Today I'd like to write a little bit about some ancient eating habits in France, Rome and England
France
In XVII'th century Louis XIV reigned in France. It is said that he was the most greedy king in the whole history of Europe. In fact this king simply loved to eat! He was begining his day by drinking only a cup of tea or a broth. It was really simple breakfast. While he was eating, his servants were waiting expectantly as the King gave the orders for a lunch. It was a routine morning ceremony. Lunch was called le Petit Couvert, what means "the Little Service". In fact it was just a name because this meal was like a daily festivity. During lunch the King was eating four different soups, a stuffed pheasant, a partridge, a chicken or a duck, a ham, a mutton, eggs and a plate full of pastries, fruits, and jams. It was simply a usual menu and the king devoured it all. While he was eating the royal doctor was always present to take care of his health.
The lunch was a huge ceremony which usually lasted several hours. Louis employed 498 people for tasting each dinner. All of them had a special name appropriate to their profession. Before the King ate something a proper person had tasted the food to check the taste. During the ceremony of eating the whole refectory was full of guests which were invited specially due to the lunch. Louis XIV didn't like to be distracted while he was eating, so he forbade all dinner conversations. The audience staied in absolute silence for many hours. After the King's death, doctors discovered that his stomach and intestines were twice the normal size.
Rome
Ancient Romans loved entertainments, feasts and mostly magnificent banquets. Rich Romans were spending fortunes on making feasts. They also were eating for many hours or even days. When they felt full and they couldn't eat anything more they just vomited to the special prepared bowl. Owing to it they could continue eating.
Marcus Antonius loved boar's meat so much that his cook was roasting several pieces at the same time. Meat was in many different stages of preperation. The cook had to be ready all day in case of unexpected appetite of the master.
England
In XVII-XVIII century in England, habits and traditions of eating were similar to practices in France. The occupants of courts or rich country seats were spending their usual day on eating and, in fact, doing nothing. They ate very traditional meals such as cakes with whole pheasant inside, greasy hogs with apples and something absolutely special–cheese with swollen larvaes, called Casu marzu. It was a traditional delicacy which was served not only in inns during the long journey but also on courts. Worms preserved the cheese from a spoiling (this specific is still popular in Sardinia - I will talk a little bit more about this unusual cheese in my next presentation).
The most important English tradition is of course five o'clock tea. Tea appeared in England in 1658. The wife of king Charles II was organizing the meetings for women and served pastries and a tea. This custom became a national tradition not only for ladies.
Do you know any interesting eating traditions?
France
In XVII'th century Louis XIV reigned in France. It is said that he was the most greedy king in the whole history of Europe. In fact this king simply loved to eat! He was begining his day by drinking only a cup of tea or a broth. It was really simple breakfast. While he was eating, his servants were waiting expectantly as the King gave the orders for a lunch. It was a routine morning ceremony. Lunch was called le Petit Couvert, what means "the Little Service". In fact it was just a name because this meal was like a daily festivity. During lunch the King was eating four different soups, a stuffed pheasant, a partridge, a chicken or a duck, a ham, a mutton, eggs and a plate full of pastries, fruits, and jams. It was simply a usual menu and the king devoured it all. While he was eating the royal doctor was always present to take care of his health.
The lunch was a huge ceremony which usually lasted several hours. Louis employed 498 people for tasting each dinner. All of them had a special name appropriate to their profession. Before the King ate something a proper person had tasted the food to check the taste. During the ceremony of eating the whole refectory was full of guests which were invited specially due to the lunch. Louis XIV didn't like to be distracted while he was eating, so he forbade all dinner conversations. The audience staied in absolute silence for many hours. After the King's death, doctors discovered that his stomach and intestines were twice the normal size.
Rome
Ancient Romans loved entertainments, feasts and mostly magnificent banquets. Rich Romans were spending fortunes on making feasts. They also were eating for many hours or even days. When they felt full and they couldn't eat anything more they just vomited to the special prepared bowl. Owing to it they could continue eating.
