Re: where's the beef

From: Benedict Adamson <badamson_at_lhr-sys.dhl.com>
Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2000 18:32:34 +0000


The Glorantha Digest wrote:
>
> The Glorantha Digest Sunday, March 5 2000 Volume 07 : Number 447
>
> TABLE OF CONTENTS
>
> David Dunham <dunham_at_pensee.com> wrote:
> > Beef, in my ever so 'umble opinion, is a bit of a luxury for most
> > Heortlings. Cattle are far too valuable to eat as a staple, (KODP players
> > will know exactly what I mean), and beef is usually reserved for
> > (political) inter-clan feasts and other special occasions.
- -..
> believe that beef
> *is* eaten in Dragon Pass on a relatively regular basis.
- -..
> BTW, I don't agree with Jeff Richard that all Dragon Pass winters are
> bitterly cold, but I do think it snows enough that the cattle can't
> forage for themselves.

- -..

Interesting, this has implications beyond what the Heortlings eat. RW analogues: the continental and insular English. Germanic domestic architecture was 'byre houses': long houses with cattle at one end, people at the other. The cattle were protected from the harsh continental winter, and heated the house. Space and food for cattle indoors during the winter would be limited. The Germans who migrated to England abandoned this form of house, probably because the milder English winters made it unnecessary. Instead they built 'halls': rectangular single room buildings. Presumably, the English would have required more enclosed pasture near the steads, and would not have to slaughter as many cattle in winter.


End of The Glorantha Digest V7 #449


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