Some years back I attended a Jewish wedding, part of which was the signing of the ketubah. The Rabbi commented that in the old days the ketubah would specify how many chickens and goats the groom was paying the bride's father for his daughter, whereas this modern
On the topic of ancient spices and recipes, you may be interested in this recently published paper: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adh5517. It looked at food remains at an archaeological site in Vietnam that were 1,300 - 2,000 years old, identifying various plants and spices.
One funny (or sad) thing about the ketubah comment is that the ketubah was a standard-form contract. The text was unchanged for at least 2,000 years. And it's less than a page. All the rabbi had to do was read it (in English translation) to see the absence of chickens and goats, the absence of a bride price, and the presence of the husband's pre-nuptual obligations towards the wife.
Loved this, and the medieval recipes. But one thing jumped out at me - 25 pounds of saffron!!! I realize they were spicing a few herds of cattle, etc - but that is a stunning amount of a very expensive spice. Based on todays prices, about $115,000.
As a side note, putting amounts of ingredients in recipes is sort of a modern thing. Escoffier's (father of French cuisine) cook book with 5,000 recipes has no amounts for the ingredients. You are supposed to know how much, based on your experience.
A great resource for these sorts of modern mistakes about history is www.historyforatheists.com. Your example of "the Medieval Flat Earth" is top of the list. Also, the Destruction of the Library of Alexandra, Hitler's Pope, Soviet Atheism, Biblical Literalism, and the whole rosy view of the Renaissance.
"There were European ships harvesting Cod off what is now Newfoundland not long after Columbus"
Off what was then newfound land. It's been found quite a long time ago by now.
On the topic of ancient spices and recipes, you may be interested in this recently published paper: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adh5517. It looked at food remains at an archaeological site in Vietnam that were 1,300 - 2,000 years old, identifying various plants and spices.
Re Mencken Hoax:
https://xkcd.com/978/
One funny (or sad) thing about the ketubah comment is that the ketubah was a standard-form contract. The text was unchanged for at least 2,000 years. And it's less than a page. All the rabbi had to do was read it (in English translation) to see the absence of chickens and goats, the absence of a bride price, and the presence of the husband's pre-nuptual obligations towards the wife.
Loved this, and the medieval recipes. But one thing jumped out at me - 25 pounds of saffron!!! I realize they were spicing a few herds of cattle, etc - but that is a stunning amount of a very expensive spice. Based on todays prices, about $115,000.
As a side note, putting amounts of ingredients in recipes is sort of a modern thing. Escoffier's (father of French cuisine) cook book with 5,000 recipes has no amounts for the ingredients. You are supposed to know how much, based on your experience.
A great resource for these sorts of modern mistakes about history is www.historyforatheists.com. Your example of "the Medieval Flat Earth" is top of the list. Also, the Destruction of the Library of Alexandra, Hitler's Pope, Soviet Atheism, Biblical Literalism, and the whole rosy view of the Renaissance.
I also read Mark Kurlansky's books, which I assume you are referring to
Lol, I was going to say they used money but you beat me to it.
Humans will human.
There was a recent argument on Reddit that might interest you, about yeridat hadorot: https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/152qw8q/i_remember_seeing_something_that_there_was_a/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=1