![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hrjYes, it's the return of my method for focusing my attention more sharply on the details of the papers ... liveblogging! (Fortunately, WMU solved the glitch with getting visitors on the wireless network this morning.) A lot of this is likely to be stream-of-consciousness, so don't look for coherent summary and analysis.
Session 40: Medieval Food Practices: Cultures and Commodities
“Rostyd” Myth: Culinary Signification and “Sociogenesis” at Two Lancastrian
Coronation Feasts (Ken Fullam, Blue Ridge Community College)
Formal feasting as a means of creating and enforcing social systems and means of symbolizing the nature and legitimacy of the presiding structures. Touches on humoral theory of foods, symbolic use of red colorings in food connected to Lancastrian colors. Detailed discussion of the symbolic meaning of specific food animals, both domestic and wild. (me: I question, though, whether the food animals were chosen primarily for their symbolic qualities, or whether their symbolic qualities were attributed due to their place in the diet.) On the other hand, roast peacock is a good argument for the “symbol-primary” interpretation, at least for that dish. (me: Maybe it’s just his wording, but it feels like he’s using a lot of culinary terminology in ways that suggest unfamiliarity with the meaning – for example, apparently referring to “eyroun” as a type of egg, but that may be me misunderstanding his writing style.) “Roasting” as a signifier of stability, due to the lesser amount of change in the foodstuff (compared, for example, with pottages)? Summary: coronation feasts were forms of medieval theater conveying non-written messages.
Aspects of the Culture of Fasting in the Middle Ages: Food Practices among
Premonstratensian Regular Canons (Noor De Salazar, Independent Scholar) – Not presented.
The Service of Food and Drink: A Function of Bedroom Chambers (Kevin Wolf, Univ. of California–Davis)
Specifically focuses on depictions in German minstrel epics. 8 regularly depicted functions of bedrooms. Brief background on function of food and drink in noble courts/halls in general, e.g., part of reception of visitors according to their status, creating social bonds, display of conspicuous consumption, a place to receive messages or news. Food/drink service in private bedrooms parallel these on a smaller, more personal scale but generally using the same foodstuffs and dishes. Absence of “correct” food service, even in a private space, represents a breach in courtesy and hospitality.
“Ðe best and ryallest vyand of alle”: Local Ecology as an Element of Conspicuous Consumption at Fifteenth-Century English Banquets (Ryan Whibbs, York Univ.) – Not presented.
Last-minute addition by session presider (Alex Wolfe, Univ. of Chicago?) on luxury foods, specifically sugar, comparing English and Mongol cuisines.
In the medieval period, English aristocratic culture eagerly indulged in imported luxury foods, especially as symbolized by sugar use. This change was initially driven by exposure during the Crusades. In contrast, by 1400 Mongol culture was returning to traditional foods after previously embracing the cuisines of their conquered lands. Medieval medical discourse (both Arabic and European) discusses sugar as a universally beneficial item and an ameliorative ingredient to be combined with other medicines. When sugar shifted to a culinary item, it was classed with spices, both in terms of amounts used and storage conditions. Used fairly generally, although with adjustments for humoral balance and local usage. In contrast, Mongol culinary discussions of sugar are more particular about approved combinations and discourages the use of sugar with a variety of specific foodstuffs, whether for reasons of culinary balance or symbolic contradiction (e.g., no sugar with bamboo shoots – possibly because of similarity of plant?) European “luxury” foods shift heavily to imports rather than local products: e.g., almonds vs. hazelnuts, wine vs. mead.
Session 40: Medieval Food Practices: Cultures and Commodities
“Rostyd” Myth: Culinary Signification and “Sociogenesis” at Two Lancastrian
Coronation Feasts (Ken Fullam, Blue Ridge Community College)
Formal feasting as a means of creating and enforcing social systems and means of symbolizing the nature and legitimacy of the presiding structures. Touches on humoral theory of foods, symbolic use of red colorings in food connected to Lancastrian colors. Detailed discussion of the symbolic meaning of specific food animals, both domestic and wild. (me: I question, though, whether the food animals were chosen primarily for their symbolic qualities, or whether their symbolic qualities were attributed due to their place in the diet.) On the other hand, roast peacock is a good argument for the “symbol-primary” interpretation, at least for that dish. (me: Maybe it’s just his wording, but it feels like he’s using a lot of culinary terminology in ways that suggest unfamiliarity with the meaning – for example, apparently referring to “eyroun” as a type of egg, but that may be me misunderstanding his writing style.) “Roasting” as a signifier of stability, due to the lesser amount of change in the foodstuff (compared, for example, with pottages)? Summary: coronation feasts were forms of medieval theater conveying non-written messages.
Aspects of the Culture of Fasting in the Middle Ages: Food Practices among
Premonstratensian Regular Canons (Noor De Salazar, Independent Scholar) – Not presented.
The Service of Food and Drink: A Function of Bedroom Chambers (Kevin Wolf, Univ. of California–Davis)
Specifically focuses on depictions in German minstrel epics. 8 regularly depicted functions of bedrooms. Brief background on function of food and drink in noble courts/halls in general, e.g., part of reception of visitors according to their status, creating social bonds, display of conspicuous consumption, a place to receive messages or news. Food/drink service in private bedrooms parallel these on a smaller, more personal scale but generally using the same foodstuffs and dishes. Absence of “correct” food service, even in a private space, represents a breach in courtesy and hospitality.
“Ðe best and ryallest vyand of alle”: Local Ecology as an Element of Conspicuous Consumption at Fifteenth-Century English Banquets (Ryan Whibbs, York Univ.) – Not presented.
Last-minute addition by session presider (Alex Wolfe, Univ. of Chicago?) on luxury foods, specifically sugar, comparing English and Mongol cuisines.
In the medieval period, English aristocratic culture eagerly indulged in imported luxury foods, especially as symbolized by sugar use. This change was initially driven by exposure during the Crusades. In contrast, by 1400 Mongol culture was returning to traditional foods after previously embracing the cuisines of their conquered lands. Medieval medical discourse (both Arabic and European) discusses sugar as a universally beneficial item and an ameliorative ingredient to be combined with other medicines. When sugar shifted to a culinary item, it was classed with spices, both in terms of amounts used and storage conditions. Used fairly generally, although with adjustments for humoral balance and local usage. In contrast, Mongol culinary discussions of sugar are more particular about approved combinations and discourages the use of sugar with a variety of specific foodstuffs, whether for reasons of culinary balance or symbolic contradiction (e.g., no sugar with bamboo shoots – possibly because of similarity of plant?) European “luxury” foods shift heavily to imports rather than local products: e.g., almonds vs. hazelnuts, wine vs. mead.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-05-07 04:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-07 05:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-07 05:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-07 05:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-07 10:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-08 12:07 am (UTC)I blog the papers mostly as a way of keeping my attention focused -- secondarily to share the experience vicariously with my friends. It isn't meant to be formal reviews, per se. Just what runs through my head while listening.