Be careful of what's on the menu.

[Kuld]

The threads about the alien monks reminded me about a story I once read in a book of great Irish tales. In one of the stories the author made a reference to eating corn. Now, the story was written about the tales of Cuchulain and the heroes of auld. So, why/how were they eating corn?
I was wondering what you thought about using agriculture and animals that were not indigenous to medieval Europe in a "traditional medieval" camaign setting (i.e. corn, potatoes, tobacco)?
Personally, I use'em. You can't have the steak without the potatoes.

 

[Kuld]

Oops, I guess the category should have been General.

 

[jgbrowning]

Corn is the archaic term for wheat.

Corn is really maize.

EDIT: not archaic, more like "old-fashioned" Look up "The Corn Supply of Ancient Rome" for an example...

joe b.

 

[Kuld]

Corn is the archaic term for wheat.

Yes, that makes sense. Thanks.

Well, even though they don't belong, I have a hard time not using such things in the game. No one questions it; however, I always catch myself after the fact and find it awkward.

 

[Galethorn]

Well, we all know LOTR blatantly featured tabacco and potatoes...

IMC, potatoes are a common staple in the rougher, less arable regions, as are tomatoes in the warmer kingdoms. Tobacco, however, is relatively unknown; smoking isn't very common outside of the traditions of the more shamanistic cultures. Maize affects cuisine too much to maintain the pseudomedieval status quo, so it's unknown anywhere remotely near where the PCs are.

That's the basic upshot on those sorts of crops.

Oh, and cotton. Cotton only exists in southernmost kingdoms, although it is sold in moderate amounts further north.

 

[Mark]

Watch out using chocolate, too.

 

[S'mon]

In UK, at least where I'm from (Ulster), corn is routinely used for wheat, so it's not archaic in British English. The word corn is commonly used by Anglo-Scots-Irish et al to describe whatever the staple grain is. When our people settled the new world they used many existing words for new things (eg an American robin is a very different bird from a British robin), corn is one of those.

IMC there is tobacco, and there have been potatoes introduced within the last 350 years or so. No maize though.

 

[tarchon]

In UK, at least where I'm from (Ulster), corn is routinely used for wheat, so it's not archaic in British English. The word corn is commonly used by Anglo-Scots-Irish et al to describe whatever the staple grain is.

Yeah, using "corn" exclusively to describe maize is a weird little quirk of North American English. Very few Americans are aware of that, obviously.

I'll sometimes use them in medieval settings, but I'll attribute foreign origins. One thing people don't realize a lot is that vegetables were very parochial in ancient times. It wasn't until the last 400-500 years that the basic vegetable crops started to get a broad distribution. Many fruits and vegetables are still known by names that indicate the places from which they first became widely distributed, carrots (though not in English), pears (Persia), cherries (Cerasus), Brussels sprouts, watermelons (known in Chinese as "Western melons"), etc. so I do that a lot. Almor parsnips, tenhberries, geoffs.

 

[reanjr]

The threads about the alien monks reminded me about a story I once read in a book of great Irish tales. In one of the stories the author made a reference to eating corn. Now, the story was written about the tales of Cuchulain and the heroes of auld. So, why/how were they eating corn?
I was wondering what you thought about using agriculture and animals that were not indigenous to medieval Europe in a "traditional medieval" camaign setting (i.e. corn, potatoes, tobacco)?
Personally, I use'em. You can't have the steak without the potatoes.

Added to the fact (that has already been pointed out) that corn does not mean corn (you know what I mean), I don't see a problem. Unless you are actually running a campaign set in Europe, you can't expect species to be exactly the same as Europe. I don't remember lizardfolk living in Europe, but it won't keep them out of my European-styled campaign. Nor will it keep out large cats or snakes, timber wolves, bison, prairie dogs, cardinals, chipmunks, marsupials, corn, cacao, coca, tobacco, or anything else that fits in the campaign. (I may be wrong on a couple of those not existing in medieval Europe, but you get the idea).

 

[Kuld]

Watch out using chocolate, too.

Let's not forget sugar.

Yeah, using "corn" exclusively to describe maize is a weird little quirk of North American English. Very few Americans are aware of that, obviously.

I know and I must apologize. The word maize is used only when speaking en espanol here in SoCal (Southern California). Corn, to me, is the vegetable. Unfortunately, I don't know how many times I have stumbled upon that word in text and now have probably mistaken it for something it wasn't. Errr