FOODSTUFFS
Pheasant
Legend has it that the pheasant, a bird native to the Caucasus, was
brought from Colchis to Greece by the Argonauts along with the
Golden Fleece. By the early Middle Ages the bird had been intro-
duced to Europe. Thanks to the colorful plumage of the cock, re-
dressed pheasants, like peacocks, were a popular sotelty, or surprise
dish, at aristocratic banquets. When the cooked birds were not served
on a platter in a lifelike pose, they were sometimes boiled, or wrapped
in dough, then pressed in a mold and cooked. This highly prized game
bird, described as warm and moist in nature, was not only eaten but
also hunted by the nobility with the help of even more highly prized
falcons trained for the purpose. It was the ideal food for the dainty
stomachs of the leisure class, convalescents, and the young and the
old, physicians claimed, but it was thought to be harmful to manual
laborers whose digestive tracts needed coarser foods.
Partridge
The partridge is native to Europe and central Asia. It was eaten by
the Romans, judging from the three recipes contained in the cook-
book of Apicius, and in the Middle Ages it was regarded as the health-
iest of all the game birds. Like the pheasant it was hunted and
consumed by the aristocracy, roasted or encased in dough, for in-
stance. Mousier in appearance than the pheasant, to which it is related,
the partridge does not figure as prominently as a medieval surprise
dish. Physicians raved about the moderately warm and moist bird that
according to them was easy to digest and generated good blood, es-
pecially when the bird was not cooked immediately after it had been
killed but several days later.
Pigeon, Dove
Pigeons and the smaller doves can be found around the globe. The
best-known European species include the wood pigeon, the turtle-
dove, and the ancestor of domesticated pigeons, the rock dove. The
raising of pigeons for use in the kitchen was first practiced in Egypt.
The Roman cookbook of Apicius mentions one recipe for a sauce to
accompany cooked turtledove. In the Middle Ages the birds were
upper-class fare, often served roasted or in the form of pies. Physicians
praised the birds as excellent food, and in their descriptions of the di-
etetic qualities, they frequently differentiated between young and old
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