Talk:Medieval cuisine/Archive 2

message: Question: the term "biscuit" is used in the article twice.  Now, there is the biscotti, obviously, but are we talking about the British English "biscuit" ("cookie" in US) or the American English "biscuit" ("roll" or "scone" in Insular Engl)?  Just wondering, because it looks like one in the breads section and another in the desserts section.  Geogre 14:46, 10 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Biscuits 'n mustard, or biscuits 'n milk? 

message: Don't know which ones are spelling mistakes, which ones are incorrectly used, which ones are the old english variants rather than the more commonly (according to Google) used ones.  You might want to check that out.  Of course, I'm talking about their use in the article.  Not here.-BillDeanCarter 03:31, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Putrifaction, putrification, putrefaction, etc...

message: The disputed information is well known among people who are versed in this subject, but it does need to be better documented.  It would also be a good idea to expand upon it with a full treatment of sumptuary laws, mercantilist economic theory, and international trade.  If I had the time and ready access to the appropriate reference books handy I'd do that myself.  As things are I'll back up Peter Isalto on the fundamentals, ask for this whole discussion to cool down about twenty degrees.
Here's the basic context: during this era sumptuary laws were widespread in Europe.  These restricted the legal use some luxury imported consumer goods (mostly textiles and foodstuffs) and served the dual purposes of maintaining social distinctions and safeguarding the country's trade balance.  The dominant economic thinking at the time was that unrestricted access to imported consumable goods would harm a country's prosperity.  Among the upper classes banquets served an important function as displays of wealth and power.  An indoor canopy often distinguished the highest status table from the others and all seating arrangements reflected social standing - one was either above the salt or below the salt.  Banquet dishes themselves were often (quite literally) conspicuous consumption that flaunted the host's acquisition of imported ingredients such as dates, pomegranates, oranges, refined sugar, or black pepper.  The word sugar in most European languages derives from Arabic because Morocco was a major exporter of the product (this changed when the Black Death decimated the Moroccan population and their irrigation system fell apart, but that's another story).  The desire for luxury foodstuffs had far-reaching consequences: Spain financed Christopher Columbus's first voyage in the hope of getting cheaper black pepper from India and, somewhat later than this period, Europe's sweet tooth for refined sugar was closely linked to slave trade in the Caribbean.
So yes, this article has room for improvement, but let's remember the perfect article does not exist.  This passed a recent featured article candidacy and is far more deserving of main page attention than (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction. DurovaCharge! 17:18, 23 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Outside opinion 

message: re: Ike's suggestion: does anyone want to do this article? I know dark ages is a politically incorrect term these days but its a convenient mental handle. Lgh 00:47, 5 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I always thought the dark ages were regarded as the first era of the Medieval ages.--67.118.132.226 01:35, 5 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  dark ages cuisine 

message: : "the calorie-to-weight ratio of meat was less than that of plant food"
that line quoted from the article strikes me as patent nonsense. meat is known to hae a higher energy value than plants today, and that isn't likely to have been significantly different a few hundred years ago. perhaps teh origianl writer of this line meant to refer to the calorie-to-cost ratio? Rhialto 01:08, 5 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: the statement needs clarification: meat that is fat-free has very little calorific value. Almost all the calories in meat are in fat (and a little in stored glycogen). However, a cabbage leaf likewise has not a lot of calories, but a potato or swede does - they are almost pure energy, being complex carbohydrate: the body breaks them down to pure sugar. In general the original statement is true to the extent that if you took a basket of typical medieval vegetables and calculated the calorific value as against that of the same wieght of typical medieval meat product I think the vege's would come out on top. Lgh. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 203.27.90.186 (talk) 01:19, 5 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: nutritional value

message: This is a particularly long article and overall is very well written and presented. I would note, however, that a practice of not having a space between the period and the first letter of the following sentence occurred in the last two sections. I suppose that both those involved in copy editing and those who passed it for FA were a little tired after reading through the earlier sections and simply missed it. In truth, it didn't spoil my enjoyment of the article. LessHeard vanU 10:53, 5 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Copy editing 

message: Very, very nice and interesting article.  Keep up the great work.  I enjoyed reading this tremendously.Cameron Nedland 13:36, 5 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Congratulations 

message: hello. i just noticed that someone added some crap between the introduction and the table of contents.  i went to try to edit it out, but i couldn't find it. maybe someone more experienced could fix it? thanks
:It has already been removed. --LuigiManiac 18:13, 5 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Vandalism