Barony of Dreiburgen - Article - Out of The Myths of Time: From extraordinary to ordinary

Barony of Dreiburgen

Branches:
Gallavally
Steinsee
Mons Draconis
Sancti Geronimi

Out of The Myths of Time
From extraordinary to ordinary

by Lord Darius "make mine Vanilla" von Tannenburg

My wife and I enjoy evening walks as part of our fitness program. On those occasions when motivation is lacking. We are able to lure ourselves out of our nice cozy home and out into the cold, dark concrete environs, with knowledge that our two mile course takes us past a frozen yogurt shop. It was on one such foray that we stopped in and got something low fat, but definitely not sugar free. My lady wife requested her usual poison while I got the vanilla.

VANILLA? Let me explain. I have long pursued the perfect home made root-beer float. This has required the testing of many brands of soda and ice-cream (the sacrifices I make for humanity). Over the course of my research I have developed a fondness for that original flavor. Growing up within walking distance of a "Dairy Queen" only compounded it. My lady happily feasted on the sacred chocolate and watched with some amusement as I had what she mistook for something boring. She has the attitude that as long as there is chocolate in the world we don't need any other flavors. I tried to convince my wife that I had indeed made a perfectly reasonable choice and even tempted her with a spoonful.

She was doubtful to say the least but, at last relented and tried the vanilla. She pronounced it good and expressed some surprise that it had such a strong flavor. She then dived back into the safety and security of her beloved chocolate. This got me thinking (not always a good thing) about what it must have been like in the pre-industrial world with no refrigeration and no "Ben & Jerry's - Cherry Garcia." Marco Polo learned of sherbet from the Chinese in 1275A.D. But, for much of Europe wild berries and honey provide the only balm for the sweet tooth.

Today we live in a world where much of what we consume is prepackaged, and the trick is in finding something which does not contain sugar. For the Medieval palate even the slightest hint of sweetness would stand out against what constituted the bulk of their diet. As a child I would pick wild berries and my mom would wash them and place them in a bowl with milk. This little recipe has had little hands busy and little mouths quiet since almost the beginning of time. As an exercise it might be interesting to go to the local grocery store, and before you hunt down your list, take a walk through and see what you can find that might have been available to our forebears. It won't be much. This might also be good prep-work for some future feastocrat. I often find that I begin to object to all the wild, extreme, mega, super, extra, new and improved and fortified, deluxe special edition anything. In the beginning ... there was fast food and it was good. What we call a child's size was the original cheese burger. No double, extra special,make it my way, edible art. To those seeing the original anything for the first time. When it was the new thing.

How different, how extraordinary it must have seemed. We hear constantly in the news, and in advertisements about an almost epidemic of clinical depression. Might there be the possibility that sensory overload plays some small part.

We might avoid a good deal of stress if we deliberately seek out older, simpler versions of the things in our lives. Take the time to look up at the stars, the ones in the sky, not the ones on TV. Taste cool clean ice water or lemonade. Savor the subtle tastes and textures that are sometimes lost in the rush to over power our senses with the latest "cool" innovation. And while you're out, have some vanilla.

Darius von Tannenberg has granted permission for all of his articles that were previously on the Dreiburgen web site to continue to appear on the site, 9 Oct 2006.

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