On Thu, 01 May 2008 17:57:10 GMT, fairwater@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Derek Lyons) wrote:
>DouhetSukd <DouhetSukd@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>>The Stars Dispose and the Stars Compel, by Michaela Roessner is set in
>>Florence c. 1530, with Tommaso, a young sous-chef who becomes
>>Michaelangelo's lover. They are pretty nice books, with some magic,
>>plague, and dark plotting going on, though I don't think she finished
>>the series.
>>
>>Anyway, much of the plot context concerns food and she includes a list
>>of 5-6 recipes at the end of the 2nd book.
>>
>>The interesting thing is how different recipes of that time are,
>>because they are missing New World ingredients.
>>
>>Can you think of Italian cooking without tomatoes???
>
>In that era, there really wasn't any such thing as "Italian cooking",
>or "French cooking", etc... etc... Sure, there were regional
>differences based on climate and ingredient availability (the wine
>belt v. the beer belt, the olive oil belt v. the butter belt v. the
>lard belt). Sure, based on these there were some regional
>specialties. But by and large there was much, much, less
>differentiation than today.
>
>The culinary sophistication that gave rise to the differentiation into
>national cuisines doesn't begin to gain traction until the 1600's.
Or to put it another way, national cuisines had to wait until there were
nations (Spain, as a nation, dates from 1492, Germany, as a nation, dates
from 1871 (almost a hundred years younger than the U.S.). Italy, as a
unified nation, also dates from the Franco-Prussian war in the 1870s.
France, as a discrete nation, is probably the oldest of the European
nations, dating from around 987, when it broke from the Carolingian
empire.
--
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
(Bene Gesserit)
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