What was extant in Britain before those Damned Romans then?

[theresa dockery]

Originally Posted by tcvarlh

Antonine wall / Picts, Scotland, friendly Romans?
h

All I can say is - the Antonine wall itself depicts less friendly encounters.

Originally Posted by John_M

tatooed, tartan clad, frothing savages throwing themselves at the wall

Sounds like Glasgow on a Saturday night.

Funny how everything before the Romans came is, even nowadays, just dismissed as irrelevant.

I would've liked a more balanced outlook to history in school. We only learned about the Romans: interesting as it was, I was always left with so many unanswered questions about the local people & my own ancestors.

I always suspected there was an element of empire-justification in all this Roman-centricity...

[AndyC]

Well I'm still reeling from the relavation earlier in this thread that thre is no father christmas

Anyway, to get back to the original question I too have often wondered what we ate 2000 (or even 500) years ago. This thread has mostly dealt with meat but what of the fruit and veg.
Now I know the Romans had nothing to do with this but we had no:
Spuds
Tomatoes/peppers
Nanas (life is too short to spell bananas properly)
Citrus fruit
and... well the list is endless.

Carrots, people will tell you that we had wild forms of the cultivated carrot but I bet it wasn't a foot long orange thing (where are the wild carrots now?)and much the same is true of cabbage and other greens.

It looks to me like much of our food was as dull as ditchwater - I bet the eggs were generally better that supermarket ones though!


Andy

[tcvarlh]

Ha! Oh goodie, digging out the (puns intended) root words of vegetables. The etymology of a word is normally indicative of its geological ancestry. Soooo, where do Parnips and Turnips get their name from? From whence cometh Swedes? The humble Sprout, mighty in its after-effect, does it really emerge from Belgium? And if yes, why? Tacitus mentions the Britons making of a drink which he was was not enamoured with, preferring wine. Which grain was used? If remembered rightly he also makes reference to beans.

There are numerous Celtic myths concerning Salmon, Boar and Hare. One of the reasons I was never convinced the Romans brought Hare onto Ynys Prydein, cos' they were already here. The Romans never mentioned that the Britons were smaller or larger than they themselves unlike the Germanii who were called giants. The inference is from that the peoples living here had a comparable diet to the Latins, except for garum or liquamen, THAT the Romans did give us. (We do it better tho', Long Live The Worcestershireshireshaucesauce!)

Just a few rambling thoughts.
I shall be away for the Christmas and New Year period, I go home on Wednesday to see my eldest Lass get married and to spend the Festive with all three of my Girls plus a Son in Law, something I have never had before.

So Friends, I would like to wish you now, lest I forget, A Very Merry Christmas and a wonderfully Happy New Year, Prosperity and Health!

Jake is now fully WAB'd and you just keep ideas coming please. Thanks
h

PS
AndyC, sorry about that, it is true Father Christmas is a legend BUT.... Santa exists, he turns up every year in a Coca-Cola truck. So don't be too sad! ho ho ruddy ho!

[RKB]

Originally Posted by AndyC

Well I'm still reeling from the relavation earlier in this thread that thre is no father christmas

Anyway, to get back to the original question I too have often wondered what we ate 2000 (or even 500) years ago. This thread has mostly dealt with meat but what of the fruit and veg.
Now I know the Romans had nothing to do with this but we had no:
Spuds
Tomatoes/peppers
Nanas (life is too short to spell bananas properly)
Citrus fruit
and... well the list is endless.

Carrots, people will tell you that we had wild forms of the cultivated carrot but I bet it wasn't a foot long orange thing (where are the wild carrots now?)and much the same is true of cabbage and other greens.

It looks to me like much of our food was as dull as ditchwater - I bet the eggs were generally better that supermarket ones though!


Andy

People have been farming grain crops here for a few thousand years, so it would have been bread, porridge, plus lots of pulses and beets, supplemented with wild or semi-cultivated berries and fruits (crabs, blackberries, blueberries, sloes [yep, sloes!]). There haven't been obligate hunter-gatherers in Britain for about 4-5,000 years.

[STYRBJORN]

Originally Posted by RKB

People have been farming grain crops here for a few thousand years, so it would have been bread, porridge, plus lots of pulses and beets, supplemented with wild or semi-cultivated berries and fruits (crabs, blackberries, blueberries, sloes [yep, sloes!]).

Have you ever lived "on the street"? I have. Obligate skip-diving as a way of survival.
No offence peeps, but I've been there, done that.