Post by Lady Rosalind Avalle on Dec 15, 2008 11:59:46 GMT -6
These foods, though many are extremely popular today, took a while to enter Europe. Though a historical exception may be made for those foods originating from the Orient through trade, it would be exceedingly difficult to flub the arrival of these items on our characters' tables. (Items that might possibly have arrived through Moorish trade have been asterisked.)
allspice - also called Jamaica pepper, Kurundu, Myrtle pepper, pimento, or newspice, is a spice which is the dried unripe fruit of the Pimenta dioica plant, a tree native to the West Indies, southern Mexico and Central America. The name "allspice" was coined by the English, who thought it combined the flavour of several aromatic spices, such as cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
amaranth - generally considered a weed, it is sometimes used as a leafy vegetable, cereal, or ornamental plant.
artichoke* - this perennial thistle grows in warmer climes. It would be difficult for the plant to arrive fresh in Skye, but the Medieval foodie may have chanced upon it.
avocado - also known as palta or aguacate (Spanish), butter pear or alligator pear, is a tree native to Mexico, South America and Central America. The name also refers to the fruit, which is technically a large berry.
banana* - they are native to the tropical region of Southeast Asia. Bananas, as we know them today, are likely to have been first domesticated in Papua New Guinea, though the word "banana" is of West African origin.
The domestic variety of banana originated in southeastern Asia, but wild bananas still occur in New Guinea, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Banana cultivation is believed to have occurred as early as 8000-5000 BC, with other varieties possibly cultivated elsewhere in southeast Asia. Bananas were introduced to Africa sometime during the first millennium BCE, and though there is some argument among historians, there is linguistic evidence that bananas were known early in Madagascar. All other evidence points toward a much later introduction, possibly around the 6th century AD. Additional varieties of banana were likely introduced to the east coast of Africa by Muslim Arabs. Muslim texts reference bananas frequently, and although the Arab world would become very familiar with the tropical fruit, bananas would remain unknown to Northern Europe due to their quick rate of spoilage.
kidney/lima/butter/pole/kidney/navy/haricot/snap/string/frijole etc bean - broad beans have been cultivated in Egypt for thousands of years, but most beans as we know them today actually originate in the Americas, and were not introduced to Europe until Christopher Columbus returned from the Bahamas.
blackberry - blackberry is typically grown in the Northern hemisphere, but it is a New World plant.
blueberry - native only to Northern America
cacao (chocolate) - or the cocoa plant, is a small evergreen tree native to the deep tropical region of the Americas. Cortez is credited with the introduction of cacao and vanilla to Europe in the 1520s.
cashew nut - the plant is native to northeastern Brazil. Its English name derives from the Portuguese name for the fruit of the cashew tree, caju, which in turn derives from the indigenous Tupi name, acajú. It is now widely grown in tropical climates for its cashew "nuts" (see below) and cashew apples, but will remain unknown in Europe for at least another 170 years.
cassava/manioc/tapioca - a woody shrub native to South America that is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates. Cassava is the third largest source of carbohydrates for human food in the world, with Africa its largest center of production. The flour made of the roots is called tapioca.
black cherry - Black Cherry, Wild Black Cherry, Rum Cherry, or Mountain Black Cherry, is a woody plant species native to eastern North America from southern Quebec and Ontario south to Texas and central Florida, with disjunct populations in Arizona and New Mexico, and in the mountains of Mexico and Guatemala.
corn/maize - a cereal grain domesticated in Mesoamerica and subsequently spread throughout the American continents. After European contact with the Americas in the late 15th and early 16th century, maize spread to the rest of the world. Both Shakespeare and the King James Bible refer frequently to corn.
cranberry - yum. This hard berry belongs to a very low-lying evergreen shrub. The berries begin white and slowly turn a deep red as they ripen. Despite their tartness, they are popular in Europe, America, and Canada, where they are considered an indepensible part of Thanksgiving and winter festivals. Despite this Wisconsinite's love of their dried form (craisins), they weren't popular worldwide until after the 1930s.
