Changes

Maurizio also elaborated an inventory and classification of foodstuffs that often gives rise to problems of translation and terminology, recalling the remarks by F. Sigaut who called for establishing reference terms in the field of food technology linked to the analysis of ''chaînes opératoires '' <ref>See his article « Nomenclature et identification des produits », ''in'' H. Franconie, M. Chastanet et F. Sigaut (éd.), ''Couscous, boulgour et polenta. Transformer et consommer les céréales dans le monde'', Paris, Karthala, 2010, p. 443-456.</ref>. If this hope was not fulfilled, it is doubtless because this taxonomy is more difficult to develop than in life sciences, considering individual researchers’ practices, regional traditions and agro-alimentary norms. Also, this is perceived as less necessary, since people continue to use local names with their own definitions – with all the risks of confusion and misunderstanding they involve.

As one example of this complexity, let us take that of ''crêpes'' and ''galettes'', the preparation of which varies from place to place and period to period in France. If we limit ourselves to cereal-grain ''crêpes'' and ''galettes'', they may be different in their thickness and the way they are cooked, in a pan or in the oven, or they may be the same thickness, in fact quite thin, while being made from wheat or buckwheat flour. In this case, they are highly varied: salty or sweet, fermented or not, not to mention all the other ingredients that can be added (milk, eggs, cider, potatoes, etc.) or the cooking oil or fat (butter or walnut oil). To really see into this diversity, we must turn to vernacular terms while explaining them through written sources and enquiries. Maurizio must not have been familiar with the cuisines of Normandy, Brittany or Limousin… His Index has twenty entries under ''galettes'', according to their “ancientness”, composition or geography. Among them, the ''galettes (crêpes) de sarrasin'' [sic] in fact refer, with an entry entitled ''crêpes de sarrasin'', to a note by the French translator who remarks on their “common use” on farms and at fairs in Normandy (2019, p. 505-506) <ref>On the subject of crêpes and galettes in France, see especially A-G. Chaussat, ''Les populations du massif armoricain au crible du sarrasin. Etude d’un marqueur culturel du Bocage normand (XVIe-XXe siècle)'', doctorate dissertation in History at the University of Caen - Normandie, 2017.</ref>. The “Russian blinis” have an Index entry, although they are described in the text as galettes, with recipes and times when they are eaten (2019, p. 464). But without any trace of the North American “pancakes”, doubtless of German origin. In his commentary, M. Chauvet notes other shortcomings and ambiguities, due to the vast scope of the project.

''Bouillies'' (mushes or porridges) and breads are really the strong point of the book and many case studies are provided. Although porridge or mush as existing prior to bread is no longer questioned today, archaeology has yet other scenarios to propose. For instance, the remains of a flat bread-like were recently found in a Middle Eastern site occupied by hunter-gatherers some 4000 years before the beginnings of the Neolithic and cereal-grain-growing <ref>A. Arranz-Otaegui ''et alii'', "Archeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan", ''PNAS'', 2018, 31, p. 7925-7930.</ref>. Analysis of the 24 residues indicated that the dough was made of wild grass flour, and sometimes of tuber flour, mixed with water. Their slightly alveolate texture, doubtless unleavened, led the authors to speak of “bread-like products” made by kneading. Not having ovens, the Natufians cooked these breads in ashes or on a hot stone, shown by traces of charring. This discovery has revolutionized our older explanations by dissociating the invention of baking from the appearance of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent.

To come back to Maurizio, who does not contest the religious and cultural dimension of bread in Europe, he rightly recalls the importance of ''bouillies'' (mushes or porridges) – liquid or thick, sweet or sour –, and composed of various vegetal products. He calls the lightest ones bouillons (broths) and soupes. Along with ''crêpes'' and ''galettes'', porridges long represented another way of eating cereal grains, particularly among the poor. As for bread, he paid special attention to the way leavened dough was prepared, to the cooking or baking techniques, as well as to the social hierarchies linked to cereal grains and the types of flour used, such as the high value once placed on white bread in Western Europe – which is no longer the case today. Maurizio also looks into the way bread was made, whether in the household or by craft bakers. The two could be combined: in the Swiss Grisons (Graubünden) in the late 19th and early 20th century, women kneaded bread at home then went to have loaves baked “in great numbers” in the bakeries, considered by their husbands as “chatting salons” (2019, p. 503 et Index)! Other aspects deal with roasted grains, cereals grinding methods, spice breads, and famine breads when non-bread making plants are added. He devotes much effort to fermentations that transform and conserve solid or liquid products (vegetables, porridges, breads, drinks, condiments, etc.). Today, we are rediscovering the nutritional interest of some of these <ref>C. Aubert, author of the Preface to this re-edition of Maurizio, ''Les aliments fermentés traditionnels. Une richesse méconnue'', Paris, Terre Vivante, 1985.</ref>.

