Fun Veggie History Facts

lmrebert
lmrebert Posts: 363 ✭✭✭✭
edited November 2020 in Vegetables

Comments

  • shllnzl
    shllnzl Posts: 1,820 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I like the map, especially.

  • blevinandwomba
    blevinandwomba Posts: 813 ✭✭✭✭

    @lmrebert That was fun, thanks- I love food history. I knew that many of the fruits and vegetables I think of as European are actually from the middle east, but I didn't know artichokes were from Africa.

    History rant: 10 or 11 years ago a teacher friend of mine told me about taking her students to a medieval dinner-and-show, I think it was Medieval Times, and the kid's meal included baked potatoes and corn on the cob- New World crops!

    Just looked up the Medieval Times website, and apparently nothing much has change in 11 years. It states

    What's on the menu?

    Medieval Times' noble guests feast on garlic bread, tomato bisque soup, roasted chicken, sweet buttered corn, herb-basted potatoes, dessert of the Castle, coffee and two rounds of select non-alcoholic beverages. A full-service bar is also available for adult guests. Vegetarian meals are available upon request.

    So where 11th century Europe(their stated time period) managed to get tomatoes, corn, and potatoes is beyond me. I understand that they want to accommodate average taste, but plenty of familiar foods have been around since the middle ages- like meatballs and even salads. And no, it isn't that hard to find this information. It's reinforcing misunderstandings about the middle ages, and that makes me grumpy. Ok, rant over.

    I will have to research coffee, by the way. It was around then, I'm just not sure if Europeans drank it.