concord grape - The Concord grape was developed in 1849 by Ephraim Wales Bull in Concord, Massachusetts.
guava - Native to Mexico and Central America, northern South America, and parts of the Caribbean. Later introduced to parts of North Africa, and currently grown worldwide in tropic regions.
huckleberry - this state fruit of Idaho is native to North America, particularly the Pacific Northwest at mid-alpine regions
papaya - it is native to the tropics of the Americas, and was cultivated in Mexico several centuries before the emergence of the Mesoamerican classic cultures. It is sometimes called a "big melon" or a "paw paw," but in America, the pawpaw refers to a different fruit entirely.
peanut - species native to South America, Mexico and Central America
pecan - a species of hickory, native to south-central North America, in the United States from southern Iowa, Illinois and Indiana east to western Kentucky and western Tennessee, south through Oklahoma, Arkansas, to Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana; and in Mexico from Coahuila south to Jalisco and Veracruz.
capsicum/chili/cayenne/paprika/sweet pepper - did you know the chili pepper is actually a member of the nightshade family? These peppers are native to the Americas only and spread worldwide through trade only after Europeans visited the Americas. The spiciness associated with Chinese food, for instance, increased dramatically after Western merchants arrived in Chungdu, which turned out to be a perfect climate for cultivating spicy peppers. Chungdu is the capital of Sichuan province, China.
pineapple - It is native to the southern part of Brazil, and Paraguay.
potato - Potato is the world's most widely grown tuber crop, and the fourth largest food crop in terms of fresh produce after rice, wheat, and corn. Wild potato species occur from the United States to Uruguay and Chile. Genetic testing of the wide variety of cultivars and wild species suggest that the potato has a single origin in the area of southern Peru, from a species in the Solanum brevicaule complex. Today, over 99% of all cultivated potatoes worldwide are descendants of a subspecies indigenous to south-central Chile.
pumpkin/squash/vegetable marrow/gourd - Archaeological evidence suggests that squash may have been first cultivated in Mesoamerica some 8,000 to 10,000 years ago, but may have been independently cultivated elsewhere, albeit later. Along with corn and beans, squash is one of the primary plants used in early American agriculture.
quinoa - despite the nifty Spanish name, is native to South America, where it has been cultivated in high altitudes of the Andes region for over 6,000 years.
raspberry - the name actually originates from the English word for red, Rubus, but was not introduced to England until after North American expeditions.
wild rice* - with the exception of Texas wild rice and the Asian native Manchurian rice, this combination of four grains is local only to the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River regions of North America. Until genetic engineering made wild rice practical for commercial distribution, the rice was only available from Native Americans, as the rice had to be harvested by hand.
sassafras - native only to eastern North America and eastern Asia
sunflower - the sunflower originates in the plains of North America, but the giant, single-headed sunflower as we know it did not come into existance until it was transported to the steppes of Russia in the 1800s, where it was cultivated to provide an alternative to oil. Sunflower oil, unknown to the Orthodox church's strictures on the use of oil and fats during the Lenten season, became hugely popular. The giant sunflowers were then re-introduced to North America and are a colorful cash crop in northern Great Plains states, like the Dakotas.
sweet potato - sweet potato is native only to North America. Sweet potatos are not to be confused with yams, which are found in parts of Africa and Asia.
tomato - the tomato originates in North America, and remained a little liked addition to the dinner table many years after Columbus introduced it to Europeans. In fact, despite an early Spanish recipe dating from 1692, believed to be the first incorporating tomatoes, the plant was reserved for tabletop decorations until the 17th and 18th centuries.
turkey - wild turkey originates in North America, and did not arrive in Europe until British colonization. The bird was given as a gift to the French, who bred the bird for its meat. Yet the dark markings left behind from the bird's feathers were unappetizing, and the French began to breed the bird for lighter plummage, fuller breasts, and shorter wings. The domesticated bird was then reintroduced to North America.
vanilla - native to Mexico and resistant to growing elsewhere until the 1800s. Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés is credited with introducing both the spice and chocolate to Europe in the 1520s.