food for thought.
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In 1805 the Marquis of Buckingham held a terrible dinner. His crime? All the dishes were tepid. One of his guests declared the meal “the worst I ever saw”. So how is it that so many people will tell you food was always served cold and nobody seemed to mind?
Food history is full of what I call ‘everyone knowsisms’. They are so-called facts that, when followed through the intricate web of hearsay, are founded on very little. We’ve all, I suspect, heard a few of them: some of us may even be guilty of repeating them. Rarely do we apply logic and watch them dissolve.
One of the most common everyone-knowsisms is that in the past, spices were used to disguise tainted meat. This seems to come from the lavish use of spices in surviving recipes. But those recipes were written down, which meant someone with the ability to write chose – or was commissioned to – note down a list. These were recipes for the rich. The rich didn’t eat tainted meat. They did, however, show their wealth by serving dishes heady with spice, which was expensive. Rarely are amounts given in those recipes, but when they are and we find the quantities surprising, think of the voyage the spices underwent to reach our shores. Then consider how much more spice you use at home when a spice is old and no longer pungent.
“Why do we believe such tosh when there are so many more interesting – and true – things to say about the past and its food?”