I owe my records teachers an apology. You tried your best to make angry even a glimmer of emotion in me for your subject, but I stymied you at all turn. with ease into adulthood now, I'm shortened to making muttered notes that history is not my strong suit, subsequent to in fact, I made positive it was preordained.
Now, at this radical age in my life, I'm looking into some ancient Italian recipes, and my research is taking me to some engaging places I probably should have known just about all along. For example, I've known-seemingly forever-that it was Caterina de' Medici who taught the French to eat next a fork. But I recently stumbled onto some counsel roughly her further culinary contributions that I've found to be enlightening.
For readers who may moreover have been in the assist of the classroom reading "Mad" magazine during the Renaissance, Caterina de' Medici was one of those Medicis. You know; the ones from Florence. The thesame Medicis who had a second report built onto the Ponte Vecchio correspondingly they could irate the Arno river without mingling like the hoi-paloi, even if they had to climb a set of stairs at each end.
Sometime as regards 1533, Caterina's uncle, Pope Clement VII, decided for her to marry one of King Francis' kids, Henri, pen name Henri of Orleans; later, Henri II, King of France. She was fourteen at the time.
It must have been tough going for a minor lady who was, by-and-large ignored by the Royal Court. But it left Ms. de' Medici past some period on her hands, and she seemed to use it productively. (Of course there was that tawdry business about the St. Bartholomew's morning Massacre, but that was innovative in life). like she wasn't engaged in eating, say, a "ragot of cockscombs, kidneys, and artichoke hearts," she apparently spent a lot of times thinking approximately food. It goes without saying, that this qualifies her as my kind of Regent.
One of the foodstuffs she introduced to the French Court, was spinach. At this point, though, historians become vague. It seems that the French liked it competently enough, but they weren't bowled over. Of course, this was as a consequence a era in culinary chronicles similar to the Royal Court was-literally-grappling later the notion of using silverware at dinnertime, for that reason they probably can't be faulted for being less than enthusiastic.
Also, as historian Brandon Case, of King's teacher in Pennsylvania, writes, "other than [King] Francis I, Caterina had not a friend." And elsewhere he writes that the Royal Court and French people at-large, referred to her as "the Italian woman."
So subsequently spinach began to appear on the menus at the Royal Chateau Fontainebleau, the diners began to focus on to it, like some contempt, as being "like that Florentine." nevertheless beyond time, "alla Fiorentina" seemed to bend from the depreciative to the positive "Florentine-style." history remains feeble not quite whether Florentines in general ever had a mighty appetite for spinach.
Today, past we go to a restaurant and order something "alla Fiorentina," we expect that it will be served on a bed of spinach, or stuffed subsequently spinach. And we're content to think that we're paying homage to the fine people of Florence. But I comply that, in fact, we're paying homage the girl who as a consequence introduced high-heeled shoes for ladies.
The adjacent period I go to brunch, I think on the other hand of ordering Eggs Florentine, I'm going to order "Eggs alla Caterina de' Medici," and see what happens. Nah, it's probably too tardy in the game for that.
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