...
Post A Reply
my profile
|
directory
login
|
register
|
search
|
faq
|
forum home
»
EgyptSearch Forums
»
Egyptology
»
OT: historical data from morocco
» Post A Reply
Post A Reply
Login Name:
Password:
Message Icon:
Message:
HTML is not enabled.
UBB Code™ is enabled.
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Doug M: [QB] Here are some notes about about the Muslim(Moorish) presence in other parts of Europe. The Moors in Italy: [QUOTE] Islamic Sicily Just two miles off the toe of the Italian boot lies a sunny island once dedicated to Muslim accomplishment. "It is a fair kingdom, is it not, sir?" asked King Roger II of Sicily, lifting his blond-bearded head and gazing round him in the summer morning. [b]"It is indeed," answered Idrisi, his Arab geographer, a shorter man with a swarthy skin, but nonetheless noble, descended from African caliphs and princes of Malaga. "[/b]And especially your capital here, known for its elegance. Palermo turns the heads of all who see it." The two men stood together on a rocky hill in the Cassaro, the walled inner city, and gazed over the roofs and towers below them to the shimmering plains and far-off foothills wooded with cypress, chestnut and stone pine. Close around the Cassaro circled the outer city, also walled. Beyond lay the villages and market gardens providing all manner of succulent food—corn, melons, tomatoes, celery, onions, cucumbers, herbs and salad greens unknown in Europe, come from the Old East, as Idrisi's people had come. The Muslims, too, had devised the system of narrow canals for irrigation, the tall tapering giarre or water towers standing up everywhere. Beyond the villages stretched broad arable lands, criss-crossed with little rivers. Great fish swam in these rivers, both men knew, and mills rose along their banks. Windmills spread their arms above wide wheat fields. As in Muslim times, this island just to the south of Italy waxed rich in the Mediterranean. [/QUOTE]From: http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/196301/islamic.sicily.htm [QUOTE] Muslim interest in Sicily goes back to the very threshold of Islamic history. The first military expedition against the island took place during the caliphate of 'Uthman, only 20 years after the death of the Prophet, Muhammad, when Mu'awiya, the governor of Syria, sent a naval expedition. This was an extension of the battles that were taking place in the east, where the most formidable enemy the Muslims faced was the Byzantine empire. Sicily was a Byzantine province and from its strategic location in the Mediterranean the Byzantines were able to control shipping and launch naval attacks against the coastal cities of the Muslim Levant and North Africa. Through the years, many efforts were made by the Muslims to invade Sicily, but it was not until June of 827 that they finally obtained a foothold by taking Mazara on the western end of the island. [/QUOTE]From: http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/197806/muslim.sicily.htm Origin of pasta among the Muslims & Moors: [QUOTE] The Arabs and Pasta The first certain record of noodles cooked by boiling is in the Jerusalem Talmud, written in Aramaic in the 5th century AD. The word used for the noodles was itriyah. In Arabic references this word stands for the dried noodles purchased from a vendor, rather than homemade noodles which would have been fresh. Dried noodles are portable, while fresh must be eaten immediately. More than likely, pasta was introduced during the Arab conquests of Sicily, carried in as a dry staple. The Arab geographer, Al Idrisi wrote that a flour-based product in the shape of strings was produced in Palermo, then an Arab colony. Some historians think the Sicilian word "maccaruni" which translates as "made into a dough by force" is the origin of our word, macaroni. Anyone who has kneaded durum wheat knows that force is necessary. [/QUOTE]From: http://www.inmamaskitchen.com/FOOD_IS_ART/pasta/historypasta.html [QUOTE] Fresh pasta is dough made of flour and water and is present in most cultures and on all continents. Dry pasta began in Italy and embarked from there to conquer the world. People have attributed Marco Polo with having introduced spaghetti to Italy from China, but that is incorrect. Mediterranean people even before the Romans knew fresh pasta, and dry pasta was unknown to the Chinese. Dried pasta was familiar in the Mediterranean area in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and also was mentioned in Genovese documents. The first traces of dry pasta in Europe came from Sicily, where documents of the twelfth century tell of something like a factory of dry pasta, localized in the area of Palermo. From this site the pasta (called itrjia) was then exported to other regions of southern Italy. Genovese sailors were among the most active traders within the Mediterranean. It is not surprising that in the thirteenth century Genova became trader, and then fabricator, of dry pasta, spreading it to many other countries — which led to this pasta gaining the name Genovese. The oldest macaroni recipes found are from Sicily: macaroni with eggplant (eggplant was introduced by the Arabs in Sicily around the year 1000 from India) and macaroni with sardines. Both these delicious dishes are still present today in Sicilian cooking. [/QUOTE]From: http://www.annamariavolpi.com/pasta_history.html [QUOTE] Like so much of southern Italian life, the Arab invasions of the 8th century heavily influenced the regional cuisine and is the most accepted theory for the introduction of pasta. The dried noodle-like product they introduced to Sicily is most likely the origins of dried pasta and was being produced in great quantities in Palermo at this time. The modern word "macaroni" derives from the Sicilian term for making dough forcefully, as early pasta making was often a laborious daylong process. How it was served is not truly known but many Sicilian pasta recipes still include other Arab gastronomic introductions such as raisins and spices like cinnamon. This early pasta was an ideal staple for Sicily and it easily spread to the mainland since durum wheat thrives in Italy's climate. Italy is still a major producer of this hard wheat, used to make the all-important semolina flour. [/QUOTE]From: http://www.lifeinitaly.com/food/pasta-history.asp More about pasta: [QUOTE] In the anonymous thirteenth-century Hispano-Muslim cookbook Kitab al-tabikh fi al- Maghrib wa’l-Andalus, we find some of the earliest references to macaroni. We are told that there are three ways of making it. It can be "made round like a coriander seed," "thin with the thinness of kaghit [sheet of paper] and which is woman’s food," and "lengthened in the mode of wheat" [fidawsh, vermicelli].46 The coriander seed-type appears to be a form of pasta secca, called maccarone in fifteenth century Sicily, that later became known as maghribiyya in Syria, also known as the name of a dish, and the muhammas of Tunisia and the burkukis of Algeria. The one with the thinness of kaghit sounds much like lasagne. "It is cooked with zucchini, aromatics and fat; and then there is the kind like qataif [sic]." This qataif is the qata’if mentioned above, a kind of pastry made from both soft and hard wheat and almond oil. Interestingly, the Kitab al-tabikh instructs the cook to cook fidawsh in the same manner as you would macaroni (itriya). From the word al-fidawsh came the Spanish word for spaghetti, fideos, as well as similar words in other Iberian and northern Italian dialects.47 The Kitab al-tabikh gives a recipe for macaroni: [/QUOTE]From: http://www.cliffordawright.com/history/macaroni.html Note: while many of these sites mention pasta originating among "arabs" from North Africa, it is possible that these were Arabic speaking peoples from Africa, not Arabia or the Levant. Egypt is one of the oldest centers of Wheat cultivation and it is quite possible that dried pasta originates with wheat flour mixed with water and formed into balls or rolls and dried for storage. This dried "paste" could then be boiled later to produce a pasta like noodle for soup etc. [/QB][/QUOTE]
Instant Graemlins
Instant UBB Code™
What is UBB Code™?
Options
Disable Graemlins in this post.
*** Click here to review this topic. ***
Contact Us
|
EgyptSearch!
(c) 2015 EgyptSearch.com
Powered by UBB.classic™ 6.7.3