Tamales, Tortillas, Chile, Chica, Atole (1648)

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Fri Mar 22 01:39:59 UTC 2002


THOMAS GAGE'S
TRAVELS IN THE NEW WORLD
edited by J. Eric S. Thompson
University of Oklahoma Press, Norman
1958

(THE ENGLISH-AMERICAN HIS TRAVAIL BY SEA AND LAND:
OR,
A NEW SURVEY OF THE WEST-INDIA'S
London: R. Cotes
1648)

   More extremely important food items overlooked in a book read by OED.
   A check for "GAGE West" in the online OED turns up a whopping 303 hits.  But look at the old and new "machete" entry: the book's title is now GAGE Eng.-Amer. Also, see the "milpas" entry: Gage was just added this month.
   It's hard to believe that someone took 303 citations from this book and overlooked "tortilla" and "tamale," but that appears to be the case.

Pg. 13:  ...we traveled like Spanish Dons upon our little _borricos_, or asses...
(OED has 1800 for "burro"--ed.)

Pg. 34:  ...the _guitar_ (the Spanish lute)...
(OED has "guittara" from 1621 and 1648--ed.)

Pg. 43:  There are many towns about it of Indians; but what makes it rich are the many forms of sugar, and some which they call _estancias_, rich farms for breeding mules and cattle; and likewise some farms of cochineal.
(OED has 1704 for "estancia"--ed.)

Pg. 47:  ...many sorts of fruits, namely plantains, sapotes, and chicosapotes.
(OED?--ed.)

Pg. 73:  ..who with their bravery and white mantles over them seem to be, as the Spaniard saith, "_mosca en leche_," a fly in milk.

Pg. 74:  The fruit called _nochtli_ (prickly pear cactus)...

Pg. 76:  You may also make of it wine (_pulque_) and vinegar.
(OED has 1693 for "pulque"--ed.)

Pg 86:  The chief actors were found to be the Creoles or natives of the country, who do hate he Spanish government, and all such as come from Spain.

Pg. 112:  ...the one called chocolate and the other _atole_, which is like unto our almond milk, bu much thicker, and is made of the juice of the young maize or Indian wheat, which they so confection with spices, musk, and sugar...
(OED has 1716 for "atole"--ed.)

Pg. 141:  ..._frijoles_...
Pg. 142:  ..a dry _frijol_ or Turkey bean.
(OED has this!--ed.)

Pg. 150:  ...plenty of cacao and _achiote_, the two chief drugs for the making of chocolate.
(OED has 1796 for "achiote"--ed.)

Pg. 151:  12. Concerning two daily and common drinks or potions much used in the Indias, called _chocolate_ and _atole_
("Atole" is also in a chapter title!--ed.)

Pg. 168:  ...I went to a _rancho_ (which is a lodge built for travellers to rest when the journey is long)...
(OED has 1808 for "ranch"--ed.)

Pg. 186:  ...the Indian women meet to sell their country slop (which is dainties to the Creoles) as _atole_, _pinole_ (a drink of parched maize), scalded plantains, butter of the cacao, puddings made of Indian maize, with a bit of fowl or fresh pork in them seasoned with much red biting chile, which they call _anaca tamales_.
(OED has 1716 for "atole."  OED has 1842 for "pinole."  OED has 1662 for "chilli."  OED has 1856 for "tamal."  Was the Madman submitting slips from this book??--ed.)

Pg. 190:  This was hung with rich hangings, and round about it costly _laminas_, as they call them, or pictures painted upon brass set in black ebony frames with corners of gold, some of silver, brought to her from Rome.
(OED has 1656 for "lamina"--ed.)

Pg. 191:  The mulattoes, Blackamoors, mestizoes, Indians, and all common sort of people are much made on by the greater and richer sort, and go as gallantly apparelled as do those of Mexico.

Pg. 192:  ...cacao, achiote, _mechasuchil_, vanilla, and other drugs for chocolate...
(OED has 1796 for "achiote."  OED has 1662 for "vanilla--ed.)

Pg. 184:  ...frigates, ans unlade what they have brought from Spain in _bodegas_ or great lodges, built up on purpose to keep dry the commodities and protect them from the weather.
(OED has 1846 for "bodega"--ed.)

Pg. 198:  There he lived with milk, curds, and black, hard, and mouldy biscuit, and with dry _tasajo_, which is dry salted beef cut out in thin slices and dried in the sun and wind, till there be little substance left in it, such as his slaves were wont to carry to the gulf for their provision by the way.
(OED has 1783 for "tasajo"--ed.)

Pg. 201:  ...there are in the midst of the valley some descents and ascents, which they call _barrancas_, or bottoms, where are pleasant streams and fountains, and good feeding for sheep and cattle.
(OED had 1691 for "barrancas"--ed.)

Pg. 201:  ...a fish called _mojarra_, which is much like unto a mullet, though not altogether so big, and eateth like it.
(OED has 1845 for "moharra"--ed.)

Pg. 216:  ...their provision of victuals for a week (which are commonly some dry cakes of maize, puddings of _frijoles_, or French beans, and a little chile or biting long pepper, or a bit of cold meat for the first day or two)...

Pg. 222:  But if their means will not reach to _frijoles_, their ordinary fare and diet is their _tortillas_ (so they call thin round cakes made of maize dough).  These they eat hot from an earthen pan, whereon they are soon baked with one turning over the fire, and they eat them alone either with chile and salt, and dipping them in water and salt with a little bruised chile.
(OED has 1699 for "tortilla."  This is a long food passage that is worth reading--ed.)

Pg. 225:  This drink they call _chicha_.
(OED has 1760 for "chica"--ed.)

Pg. 321:  ..._pita_...
(Many cites on this page.  OED has 1698 for this "pita"--ed.)

(Again, all this is in addition to the 303+ citations previously recorded from this one book--ed.)



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