Food, Glorious Fasts (not about dogs this time)

Picture above from

 http://www.io.com/~beckerdo/minis/mini28/MedievalTavern

I’m interested in many things, not just dogs. For example, I was a vegan for about five years once, although of course at that time I didn’t own a dog.

There are many types of vegetarianism, and many reasons for it. People may be vegetarian for religious, nonreligious-but-ethical, health, or economic reasons. Dogs may be vegetarian because they love their humans and want to please them. Vegetarians might abstain from red meat, fish, eggs, milk, honey, spices, alcoholic beverages, or even certain vegetables. The Buddhist monks I once knew, for instance, abstain from garlic and onions, but use shiploads of leeks.

Below is a menu and recipes for a nice medieval Lenten supper. Don’t, don’t, don’t feed any leftovers to the dog, except maybe a small crust of the bread. Alcohol, onions, and raisins — so I’m guessing maybe currants too — are all poisonous to poochie.

A. The menu.

- Crusty whole-grain bread (preferably containing some barley flour)

- Cabbage chowder

- Ale (not lager, which is a summer drink)

- Wheatberry-sesame dessert

B. The recipes.

1. Bread. Pick up your favourite loaf on the way home from work. You won’t be buttering it (milk products were forbidden during Lent), you’ll be dunking it in your soup, so you want something hearty.

2. Cabbage Chowder. Wash and finely chop 1 large onion, 1 leek, 1 lb or so of cabbage.  Place in a big enough pot with 3 or 4 cups water, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp each coriander, cinnamon, & sugar, 1/8 tsp saffron. Cover and simmer about 20 or 30 minutes, until you like the degree of tenderness. Freeze the leftovers.

3. Ale. Ale is the proper brew for winter/late spring, but if you’re more the lager-lovin’ type you might try an India pale ale. Water’s fine, too — but it didn’t use to be, which is why it was usually served up in bactericidal, alcoholic form.

4. Wheatberry-sesame dessert. This one is delicious — and copious. Share the leftovers with your friends and neighbours. Cook and drain 2 cups wheatberries. Toast 1 cup sesame seeds. Grind up 3/4 cup nuts — I think mine was a mix of walnuts and slivered almonds. Dismantle 1 pomegranate for its seeds. Stir all these things together, along with 2 Tbsp currants, 1/2 cup sugar,  and anywhere from 1 to 3 tsp cinnamon.

The cabbage soup recipe is taken from Maggie Black’s The Medieval Cookbook (1992). The dessert recipe is from Ingeborg Ralph and Penny Stanway’s Christmas: A Cook’s Tour (1991). I’ve chosen a Christmas dessert for this menu because its ingredients are medieval and acceptable to Lenten observers and vegans. Also because, if you’ve just put up with cabbage and unbuttered bread, you deserve something colourful and tasty. Also because, except for the two hours or so needed to cook the wheat kernels, it’s really quick and easy to make, and of course you don’t want to take time away from playing outdoors with your dog.

But this post isn’t about dogs.