the birth of pasta, pasta asciutta, Arab Sicily and the history of noodles

It seems like I'm always writing about food, you'd think all I do all day is eat. If only. But perusing one of my favorite cookbooks/history books of Sicily, Pompa nd Sustenance , Twenty-Five Centuries of Sicilian Food by Mary Taylor Simeti, she reminds me once again of the origins and birth of pasta and some more food history, like the history of noodles. She talks about pasta asciutta which is spaghetti or fettuccine covered with sauce and cheese. She believes that that dish was born in Arab Sicily when noodles known as rishta were eaten in ancient Persia and discussed in medieval Islamic cookbooks. Al-Idrisi, King Roger II's famous geographer, talks about pasta vermicelli called itriya, an Arabic word that survived as "tria" in Sicilian that, along with the pasta, was taken north by Genoese merchants. Check out page 143 where she lists some of the different forms of 19th century pasta. I never heard of most of them! Melinfanti, pastarattedda, filatieddi and ciazzisi, just to mention a few.

Greeks overtake Elymians

The western portion of Sicily was populated by an early people called the Elymians (Elymi) who had established several settlements in the area by 1100 BCE, pushing aside the Sicanians who retreated more to the central area of the island. Greek historians postulated that the Elymians were descendants of those who escaped the destruction of Troy, although the theory is unsupported. Another theory is that they were connected to the Minoan society. Most likely the Greeks claimed a kinship with the Elymians for the sake of political propaganda justifying their occupation of western Sicily and ousting the Phoenician/Carthaginians. (No, nothing really changes in politics.) Regardless of their origins, by 500 BCS, the Elymians were amalgamated into the Greek civilization, as evidenced by the Greek temple (built c. 430 BCE) at Segesta, one of the 3 main Elymian settlements. Archaeology has been unable to clearly define an Elymian language or culture as separate from the Sicanians before the arrival of the Greeks, or from the Greeks after their Hellinization. Unlike other Sicilian groups, the Elymians apparently never engaged in open conflict with the Phoenicians and did not seek independence from Greece. Perhaps they were a peaceful and unusually adaptable people, but more likely, they saw the benefits of trade. Can anyone provide more un-to-date information?

Ginger, medieval spices, medieval recipes with ginger, biscotti and herbal medicine

Today I decided to try and make my ginger biscotti with freshly grated ginger. I was able to get some Hawaiian ginger from my local Fort Market and pureed it as best I could. Gerald, the owner of the market and my good friend, peeled the ginger for me and minced it, but several cooks, including his lovely wife Emerald, cautioned me to mash it further and use sparingly. Now my original recipe calls for 1 to 1-1/2 cups of crystallized ginger. So I started thinking about ginger in the Middle Ages and first turned to my old friends, Robert Lopez and Irving Raymond and Medieval Trade in the Mediterranean World. I found the following on page 111 - Quilon ginger, wrinkled black ginger, peeled ginger and Malabar ginger. On page 352 they briefly discuss green ginger which should be clear and brittle and ginger in general, which should be of large roots, clean skin and not wrinkled, tender to the knife and white inside and firm and not thin and holey. Just for the record, my Hawaiian ginger (which I can pretty much bet wasn't on the medieval market) was yellow inside. On the medicinal side, my Medieval Kitchen by Odile Redon states that the French were inordinately fond of the ginger/cinnamon combo (who isn't? and I'm not even French!) and that most ingredients we would call spices in the modern world were considered to have warm and dry properties, except for ginger and saffron (loved by the Italians) which were warm and moist. Very important when you're prescribing to keep the humors in balance. And just in case you're interested, aside from ginger, there are mulberry granita, jasmine ice, almond granita, cinnamon granita, lemon granita, and gelato of any and all flavors. What does a mulberry taste like?

Apocalyptic stories, TV, times of chaos and reorganization - 13th century?

It occurs to me, ruminating as I'm watching some of the streaming that my husband likes to view, how many apocalyptic, make order out of chaos, reorganize society, Hunger Games, type of shows there are on now. Trendy YA literature copies Hunger Game themes, while more interesting ones like Chuck Wendig depict the future in yet another impressively different way in his Heartland Trilogy. The Vespers Trilogy depicts a real time and place where the reorganization of society is attempted yet again - politics, conquest, greed, all the usual components are in place. See, some things never change...

Arrival of Greeks in Sicily

According to Vincenzo Salerno, Sicily's Bronze Age cultures c. 2500-1250 BCE, were the Castelluccian and Thapsos groups. The Castelluccian culture is being investigated by archaeologists as La Mulufuca in south central Sicily and were likely the forebearers of what are known as the Sicans, discussed in the earlier post. An identifiable Sicanian culture existed in Sicily c. 1600 BCE, and was influenced by the Phoenicians and Minoans. Greek colonization began about 735 BCE at Syracuse and widespread Hellenization of the island peoples soon followed. The Sicanians are frequently mentioned in Greek and Roman texts, including those from Appollodorus, Diodorus Siculus, Herodotus, Homer, Strabo, Pausanias, and Ovid.Herodotus mention the Sicianian city of Kamikos in his Histories. It was in the Agrigento area. The Temple of Diana overlooking Cefalu is a Roman temple built on the site of a former Sicanian temple to a similar goddess of the hunt.Little is known about the Sicanian mythology, literature (if any), or notable individuals, except for the legends of Kokalos, which may have been based on a historical figure, much like the tales of King Arthur.

Brian Catlos, Sicily, the Mediterranean and other medieval thoughts

So OK, I've been so preoccupied lately with planning my trip to Sicily (and Budapest and Iceland) next year that I've been neglecting my blog. So my friend Josh Birk recommended an author to me, just to keep me in the loop of present-day Mediterranean scholarship. That author would be Brian A. Catlos and I've already begun his book, Infidel Kings and Unholy Warriors, Faith, Power and Violence in the Age of Crusade and Jihad. For all you eggheads out there who are academically drawn to the Mediterranean, get this book. He has a new take on old scholarship and it's clear and well-reasoned. Look up his other stuff too. And if you're out in southern California around November 7 and 8, go see him in person at the UC-Irvine Mediterranean conference. So I'm trying to decide whether to stay around Mazara or Erice because I want to see the Greek temples at Agrigento. Isn't it fascinating that the best Greek ruins are in Sicily and southern Italy (Paestum - heaven on earth -yes, go see Paestum south of Salerno). And in Trapani I plan to visit the medieval salt museum as well as the salt pans since I write about them in our vespers trilogy. Last but not least, before visiting Budapest and soaking my bod in the hot springs of Iceland (Blue Lagoon, here I come!)we'll be traveling around Cefalu and Corleone (remember the Godfather? Although that's not why I'm going -there's actually a medieval connection there). Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions - feel free to comment!