medieval Europe and spices
In Europe was witnessing two major factors: the disintegration of ' Roman Empire and the spread of Christianity.
European order after the 476
Tra il II ed il IV secolo, le invasioni barbariche riuscirono a demolire completamente prima i confini e poi la struttura stessa dell’Impero Romano, suddividendo l’Occidente in una miriade di stati indipendenti e soggetti ad organizzazioni nel commercio e nell’economia politica diverse tra loro.
Il sapere si rifugia nei monasteri, che diventano i centri ed i custodi gelosi e spesso occultatori, delle antiche arti filosofiche, mediche e scientifiche.
Per secoli la pratica medica regredisce in Europa, ed i manoscritti alto medioevali offrono solo un insieme di regole pratiche per formulare una diagnosi tramite l’osservazione del polso e delle urine, descrizioni sommarie diseases of the greek name increasingly crippled lists medicinal herbs and recipes that draw on different sources. dietary practices, inherited from the Greeks and Romans, were modeled on the principle of the four humors produced by the body and the transformation properties of food by manipulating them in the kitchen. The writings
survivors were mangled and adapted to a more "Christian" world, and many ancient knowledge was lost or hidden from the centers of power in the monasteries.
St. Basil, the founder of a large hospital in 370 at Caesarea, wrote that "not all illnesses are of natural origin, because some are sent directly by God to test our faith or to punish any sin we commit. " the man of the people of the Middle Ages, medical dietetics in a cultural sense it matters little, remember only what is useful to support his experience in the more immediate health problems and refers to remedies based on ancient beliefs in the properties of heat and fire.
Strait on the one hand the Christian faith, and the other from East exerted a mysterious charm still very powerful, learning replaces lost the popular beliefs: the only contact with the precious stones that came from the East was considered capable protect the body from old age, spices not only expelling fluids unhealthy, but they burn them, and through the medieval imagination far beyond the kitchen and the pleasant, almost completely detaching and becoming de facto remedy doctor and a universal panacea. But what about the kitchen and use of spices that was so extensive during the Roman Empire?
The kitchen in medieval Europe
collection of recipes from the apex of the second century AD until the early writings of medieval kitchen of the fourteenth century it will take centuries, so there are only general guidelines on nutrition of the people. The stratification of social classes impacted all aspects of daily life, including food. The nobles and clergy were reserved for the finest foods than for the people.
the records of the Abbey of Corbie supply for 716 years, ahead of purchases are pepper, cumin, followed by cloves, spikenard and Indian costus. Two hundred years later, in another register of the same abbey also appear galanga, ginger and cinnamon.
Trade with India had not stopped, but had become vastly more expensive due to the fact that trade routes did not cross the largest unified empire, but often and often passed in lands not subject to close scrutiny and therefore unsafe. For the man of the people of the Eastern spice becomes something unattainable and must be replaced with other flavors, cheaper, collected in the fields. The books of account of the fourteenth century some merchants of Montauban, country French at the foot of the Pyrenees, we find the social stratification related to the purchases.
farmers, artisans and laborers do not buy spices, and if this occurs very rarely, bought the only spice and pepper. Going up in the hierarchy, the merchants or the bourgeois constant supply of this spice, while the clergy and nobility also purchased ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon. Half a kilo of pepper in 1300 cost the equivalent of a sheep, while a pound of nutmeg over a cow.
the people to find the heat to be essential for good digestion, addressed to the fields and made abundant use of garlic and onion.
Instead of oriental spices, too expensive, J. Dubois in 1544 in his book Diet for a healthy diet, for the population, recommended a powder made from rosemary, sage, hyssop, savory, thyme, marjoram, bay leaves and heads of thistle, which is flavored with vegetable soups and soups .
Centuries later and sing to seek the mixture of "herbs of Provence" to be added to homemade soups and roasts.
The spices in the kitchen had become strictly the prerogative of the powerful and merchants, as well as other consumer products now considered, like sugar or olive oil, for example, in Liguria you will start to consume a permanent population of just over l ' 800.
kitchen treaties of the fourteenth century are written by chefs at the service of kings or noble of high rank, and are a food court, more or less uniform across Europe and makes abundant use of spices. The most used are ginger, cinnamon, saffron and cloves. Black pepper is poorly mentioned, probably because its diffusion in the lower social strata diminishes the prestige. Appear also to a lesser extent for the canteens and more refined, cardamom, mace, nutmeg and pepper along.
A comparison of a collection of kitchen end of the fourteenth century "The Mesnagier de Paris" and its corresponding Eastern Europe shows that, in the court and the rich bourgeoisie, many spices that were used in the Middle East, differing only the use of coriander and cumin, completely abandoned in Western Europe for several centuries.
The rich spicy dishes put in the various cafeterias real competition, and the spice had become the expression most evident of a certain social status, sought as an expression of economic welfare dell'anfitrione.
But in just two hundred years, as we shall see, the whole system is destined to collapse and oriental spices, with indisputable protagonists, almost completely disappear from European recipes.
France, promoting the culinary culture of the elite in Europe and worldwide, the new rules will dictate the use of spices, and the center of the world will move again, abandoning forever the Middle East.
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