Doing Herbalism in the SCA

[bunnyjadwiga]

Research and Re-creating herbalism in the Society for Creative Anachronism has its satisfactions. But it has some big, big frustrations, too.

To begin with, let's leave aside to some extent the alternative lifestylists, the people who dabble in medical herbalism, and want to drag their personal hobbyhorses into our re-creation. If you want to document for me the use of Echinacea before 1601, have at. I like to learn. Besides, I've written here before about the way the social and political environment surrounding modern herbalism shapes and interferes with the study of the use of herbs in history.

People in the SCA are fascinated to some extent by herbs, especially dangerous ones. They want you to teach classes on period poisons; they want to know about herbal contraceptives, about how to cure themselves with herbs and aromatherapy, etc. They are perfectly happy to smear creams on themselves, drink beers, or ask your advice about complex medical problems.

What they don't want you to do is use actual herbs. Especially on site.

Why?

An acquaintance of mine once said that we in the SCA would be very well prepared to survive the apocalyptic fall of civilization-- until our inhalers ran out.

Put it simply: the SCA is full of people with asthma and allergies and those who are vigilant on their behalfs (behalves?). Add to that the people who believe that their non-histamine reactions are serious/lifethreatening. These people and their advocates are vocal and active.

In a world where food service professionals put their plastic gloved hands first into the mushrooms, onions, peppers and lettuce in turn when making sub sandwiches, and where commercial enterprises routinely spray us with synthetic scents it's not unreasonable to be concerned about issues of allergens and contamination. In a world where some people believe that everything that is natural is safe, it's natural to be worried about unsafe things being advocated. Over time, we find out that even the most innocuous-seeming substances-- wheat, peanut butter, alcohol, even chlorinated water-- can cause our friends and relatives distress or even kill them. Things long considered inert or even beneficial may turn out, on investigation, to be dangerous.

Pre-modern medicine, even pre-modern cuisine, can be dangerous, filled with hazards that have long been removed in our society, often for good cause. We're very happy, for instance, that mercury is not part of our medicines, and lead isn't part of our cosmetics (though belladonna is sometimes used in medicine still).

And yet... the SCA, and SCAdian re-enactors, have the same hazards as any other part of modern life outside one's bedroom. If you are allergic to roses, or lavender, or mint, those items may well be brought into an environment you are in by someone who doesn't know that. Walking into the shower-house at a camping event means braving an ever-changing cocktail of airborne essential and fragrance oils. Attending an even where food is cooked and served means taking a chance on encountering someone cutting open an orange. Yes, we try to avoid killing our friends, just like your co-workers will rush out that bouquet of roses if you have a rose allergy. But modern life means contact with plants generally regarded as safe, whether you like it or not. Be safe, be sane, and be aware- someone near you might be using lavender oil to treat a cold sore, or drinking mint tea.

And when it comes to consuming re-created products-- no one should feed you a whole nutmeg or some rue. But if you have a counterindication to black pepper, you should know not to eat a teaspoonful of it, whether that be in a herbal breath remedy or a pepper-crusted steak. Every cook in the SCA should be ready to give out a list of the ingredients in their dishes-- and every person in the SCA with allergies and reactions should be aware of what to look for.

Comments

[tattycat.livejournal.com]

An acquaintance of mine once said that we in the SCA would be very well prepared to survive the apocalyptic fall of civilization-- until our inhalers ran out.

This line nearly caused me to hose down my monitor with coffee. So true.

And hear hear on the point of your article. I personally am an advocate of "ask questions," especially regarding ingestibles.

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

The bit about "until our inhalers ran out" would apply to pretty much *ANY* group that stands much chance of surviving the apocalyptic fall of civilization.

I'm lucky in that I don't use an inhaler, but I'd stock up on my Claritin beforehand, and go loot stores for as much as I could find afterwards.

[kandy-elizabet.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of one comment I received on my mint paper a couple years ago -- I was told that my paper was irresposibly advocating the use of mint products. All it actually did was list how mint has been advocated in the past and how it is used in commercial products today.

I'm also sometimes amazed we're able to have events. No matter what's served, there's a potential problem, [sarcasam on] can't have that right? [sarcasam off]

[herveus.livejournal.com]

Oh, lordy! What a helpful, constructive comment.

[aeliakirith.livejournal.com]

Ooh, you did a paper on mint? Cool. (I'm currently working on research on mint---any good sources you could point me to?)

[thatpotteryguy.livejournal.com]

"What they don't want you to do is use actual herbs. Especially on site."

Really? I'm not at all involved in any aspect of medieval medicine; it's something I'm interested in, and plan to study, but haven't gotten to yet. Is this really an occupational hazard?

I agree, the SCA is full of helpless hypochondriacs and dhrama llamas. But this is a facet of it I've not encountered...

