Oh wow. I was making a joke, but it seems this is a major concern:
""We had pumpkin patches in the Shire, and the Tolkien Enterprises people went nuts about it," he said. Pumpkins, as it were, are a New World crop. Middle-earth is J.R.R. Tolkien's vision of an ancient Europe, with the author going so far as to base his maps on the continent. Pumpkins are native to North America, therefore there's no way they'd be growing organically in a fantastical take on ancient Europe.
Development on the game was halted until the offensive pumpkin patches were removed.
"When we asked why, because we couldn't find that anywhere in the books, they went on about New World crops and Old World crops saying Middle-earth only had Old World crops," Pobst said. "It was a big deal to them."
Designer Paul Reed, who worked on Inevitable Entertainment's 2003 title The Hobbit, shared a similar story involving tomatoes. As a New World crop, they wouldn't appear in Middle-earth. This resulted in the team having to change all existing in-game tomatoes into large berries to pacify Tolkien Enterprises. Tomatoes were, however, used in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings films, but Inevitable couldn't use them due to "movie pollution.""
Does this mean that at some point potatoes were an exciting new fad? Like quinoa is now, but actually tasty?
Yes, actually.
So was chocolate. Late 16th century introduction, and Europe was all like "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS BITTER NASTY BEAN BULLSHIT?" Took 'em a while to figure out what to do with it.
Yeah, it's funny how that works. Tolkien was a medieval historian and recreationist at a time when the best research came from the Victorian era.
Victorian era research is not, in any meaningful sense of the word, "good." People literally made things up, and interpreted evidence by hard patriarchal society guidelines.
But I think the estate says potatoes were introduced to Middle Earth by other cultures, so that's OK. Why the same explanation couldn't exist for pumpkins, who the fuck knows. The Tolkien estate are notorious dickbags.
Does this mean that at some point potatoes were an exciting new fad? Like quinoa is now, but actually tasty?
Yes, actually.
So was chocolate. Late 16th century introduction, and Europe was all like "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS BITTER NASTY BEAN BULLSHIT?" Took 'em a while to figure out what to do with it.
In some years Quinoa will be even more delicious and people will be talking about us.
Does this mean that at some point potatoes were an exciting new fad? Like quinoa is now, but actually tasty?
Yes, surprisingly. It was common belief that any food that sprouted directly from the ground (rather than a hanging branch or something away from the dirt) was unclean and unsafe.
Understandable, considering cleaning was still a concept that wasn't quite perfected yet back then, either.
How did the Irish become so quickly associated with potatoes?
Well, originally, it was just another vegetable which was included in some dishes, but not others. In the time around the great famine and after a few harsh winters, it rapidly became the staple food of many poor people, the number of which also rapidly increasing at the time, since it was cheap and easy to grow, as well as being the only economically viable crop for many.
By the time the whole thing was over, vast swathes of Ireland were both poor and growing almost exclusively potatoes, and I'm pretty sure you can imagine the rest from there.
What about vodka? Isn't that primarily a potatoe based alcoholic beverage? What did Russians drink before vodka and how did a recent arrival become such a large part of the culture?
Spirits are in general a relatively recent innovation. The word basically just meant medicine by the 1400s, and was just alcohol made from something. You could have "vodka of wheat" or "vodka of grape wine." It wasn't until well after the renaissance that potatos were used to make it.
What about vodka? Isn't that primarily a potatoe based alcoholic beverage? What did Russians drink before vodka and how did a recent arrival become such a large part of the culture?
Russians have had vodka for a very, very long time. Some evidence indicate they may have first made it as early as the 9th century, though definite records exist of it being produced in the 11th. Potato vodka is a relatively recent invention, most vodka throughout history has been made from various grains, rather than potatoes.
To be honest, you can make vodka from just about anything. Sugar Cane, potatoes, rye, wood, figs, barley, soybeans, corn, etc.
Is their any new food from the New World that has had as large of an impact on the Old World as the potatoe? I've been reading about the introduction of the potatoe in Europe and the impact is fascinating.
Spirits are in general a relatively recent innovation. The word basically just meant medicine by the 1400s, and was just alcohol made from something. You could have "vodka of wheat" or "vodka of grape wine." It wasn't until well after the renaissance that potatos were used to make it.
Sort of. Technically, the word "spirit" as it relates to alcohol comes from the practice of separating the "spirit" of a water from the rest of its ingredients.
The use of spirits as a recreational beverage is exceedingly new. In fact, to be quite honest, the common use of any alcoholic beverage as a recreational drink is exceedingly new. I mean, the entire idea of a "recreational beverage" is in and of itself exceedingly new.
Russians have had vodka for a very, very long time. Some evidence indicate they may have first made it as early as the 9th century, though definite records exist of it being produced in the 11th. Potato vodka is a relatively recent invention, most vodka throughout history has been made from various grains, rather than potatoes.