Mediterranean and tropical countries are little represented, outside of the study of gathered plants (wild asparagus, grasses, etc.). Still, Maurizio describes precisely the preparation of “koukoussou” in the Maghreb with wheat flour, maize, sorghum or oats. He classifies these “sorts of spherical noodles” in the category of food pasta <ref>As also the case in current studies: according to F. Sabban and S. Serventi, “food pasta products are set in a continuum running from couscous to vermicelli” in ''Les pâtes. Histoire d’une culture universelle'', Arles, Actes Sud, 2001, p. 67. Also see M. Oubahli, ''La main et le pétrin. Alimentation céréalière et pratiques culinaires en Occident musulman au Moyen Âge'', Casablanca, Fondation du Roi Abdul-Aziz Al Saoud pour les Etudes Islamiques et les Sciences Humaines, 2012, chap. VII, Deuxième partie, « Ces pâtes qu’on appelle couscous ».]</ref>. This staple food, the production of which requires much work and skill, is eaten with various condiments and as a travel food. He notes it is present in the Sahel, based on “millet” – that is to say pearl millet, ''Pennisetum glaucum'' <ref>[Long called ''Pennisetum glaucum'' (L.) R. Br., the botanical name of pearl millet changed recently. Belonging to the genus of ''Cenchrus'', it was renamed ''Cenchrus americanus'' (L.) Morrone by some authors in 2010. However, this new name is not unanimously accepted: see discussion in M. Chauvet, Pl@ntUse.]</ref> – or sorghum (2019, p. 476-478). This should especially be noticed, since Sahelian couscous is not well known<ref>See M. Chastanet, « Couscous ‘à la sahélienne’ (Sénégal, Mali, Mauritanie) », in H. Franconie, M. Chastanet et F. Sigaut F. (éd.), ''Couscous, boulgour et polenta. Transformer et consommer les céréales dans le monde'', Paris, Karthala, 2010, p. 149-187.</ref>.

Having emphasized the vast scope of Maurizio’s initial project, we can hardly reproach him with limiting his enquiry to plants, with the exception of the hunting of small animals among “savage” peoples or the use of “rancid” meats in the Swiss countryside in a “spirit of thriftiness” (2019, p. 30-31 and 516-517). However, separating vegetable foods from meat poses a problem from a historical standpoint. Meats and fowl were long reserved, in Europe, to elites and festive meals. They figured among the dishes of the Land of Cockaigne, that dream of abundance, which lasted long after the medieval fable<ref>F. Quellier, ''Gourmandise. Histoire d’un péché capital'', Paris, Armand Colin, 2010, p. 45-62.</ref>. Aside from religious rules, making do with cereal grains, vegetables, or leguminous plants was a worst-case scenario in modest strata of society and this was carried to great lengths in culinary strategies to hide the lack. For example, the “boneless chicken” in Corrèze (France), also called mique or farcidure: at the beginning of the 19th century, this was a ball of unleavened dough of buckwheat or maize flour with the addition of some lard, onions, garlic, parsley, sometimes eggs and cooked in a ''bouillon'' (broth) as is or wrapped in cabbage leaves <ref>N. Béronie, ''Dictionnaire du patois du Bas-Limousin (Corrèze)'', Tulle, Imprimerie J.-M. Drapeau, 1823: see the entries for FAR and POULO SENS OS. Also see M. Chastanet, « Le maïs en Corrèze, une céréale de complément », ''in'' L. Janin (éd.), ''Le maïs, de l’or en épi'', Pierre-de-Bresse, Ecomusée de la Bresse bourguignonne, 1998, p. 28.</ref>. The lard indicates that it was prepared on fat days, when eating meat was permitted by the Church or, at least, one talked about eating it! For that matter, Maurizio mentions that in Italy “beans and peas are called the meat of the poor man” (2019, p. 310).