Maybe it's part of working in a medium that is ABSOLUTELY hypoallergenic (when fired properly).

[tattycat.livejournal.com]

Not to answer for Jadwiga, but it's something I have definitely noticed, along with the usual hysteria of period pigments. If an artisan even mentions that an even marginally toxic/allergenic substance was used in period, it's often treated as if the person had recommended that people should run right out and eat it.

It's the herbal equivalent of assuming I think that people should make poisoned dresses because I mention that there's a legend about an attempted assassination using one.

[paquerette.livejournal.com]

Are people carrying over the concept of not mentioning potentially dangerous situations to children without a "don't try this at home" warning to allegedly reasonable adults?

[mistresshuette.livejournal.com]

True, but it can still be hazardous to your health if you use poisonous metals in your glaze, like lead.

[thatpotteryguy.livejournal.com]

Which I don't, because it's stupid (and illegal, in tableware).

[beccalynnlaw]

"Every cook in the SCA should be ready to give out a list of the ingredients in their dishes-- and every person in the SCA with allergies and reactions should be aware of what to look for."

And yet, when I was a first lieutenant on a feast, my job was to field the allergy questions. We had a grand total of two people come up and ask to see an ingredient list prior to feast. I can add one more if you count that our kingdom always publishes a list of TRMs food allergies, so we knew His Majesty would need Onion-free portions of things. Instead, what we got was questions as the food was being served, and than announce we didn't have lot of extra portions of the serving without X in it.

As someone with a serious histamine reaction myself (Nettle bad) I always ask before I eat, drink, or try the use of anything. Sometimes, I ask twice (particularly with imbibing brewers and vinters). I am continually amazed at the attitude of people in general, SCA and not, that their health is everyone else's concern and proper forethought was taken for these hitherto unknown conditions. When I was a camp counselor, we constantly had parents whose children had anaphylaxsis inducing allergies send their children WITHOUT an Epi-pen, because without asking, they assumed we had tons (we had 4 on site that year....I assume my howling to management fixed that for the next year). I assumed this was based on our taking over care and feeding of their children. However, at my first GW, I met adults who had left theirs at home, or buried somewhere at camp, on the assumption that the Chirugeonate had them. This gives me serious concerns for the future of humanity, if not the SCA

[florentinescot.livejournal.com]

This gives me serious concerns for the future of humanity,

Naw. We'll just read about them in next year's installments of The Darwin Awards.

[mistresshuette.livejournal.com]

And then you get the opposite reaction, sometimes I think just to be unreasonable and perverse. One of my apprentices did a beautiful period reproduction of a period chaffing dish, the original of which is still in existance. But the glaze used contained lead. Since the original color can only be achieved using lead in the glaze, one of the judges bashed her entry horribly because she didn't achieve the correct color for the piece. When I read the notes, I went and spoke with the judge about her comments. She truly expected that my apprentice had to use lead in order to be a good reproduction. I argued with her that lead was illegal to purchase now and that using it, even if it weren't illegal, would risk her health so much as to be unacceptable. The judge never grasped my point and I ceased arguing.

[thatpotteryguy.livejournal.com]

That's because that judge is what we affectionately call a "speshul snoflake", or unaffectionately a "fucktard".

[florentinescot.livejournal.com]

ROTFLOLWTOOME! It's a good thing I live alone and far away from people right now.

LOL.

That's priceless.

[bunnyjadwiga.livejournal.com]

Well, I admit I would have said, "I have to mark this down slightly in terms of the authenticity ranking, because you are recreating a piece that uses a toxic glaze and didn't get the exact color-- but we don't *want* you to use the the toxic glaze. It's nothing against your work, it's the structure of the competition...." Now, that doesn't apply if they used a glaze to get an equivalently period color instead, to my eyes.

My apprentice was struggling with the idea of why someone else, who rendered their own tallow, got a better score on 'complexity' than her olive-oil soap did, and how could that be 'fair'. My answer was that if she wanted to score higher in complexity, she needed to add some other portion of the project that added to the complexity.

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Hm, I think it's even more appropriate then, to have an herbal class, with herbs, at events. People need educating, and as long as you check with your students before opening each jar, it should be okay. One of our earliest classes at Novice Schola was on herbs and making salves -- awesome class. One of the essential oils was rosemary which, even if you're not allergic, is something that shouldn't touch skin undiluted -- people were warned, and everything was fine. Having it there led to a good discussion on allergies, in fact, and everyone learned not to make assumptions that just because something is natural, doesn't mean it's safe.

[pearl]

In a world where some people believe that everything that is natural is safe, it's natural to be worried about unsafe things being advocated.

It's like those big, flashy signs you see advertising that things are 'chemical free,' which make no sense, because even a glass of pure water is going to have a chemical in it, H20.

So, maybe 'natural' chemicals are OK additives, so water doesn't count. But if lead or arsenic were added to food then things wouldn't be so cool. But then taking anything to extremes can be lethal. Just look at water intoxication.