Hm. I'd be interested to see these sources. The only drink I know that I can document prior to the 11th century in Russia is "kvass," and that's only mentioned in one sentence in the 10th century Old Russian Chronicle.
"Kvass," by the way, is the Old Russian word for "sour." It likely referred to a soured non-alcoholic (1% ABV or less) drink.
Most of the evidence we have of early distillation is found in Greek alchemical texts, the re-discovery and investigation of those texts during the Golden Age of Islam (early medieval Islamic scholars were some of the greatest of their time), and 16th century works. The Greek and Islamic work may or may not have been related to the distillation of alcohol.
There's a large gap of information (though snippets exist, they're far and few between) post-Islamic Golden Age and prior to the first full treatise on distillation by Hieronymous Brunschwig (Liber de arte distillandi de simplicibus) in 1500.
Most of the evidence of distilled alcohol prior to 1500 is shaky at best and outright misrepresented at worst. Lots of national pride gets bound up in the origins of these beverages, and people want to believe that their cultural practices go back for very very long spans of time, as though the weight of years adds an otherwise lacking validity.
Comments
Cube some taters.
Put them on a cookie sheet.
Poor olive oil on them.
Season (real simple use onion soup mix)
Bake in the oven.
As for myself, potatoes are too heavy for me. I eat them on rare occasions, but I'm all about rice and/or noodles.
...they're a New World crop.
http://www.polygon.com/2014/9/29/6863443/pumpkin-spice-latte-in-middle-earth
""We had pumpkin patches in the Shire, and the Tolkien Enterprises people went nuts about it," he said. Pumpkins, as it were, are a New World crop. Middle-earth is J.R.R. Tolkien's vision of an ancient Europe, with the author going so far as to base his maps on the continent. Pumpkins are native to North America, therefore there's no way they'd be growing organically in a fantastical take on ancient Europe.
Development on the game was halted until the offensive pumpkin patches were removed.
"When we asked why, because we couldn't find that anywhere in the books, they went on about New World crops and Old World crops saying Middle-earth only had Old World crops," Pobst said. "It was a big deal to them."
Designer Paul Reed, who worked on Inevitable Entertainment's 2003 title The Hobbit, shared a similar story involving tomatoes. As a New World crop, they wouldn't appear in Middle-earth. This resulted in the team having to change all existing in-game tomatoes into large berries to pacify Tolkien Enterprises. Tomatoes were, however, used in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings films, but Inevitable couldn't use them due to "movie pollution.""
So was chocolate. Late 16th century introduction, and Europe was all like "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS BITTER NASTY BEAN BULLSHIT?" Took 'em a while to figure out what to do with it. Yeah, it's funny how that works. Tolkien was a medieval historian and recreationist at a time when the best research came from the Victorian era.
Victorian era research is not, in any meaningful sense of the word, "good." People literally made things up, and interpreted evidence by hard patriarchal society guidelines.
But I think the estate says potatoes were introduced to Middle Earth by other cultures, so that's OK. Why the same explanation couldn't exist for pumpkins, who the fuck knows. The Tolkien estate are notorious dickbags.
If I eat mashed potatoes, I will end up feeling light headed and have to lay down.
Potatoes = no bueno.
Understandable, considering cleaning was still a concept that wasn't quite perfected yet back then, either.
By the time the whole thing was over, vast swathes of Ireland were both poor and growing almost exclusively potatoes, and I'm pretty sure you can imagine the rest from there.
To be honest, you can make vodka from just about anything. Sugar Cane, potatoes, rye, wood, figs, barley, soybeans, corn, etc.
The use of spirits as a recreational beverage is exceedingly new. In fact, to be quite honest, the common use of any alcoholic beverage as a recreational drink is exceedingly new. I mean, the entire idea of a "recreational beverage" is in and of itself exceedingly new. Hm. I'd be interested to see these sources. The only drink I know that I can document prior to the 11th century in Russia is "kvass," and that's only mentioned in one sentence in the 10th century Old Russian Chronicle.
"Kvass," by the way, is the Old Russian word for "sour." It likely referred to a soured non-alcoholic (1% ABV or less) drink.
Most of the evidence we have of early distillation is found in Greek alchemical texts, the re-discovery and investigation of those texts during the Golden Age of Islam (early medieval Islamic scholars were some of the greatest of their time), and 16th century works. The Greek and Islamic work may or may not have been related to the distillation of alcohol.
There's a large gap of information (though snippets exist, they're far and few between) post-Islamic Golden Age and prior to the first full treatise on distillation by Hieronymous Brunschwig (Liber de arte distillandi de simplicibus) in 1500.
Most of the evidence of distilled alcohol prior to 1500 is shaky at best and outright misrepresented at worst. Lots of national pride gets bound up in the origins of these beverages, and people want to believe that their cultural practices go back for very very long spans of time, as though the weight of years adds an otherwise lacking validity.