Subject: Re: Whither Asparagus?

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 25 May 1995 17:11:32

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Tom Gorski) writes:
>From: [email-masked] (Tom Gorski)
>Subject: Whither Asparagus?
>Date: Mon, 23 May 94 13:43:20 GMT
>I was out tending my newly-planted Asparagus patch this past weekend,
>and got to wondering, "from where would such an unlikely vegetable
>come, and why would anybody think of eating it in the first place?"
>
>My guess is that it's an old-world food.  Can anybody say for certain?
>
>--Tom Gorski
>Yeh!Tom  
>Some how I believe that you are right, when you say it's an old-world 
>food. Reason why I say this is because I come from South Africa and there
>are so many people who eat asparagus, and this has been going on since I 
>was very young.South Africa is a multicultural country therefore we 
>have a number of different nations.The funny thing is that most people 
>there do not grow them they buy them, mind you they are pretty expensive.   
>but people do not mind the price they just enjoy the fact that they are 
>eating a vegetale called "asparagus".The question of were they 
>originated to become an old-world food is something, I hope 
>to get an answer for one of these days.
>****Thuli Nkambule

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 25 May 1995 17:15:24

>My guess is that it's an old-world food.  Can anybody say for certain?
hi there

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From: [email-masked] (James Harvey)
Date: 26 May 95 17:10:33 -0500

>My guess is that it's an old-world food.  Can anybody say for certain?

Definitely old-world, since Apicius (ca. 1st century Roman) gave a recipe
for cooking them tied in a bundle and standing on their stems in the pot.
--
James Harvey  [email-masked]  Disclaimer: My opinions; I don't speak for I.U.

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From: [email-masked] (Nick Maclaren)
Date: 27 May 1995 16:19:55 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
Arthur S. Pruyn <[email-masked]> wrote:
>In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] wrote:
>
>> In article <[email-masked]>
>[email-masked] (Tom Gorski) writes:
>   Several history of food books mention the Protestant refugees fleeing
>France and the Netherlands in the mid-1600 and bringing their knowledge of
>plant cultivation to England. They introduced asperagus, globe artichokes
>and cardoons, cucumbers, beets, chard, spinach and pumpkins, which quickly
>became part of the popular diet.

I don't see that it is particularly unlikely - it is very close to the
wild form and edible raw.  The culinary form naturalises itself quite
happily in sandy soil (e.g. my garden!); I don't grow asparagus - I
hunt it :-)

Nick Maclaren,
University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory,
New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QG, England.
Email:  [email-masked]
Tel.:  +44 1223 334761    Fax:  +44 1223 334679

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From: [email-masked] (Rosemarie Ventura)
Date: Fri, 26 May 1995 14:24:14 GMT

>From  the Concise Columbia:

asparagus: perennial garden vegetable, Asparagus officinalis, of
the LILY family, native to East Mediterranean area, cultivated
>from  antiquaty and now grown in much of the world. Its green
stems function as leaves, and the true leaves are reduced to scales.
Its edible shoots are cut in the spring.  Related species, the
asparagus fern (A. plumosus) and smilax (A. asparagoides) are
used for decoration.

-- 
Rosemarie Ventura
[email-masked]
[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Arthur S. Pruyn)
Date: Fri, 26 May 1995 13:41:15 -0700

> >My guess is that it's an old-world food.  Can anybody say for certain?

Hello.

   I hope you can track down its origins on the Continent and I hopes this
helps.

Cheers,
Elizabeth Pruyn

The Art of Dining
Food and Drink in Britain from the Stone Age to Recent Times
The Englishman's Food: A History of Five Centuries of of English Diet

Arthur S. Pruyn   #  "It's is not, it isn't ain't, and it's it's, not
ASP Systems       #  its, if you mean it is.  If you don't, it's its.
Oakland, Ca       #  Then too, it's hers.  It isn't her's.  It isn't
[email-masked]   #  our's either.  It's ours, and likewise yours and
                  #  theirs."  The Oxford Rule.

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From: Judy Gerjuoy <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 26 May 1995 18:16:03 -0400

There are asparagus recipes in Apicius, which is Roman from the late 4th, 
early 5th century (although he probably lived earlier).  There are plenty 
of renanssance recipes using it as well.  If I could find either of my 
two copies of Platina, I am pretty sure that asparagus recipes are there; 
but a quick search of my shelves doesn't find it.

There are some nice early 17th century dutch still life paintings that 
include asparagus.

Jaelle

[email-masked]