Rachel Laudan

I should never say what I will write on next, I have discovered.  I am invariably sidetracked. And this time it’s by commentators who raise the fifty-year old question: which came first, bread or beer. Now the very possibility that we brewed beer before we baked bread sounds–well–it sounds sexy.  How titillating to think that [...]

For those coming late to this discussion, we’ve been kicking around possible origins for the Mallorcan and Menorcan ensaimada here, as well as the puzzles of its spread (why did it get to Argentina, Puerto Rica, and the Philippines but skip Mexico) here. Adam Balic isn’t happy with a Moorish origin for ensaimadas I think [...]

Here’s another comment, this time on ensaimadas, a topic that we have touched on here and here.  Thanks to Michael Raffael. I probably missed earlier postings, but it seems likely that ensaimadas evolved on Mallorca during its Moorish occupation. The argument against this is that the Moors didn’t use lard (saim in Catalan), but the [...]