Marcus Antonius loved boar's meat so much that his cook was roasting several pieces at the same time. Meat was in many different stages of preperation. The cook had to be ready all day in case of unexpected appetite of the master.England
In XVII-XVIII century in England, habits and traditions of eating were similar to practices in France. The occupants of courts or rich country seats were spending their usual day on eating and, in fact, doing nothing. They ate very traditional meals such as cakes with whole pheasant inside, greasy hogs with apples and something absolutely special–cheese with swollen larvaes, called Casu marzu. It was a traditional delicacy which was served not only in inns during the long journey but also on courts. Worms preserved the cheese from a spoiling (this specific is still popular in Sardinia - I will talk a little bit more about this unusual cheese in my next presentation).
The most important English tradition is of course five o'clock tea. Tea appeared in England in 1658. The wife of king Charles II was organizing the meetings for women and served pastries and a tea. This custom became a national tradition not only for ladies.
Do you know any interesting eating traditions?
It's amazing that people can admire food which is still alive... I've eaten oysters and I can say it's a nice refreshment, but at least they don't move, so you don't feel that they are alive. Moving worms is something I wouldn't taste, even tough people eat much worse thing.
ReplyDeleteI think that Chinese specialize in bizarre cuisine. The most terrible examples are brain of a monkey, which wasn't killed before or exclusive (and I hope not legal) relish - soup made of human foetus...
In Thailand (I think) are eaten live octopus. They must be carefully "wrapped" or else go into the wild. ;)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fAs_DJCjG4
Well maybe people specially in Korea and China like extremely fresh food or meybe find it exciting when spomething what they have inside their mouth have opportunity to escape:)
ReplyDeleteYou have written about very odd stuff like live animals... but beeing in Ireland, I obverved different kind of strange habbits...
ReplyDeleteItalian eats for a dinner for example pasta with potatoes and baguette/roll/bread at the same time, the one dish that contain all these components.
I eat only pasta, only potatoes or just only bread...
Well I found that five o'clock tea isn't as popular as it used to be in England. I had however the opportunity to take part in one “afternoon tea party”. The biggest surprise for me was that English people usually drink their tea with milk. I remember the look they gave me when I said that I'll only take tea with sugar. The couldn't believe that you can drink tea without milk :).
ReplyDeleteAs for strange food traditions... I do recall seeing a bit on the telly about how they serve a certain kind of snake. The key is to prepare it very fast so that when they serve it the parts of the snake are still moving!
Every country has its own customs. For others it might be odd that we serve raw meat like "Tatar". A lot of those dishes may be really delicious. The psychics is only the barrier:) I recall some story of Wojciech Cejrowski which was forced to try some kind of alcohol which contained a lot of spit of old ladies which prepared it, refusal would be treated as an insult, what would you do ?:)
ReplyDeleteYou said that while Louis XIV was eating there was a doctor taking care of his health. I was wondering how exactly he was doing that? Repeating "Eat less, Eat less, Eat less!!!!" all the time? I think that what he could hear in reply " Off with your head!!!!"
ReplyDeleteAs for size of Louis's stomach and intestines, are you sure he wasnt an alien? Hehe
Im not surprised people wanted to find out how the heck guy was able to stuff so much in himself though.
It reminds waiting until you can open a present a bit and I bet thats how the doctors felt "CAN WE OPEN HIM? PWEASEEE!"
Moving on to Romans, I had no idea they went as far as vomiting to eat more. Are you sure its true? Seems like a bit of exaggeration.
And as for tea tradition in England, these days its starts to turn into a Myth really. I mean Im sure some OLD people still follow that, or Nobles but average population doesnt seem to care much. If they are drinking tea its because they are thirsty not because its 4, 5 or whatever o'clock.
One of people from England I know not only doesnt drink tea acording to the famous tradition but actually hates it. I keep teasing her because of that.
BUT, they still drink tea with milk. Oh and if you want to see a funny explenation on why they drink tea in England, read the comic "Asteriks i Obeliks u Brytów".
I remember when I was in Italy on holidays, I remember it very good. Why? Because EVERY day we had spagetti on dinner. First few days was - OK spagetti, nice. Bu at the end of ous stay, we were eating in restaurant, despite costs. Polish proverb 'Co za dużo to nie zdrowo' fits perfectly
ReplyDeleteExactly - as you proceed on exploring other countries you'll discover how heavily their taste habits differ.
ReplyDeleteActually that's the best thing to happen because there's something new for you. Though sometimes it can be hard to swallow a bit of dish that is still moving ;-)