So, the pendulum swings the other way. Instead of teaching people that natural things are not necessarily healthier things, others just want to protect them from the idea and so will scream blue murder if you discuss the use of lead-based pigments, or chewing betel nuts.

Maybe an approach like a feast menu, or a warning label on a chocolate should be printed along with any class descriptions?

Warning: Class will contain products including those derived from ground nuts/tree nuts/etc.

[florentinescot.livejournal.com]

My son is amused by labels on peanut butter jars ...


This jar of Jif brand doesn't say it, but it does list peanuts on the ingredients list as opposed to peanuts.

But, if you look, on peanut butter or peanut candy (or even peanuts), you will often find the warning, "Warning, product may contain peanuts" .....

[amykb.livejournal.com]

For those of us who have the stupid allergies, we appreciate those of you who are aware of them :) We also, as adults, should know to be pro-active about our own medical issues.

I was stupid last Saturday and forgot to ask for ingredients before eating something. Entirely my fault. *That* is why I carry medication. (but damn, the anise in that tasted good...) even with allergies, I get annoyed at a lot of people who have them, because they don't take a pro-active approach and then blame the cook for trying to kill them. I have only ever been to one feast where they refused to let me see an ingredient list...and I have never been back to an event in that group.

(Anise, Lavender & Eucalyptus)

[northernwalker]

I think it's on those of us who are allergic to do our best to protect ourselves. I always ask, ""Does this have nuts?" Now, if someone lies to me, all bets are off. But I need to be proactive and check. It helps that I have a common allergy, I'll admit.

An acquaintance of mine once said that we in the SCA would be very well prepared to survive the apocalyptic fall of civilization-- until our inhalers ran out.

So true. So very true. :)

[maziemaus.livejournal.com]

Wasn't it just Monday evening that I asked you how people handled or were they even cognizant of food allergies?

I think you said "they died or they were sick if they ate it and stopped eating it".

[cayswann.livejournal.com]

Every cook in the SCA should be ready to give out a list of the ingredients in their dishes-- and every person in the SCA with allergies and reactions should be aware of what to look for.

I wish this were more promoted.

As a responsible webwright, I asked a cook for an ingredients list in advance of an event, with the caveat that (a) yes, you might change a few ingredients and we can announce that this is a tentative list and (b) the autocrat staff will help post the details and ingredients for you since yes, you're very busy.

The list I got back included: "Cookies" as an ingredient. When I inquired "What kind of cookies? What kind of ingredients?" the cook answered, "Anyone will be able to eat these." I gave up, and most of the people with food issues didn't bother with the feast OR the revel, because there was zero "off-board" setting (which means you couldn't attend if you weren't eating the feast, unless you paid $15 for the feast even if you didn't eat). Needless to say, it wasn't my favorite feast.

I routinely know I won't be eating most of the food at a feast [keep kosher, and I'm allergic or intolerant of beef and cow-dairy, but other dairy is fine]. My roomie is vegetarian (even sometimes vegan), so she never attends feasts. Our household head has an allergy list out the wazoo, carries 2 epi pens and her allergy list in both english and spanish, and is pro-active (and good-natured) about it all. But all of us keep it to ourselves, make no fuss, and read labels. And we like to dance and play music and sing, so we really would like to attend feasts/revels, and just take care of our own food needs.

We don't ask much:
* Ingredients Lists.
* Off-board seating (the ability to quietly bring your own food to take care of yourself and not make a fuss).

[bunnyjadwiga.livejournal.com]

You've seen my menus, right? I like to put the recipes up on the web, right where people can see 'em, and I can't lose them!

[florentinescot.livejournal.com]

I will say that in my former barony, there are always vegetarian dishes. There's at least one in each remove.

But yeah, "cookies." rolls eyes. A girl that I went to high school with -- her oldest daughter was allergic to *corn* and one of my professors was allergic to wheat. My mother-in-law was allergic to rice. "Anybody can eat them?" Yeah, right.

I don't do oats, red wine, sodium sulfite or adhesive tape.

[beccalynnlaw]

Most groups here (Ansteorra) tend to at least provide a feast menu, if not ingredient list (usually available upon request) in event announcements. The only time I remember that not happening was a Japanese feast. Unfortunately, most people expected less fish and more not fish meats, and were very....hungry. I had heard through the grapevine only after buying my lord a ticket (he doesn't do fish), so I created a bunch of Asian style foods for him, and we seemed to be the happiest table there. That said, being a seafood fiend, I LOVED everything. But I definitely promote the idea of posting a feast menu/ingredients list on the website for any event. Saves a lot of grief in the long run.

[angorian.livejournal.com]

off-topic, herbal question for you...

did angelica actually have some sort of medical effect as regards the plague? or was it just a superstition?