Medieval cuisine includes the foods, diets, and cooking methods of
various European cultures from the 5th to the 15th century. Cereals were
the most important staple during the Early Middle Ages: barley, oats,
and rye were eaten by the poor while wheat was generally more expensive.
These were consumed as bread, porridge, gruel, and pasta by people of
all classes. Cheese, fruits, and vegetables were important supplements.
Meat, including pork, chicken, and other domestic fowl, was more
expensive, and game was common only on the nobility's tables. Many
freshwater and saltwater fish were also eaten; in the north, cod and
herring were mainstays. In contrast to the exotic spices and expensive
imported food of the nobility, working-class food was less refined, as
mandated by decrees and social norms. A highly spiced sweet-sour food
repertory developed among the upper classes in the Late Middle Ages.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_cuisine>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1386:
The Wonderful Parliament met at Westminster Abbey to address
King Richard II's need for money, but soon changed focus to the reform
of his administration.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonderful_Parliament>
1890:
At the encouragement of preservationist John Muir and writer
Robert Underwood Johnson, the U.S. Congress established Yosemite
National Park in California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosemite_National_Park>
1918:
First World War: British and Arab troops captured Damascus from
the Ottoman Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Damascus>
2003:
A levy was imposed on the hiring of foreign domestic helpers in
Hong Kong, who numbered in the hundreds of thousands at the time.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_domestic_helpers_in_Hong_Kong>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
antediluvian:
1. (biblical) Belonging or pertaining to, or existing in, the time prior
to the great flood described in Genesis, or (by extension) to a great or
destructive flood or deluge described in other mythologies.
2. (by extension) Of animals and plants: long extinct; prehistoric.
3. (figurative, hyperbolic, chiefly humorous)
4. Of a person or thing: very old; ancient.
5. Of attitudes, ideas, etc.: extremely old-fashioned, especially to a
laughable extent; antiquated.
6. (biblical) A person who lived in the time prior to the great flood
described in Genesis, especially one of the biblical patriarchs.
7. (figurative, hyperbolic, chiefly humorous)
8. A very old person.
9. A person with extremely old-fashioned attitudes, ideas, etc.,
especially to a laughable extent; a fogey or old fogey.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/antediluvian>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
There is a remarkable trend toward fundamentalism in all
religions — including the different denominations of Christianity as
well as Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam. Increasingly, true believers are
inclined to begin a process of deciding: "Since I am aligned with God, I
am superior and my beliefs should prevail, and anyone who disagrees with
me is inherently wrong," and the next step is "inherently inferior." The
ultimate step is "subhuman," and then their lives are not significant.
That tendency has created, throughout the world, intense religious
conflicts. Those Christians who resist the inclination toward
fundamentalism and who truly follow the nature, actions, and words of
Jesus Christ should encompass people who are different from us with our
care, generosity, forgiveness, compassion, and unselfish love. It is
not easy to do this. It is a natural human inclination to encapsulate
ourselves in a superior fashion with people who are just like us — and
to assume that we are fulfilling the mandate of our lives if we just
confine our love to our own family or to people who are similar and
compatible. Breaking through this barrier and reaching out to others is
what personifies a Christian and what emulates the perfect example that
Christ set for us.
--Jimmy Carter
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter>