The Reason For This Blog.

Welcome to my new blog!

Those readers who may be familiar with my historic costuming blog, Loose Threads, may wonder why I'm starting a blog about historic food.

There are several reasons.  One is that I felt an urge to begin, not just another blog, but a blog empire, spanning different interests of mine. Another is that I'm generally interested in the material culture of the past--and what could be a more important piece of a society's material culture than food and the implements of its preparation and consumption?

A third reason is that I love reading recipes, and have ever since I was a little kid.  I could get a good idea of the taste of a dish from a recipe, and the effort of doing so made for a pleasant bit of practical fantasy.   As I got older, I became interested in truly unusual foods, first foods from other countries, and, eventually, foods from earlier times as well as exotic places.  I realized that I have quite a few books on these subjects in my library, and just writing about them and what I've learned from them may provide me with material for this blog for quite a while.

Don't assume from all of this, however, that I'm a particularly good cook, or even an avid one.  I do know how to cook the basics.  I can scramble or fry eggs, make passable pork chops, and turn out an acceptable stir fry.  I have been known to bake, and my baked goods have turned out reasonably well.  I can make acceptable salads.  I own two crock-pots, and they get a workout fairly often making roasts, soups and stews.

But I learned long ago that the fun I get out of cooking--and the enjoyment I get from eating the results--is swamped by the dismal prospect of having to clean up the pots, pans and other resulting mess.  In short, I get much more fun out of reading about food than I do from making it, or even from eating it!  So although people are welcome to post cooking and other food-related advice, don't expect me to have tons of advice on offer in return! 

So that is the nature and scope of my interest in food and food history.  Let's see where it all goes.