The light of civilization in the East is China, and there is also a light of civilization in the West, which is Italy.
Italy is called the light of Western civilization, firstly because of the existence of the Roman Empire, and secondly because it is the birthplace of the Renaissance.
One of the reflections of the latter is reflected in the influence of Italian food on European food culture.
A very typical one is the fork.
The fork first appeared in Italy and was introduced to France by Catherine de Medici in the 16th century. The popularity of the British fork had to wait until the 18th century. Before that, there were two main types of tableware:
A spoon for drinking soup and a knife for cutting ingredients.
In addition, the British use...
hand.
Yes, hands - this can be seen in many early British paintings, such as "The Peasant Wedding" collected in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria.
This habit has not changed even in some areas in later generations. For example, a street writer named Novice Fisherman once saw an Englishman put instant noodles directly into a bowl, then put it in a microwave oven and then
I just ate it with my hands...
Well, I'm not saying it's bad, John Bull is really not very particular about eating this stuff.
Of course, there is still a theory that knives and forks were introduced to Europe by the Chinese.
However, there is no particularly strong basis for this statement, so let’s just understand it.
His eyes returned to the dining table.
Perhaps some children have a misconception about the fishiness of eels, thinking that only river fish need to be fishy, but eels do not.
There are actually two errors in this sentence:
First of all, British eels are actually river fish. They live in the Thames River - in 19 years, the Thames River also had a large number of eels 'rioting' due to the high content of benzoyl, caffeine and cocaine in the river water.
Secondly, the fishy smell of British eel is no worse than river fish and carp. If you are interested, you can search for it or try eel jelly, which is no less than the king of British dark cuisine looking up at the stars.
all in all.
Unprocessed eel soup is undoubtedly difficult to swallow for modern people like Xu Yun, but in civilian families in England in the 17th century, this could be regarded as one of the top delicacies.
"Huha——"
A mouthful of hot fish soup entered his stomach, and an expression of enjoyment appeared on William's face.
Then he put down the bowl, picked up the bread with his left hand, and picked up a piece of cauliflower directly from the plate with his right hand. He first poured the gray-green soup over the bread, then stuffed the bread into his mouth, letting the juice drip.
Arrived at the dining table.
There were no maids or servants, and there were no red wine or candles. It was so primitive that it was only slightly better than Ru Mao drinking blood (because he was too poor and didn’t put salt in the cooking). This was Xu Yun’s first meal in the seventeenth century.
He couldn't drink the eel soup, but he had to give some face to the host at the table, so Xu Yun hesitated for a few seconds, and finally picked up the bread in front of him and simply spread some butter.
The bread made by Mrs. William is similar to the local Chuanmian steamed buns. It has a thick and hard texture with a grainy interior. It tastes very dry but is extremely anti-hungry.
Xu Yun once stayed in Wendeng, Shandong Province for a period of time and ate noodles steamed buns and cornmeal steamed buns for several months, so he was quite used to eating this kind of bread.
Different from the local tradition of "eating without talking or sleeping without talking", John Newt likes to chat at the dinner table. The only requirement is that there is no food in his mouth.
So after taking two sips of fish soup, William took the initiative to speak:
"Mr. Fat Fish, how long do you plan to stay in Woolsthorpe this time?"
Xu Yun thought for a while and then said according to the task requirements:
"About one to two months. Now that the plague is raging and the connection between Britain and the Netherlands is blocked, I'm afraid it will take some time before I can send a letter to contact my grandfather Sir Zhang San."
Hearing the word plague, William couldn't help but show a trace of worry on his face:
"Plague... I hope those adults can come up with a solution as soon as possible. Although this is God's will, if this continues, something will really happen..."
Looking at William making the sign of the cross on his chest, Xu Yun shook his head slightly.
Be it plague or cholera, the sources of infection for these diseases were only discovered in the last one or two hundred years.
For example, Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of the plague, was a strain officially isolated by Alexander Yersin in 1894.
In the 17th century, although Europeans realized that isolation could slow the spread of the plague, they knew nothing about its underlying cases - after all, it was Hooker who discovered cells.
Therefore, most people’s understanding of the plague is...
Divine punishment.
Still other astrologers attributed the bubonic plague to a vicious conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, and there was no market for it.
There are many similar things in the local area, such as the famous Five Pecks of Rice Sect, which also relied on the panic caused by the plague among the people.
By the way, talking about the Five Dou Rice Cult, here is a very interesting science:
Tao Yuanming has a famous saying, "I can't bend my waist for five buckets of rice. Boxing is just a small thing in the village." Many people think that Tao Gong is not humble because of his salary. This is even recorded in a certain encyclopedia.
However, there is a huge loophole in this explanation - the county magistrate in the Ming Dynasty was accused of being embarrassed when he had a salary of seven stones and five dou per month, but the county magistrate in the Jin Dynasty only had five dou?
This is obviously impossible.
In fact, the Five Dou Rice here refers to the Five Dou Rice Sect, the latest sect of Taoism. Officials must have a good relationship with this sect.
When Tao Gong took up the post of Jiangzhou Jijiu, he had conflicts with his immediate boss Wang Ningzhi, who believed in the Five Dou Rice Cult. Later, the postal supervisor who came to inspect was also a member of the Five Dou Rice Cult, so he would rather resign than give in.
Although from the perspective of interpretation, they are all intended to express Tao Gong's character, the sentences themselves are actually satirizing two completely different things.
well, let's get back to business.
When he heard that Xu Yun was going to stay in Woolsthorpe for two months, William Escue said nothing, but Mrs. William raised an eyebrow:
If he were to stay here for two months, wouldn't it mean that he and Mavericks would have to come to the house for food every day?
If Xu Yun's name is Xu Yun, then it's okay to say that a girl's appetite shouldn't be that big, and she's about the same as Lisa inside and out.
But now Xu Yun is an upright and youthful boy. As the saying goes, a half-grown man will eat a poor man, which is a big challenge for William's family's food inventory.
At present, William owes a lot of foreign debts, and there is only a small amount of life-saving money left under his pillow. Although there is still some wheat flour and potatoes at home, it is only enough for the family to survive until January next year.
Assuming that Xu Yun's appetite is comparable to the combined appetite of Elula and Lisa, then the family's food rations may only be enough to last until early December. If the plague is still not under control by then...
Thinking of this, Mrs. William's expression suddenly changed slightly.
