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There's been a social media meme about "white people food", bland and unseasoned. Yesterday I saw a little video, first with some woman apparently cooking skinless chicken breast in white rice, cutting to a guy saying "Do you ever feel the urge to say 'I'm white but non-practicing?'" as he cut to a big spice rack.
This all irritates me more than it probably should. But let's think about some flavor options available to mid-level peasants -- not buying imports, but not limited to just eating an insufficient amount of barley -- in ancient or medieval Europe, depending on time and place:
salt: actual salt, fish sauce (garum), salted fish or meats
fat: olive oil, butter, lard, chicken or goose fats, suet
sweetness: raisins, dried apple, maybe other dried fruit. Honey? (might have been expensive)
alliums: onions, garlic, shallots, chives
herbs/spices: oregano, fennel, sage, bay leaf, rosemary, anise, cumin, juniper, lavender, marjoram, mint, sorrel, etc. (granted, this category is much richer toward the Mediterranean, but many herbs could be and were cultivated further north, and juniper is Scandinavian)
pungent: mustard, horseradish
acid/alcohol: vinegar, verjuice, wine, ale
Even if chicken-woman were avoiding the first three categories for alleged health reasons, there's still lots of options for pepping it up. And, to be fair, no evidence in a brief low-resolution video excerpt that she wasn't. Garlic, herbs, or marinade wouldn't have been visible.
Not to mention elites importing black pepper and other eastern spices, or the post-Columbian uses of paprika if not other chili peppers.
Granted, industrialization/urbanization, the Great Depression, and World War shortages or rationing, and the lowest common denominator of school cafeterias and TV dinners seem to have sapped the vim out of a lot of American or English home cooking. But that's a partial break in a rich tradition.
This all irritates me more than it probably should. But let's think about some flavor options available to mid-level peasants -- not buying imports, but not limited to just eating an insufficient amount of barley -- in ancient or medieval Europe, depending on time and place:
salt: actual salt, fish sauce (garum), salted fish or meats
fat: olive oil, butter, lard, chicken or goose fats, suet
sweetness: raisins, dried apple, maybe other dried fruit. Honey? (might have been expensive)
alliums: onions, garlic, shallots, chives
herbs/spices: oregano, fennel, sage, bay leaf, rosemary, anise, cumin, juniper, lavender, marjoram, mint, sorrel, etc. (granted, this category is much richer toward the Mediterranean, but many herbs could be and were cultivated further north, and juniper is Scandinavian)
pungent: mustard, horseradish
acid/alcohol: vinegar, verjuice, wine, ale
Even if chicken-woman were avoiding the first three categories for alleged health reasons, there's still lots of options for pepping it up. And, to be fair, no evidence in a brief low-resolution video excerpt that she wasn't. Garlic, herbs, or marinade wouldn't have been visible.
Not to mention elites importing black pepper and other eastern spices, or the post-Columbian uses of paprika if not other chili peppers.
Granted, industrialization/urbanization, the Great Depression, and World War shortages or rationing, and the lowest common denominator of school cafeterias and TV dinners seem to have sapped the vim out of a lot of American or English home cooking. But that's a partial break in a rich tradition.