It is the weekend so I am spending a little more time on breakfast. This morning I am having steel cut oatmeal which I guess is sometimes called Irish oatmeal. As I was stirring and waiting I began to ask myself, “How would the peasants of the medieval times felt about instant oatmeal?”
The back-to-nature crowd would figure this is a no-brainer. Obviously the serfs would glory in the purity of the original product, grown without pesticides or chemicals, as they enjoyed the natural taste and consistency. For most of the bean sprout and tofu crowd organic gardening is a hobby and if the bugs eat all their tomatoes they can always go to the local organic market at pay through the nose for more. It didn’t work that way for medieval peasants.
What really brought it home was the effort it takes to cook steel cut oatmeal. No, Tree Hugger, I am not talking about the stirring. I am not too lazy to do that. We live in such an energy cocoon that we forget that the ancient Irish had to cook their oatmeal on wood or peat fires. The wood or peat did not arrive in their stove over electric wires. It had to be chopped or dug by the same hands that are stirring the oatmeal. Usually this was done at a different time.
So, how about that instant. I think the peasants would have welcomed Instant Quaker Oats because it would have only involved bringing the water to a boil and would save twenty minutes worth of fuel. Forget the taste. Dull oatmeal I can handle if it saves me hours of labor chopping wood. Of course those who are into global warming should start passing laws against anything but instant in order to save energy.
While we are at it, let’s throw a few cheap shots at the “stone ground” crowd. I will confess that I enjoy good, solid, heavy, whole grain breads so I offer this with mixed feelings.
One of the things human paleontologists have found in skulls from primitive cultures is that the people have stubby teeth. They have been worn down eating “stone ground” foods. Evidently they didn’t know how to pick their rocks and fine grains of rock would get mixed in with the flour. When they chewed it would act like sandpaper and wear their teeth away. I don’t know if we have actually found harder rocks, always put “stone ground” in parenthesis and a wink, or are just wearing away our teeth and don’t know it.
homo unius libri
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