we don't yet know for
sure whether orange carrots were available in the SCA period, but it
seems unlikely that they were. It seems certain that red, yellow and
purple carrots were available, however. So, I intend to grow some purple
Afgan carrots in my allotment garden, and I hope to find some period
recipes for them References and Further Reading [1] McGee, H. (1984) 'On food and cooking: The science and lore of the kitchen' (from the 1997 Fireside edition, ISBN 0-684-84328-5) [2] Davidson. A (1991) 'The Oxford companion to food' OUP ISBN 0-19-211579-0 [3] www.carrotmuseum.com [4] http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue1/tomlinson/ [5] www.scirpus.ca/dung/human.htm [6] Hather, J. G. (1993) 'An archaeobotanical guide to root and tuber identification' Oxford: Oxbow Monograph Series 28 [7] www.botnical.com/botanical/mgmh/c/carot24.html [8]
www.quinion.com/words/weirdwords/ww-pas1.htm [9] Wilson, C. Anne (1973) 'Food and drink in
Britain from the Stone [10] Unknown (1999) 'Antioxidant effect of anthocyanin on enymatic and non-enzymatic lipid perozidation' Prost. Leuk. Ess. Fatty Acids vol 60 p 1 [11] www.kfki.hu/~arthp/art/a/aertsen/christ_a.jpg
[12] www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/b/beuckela/ |
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