Kate Mosse Archives Cathar Country Cuisine in The Winter Ghosts

Summary: Kate Mosse archives Cathar Country cuisine in The Winter Ghosts, historical fiction novel about Good Christians in 14th-century southwestern France.

"God talks to human beings through many vectors: through each other, through organized religion, through the great books of those religions, through wise people, through art and music and literature and poetry, but nowhere with such detail and grace and color and joy as through creation. When we destroy a species, when we destroy a special place, we're diminishing our capacity to sense the divine, understand who God is and what our own potential is." Robert Francis Kennedy Jr., April 19, 2023, Boston Park Plaza Hotel, Back Bay, Boston, Massachusetts.

“And there’s many people out there who want us to move to the next planet already and I’m like, hang on, let’s not give up on this planet yet," William, Prince of Wales, July 31, 2023, Sorted Food food truck, London, England, United Kingdom.

Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus, from Greek κύναρα, “artichoke [Cynara scolymus]” and Latin cardus -unculus, “artichoke, wild thistle, -little”) members of the aster, composite, daisy, sunflower family Asteraceae (from Greek ἀστήρ, “star” via Latin astēr [Aster amellus, “European Michaelmas daisy”] and -āceae, “-like”), through their blanched, cloth-buried, honeyed flower-bud paste, act as dessert adored in Cathar-culture areas. The edible-flowered, the edible-stalked perennial addressed commonly as artichoke thistle and taxonomically by Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1778) agrees traditionally with Christmas fare, in such Cathar-diaspora areas as northern Italy and northern Spain; hand-colored illustration of "Cinara hortensis non aculeata, Ital. Carciofolo Gall. L' Artichaud" by Cesare Ubertini, botanical artist active in Rome ca. 1772-1793, and engraved by Maddalena Bouchard, botanical and ornithological plate engraver active in Rome ca. 1772-1793, in Nicolao Martellio, Hortus Romanus juxta systema Tournefortianum, tom. VII (MDCCLXXXIV [1784]), Tab. 78: Public Domain, via The New York Public Library Digital Collections

Kate Mosse archives Cathar Country cuisine in The Winter Ghosts, historical fiction novel about Good Christians, also acknowledged as Albigensians and Cathars (from Greek καθαροί, “the pure ones”), in 14th-century southwestern France.

Cathar believers belonged among those who bounteously built the Albi area on the river Tarn (from Latin Tarnis, “rapid, walled in”) from the 11th century onward. Their agricultural and their architectural commitments caused them to be considered among the ancient Albigensians (from Latin Albigenses and Occitan albigés, albigesas, “Albi [male, female] inhabitants”). The Albi area domiciled its earliest denizens during the Bronze Age years from 3000 BCE to 600 BCE and its Roman settlers from 51 BCE onward.

Places such as Tarascon and Toulouse entered in The Winter Ghost endure as essential enshriners of Cathar culture and perhaps therefore of Cathar drinks and eats.

The main figure, Frederick Watson, finds himself at Sainte-Étienne (from French Étienne, “Stephen [from Greek στέφανος, “crown, wreath” via στέφω, “to surround” and Latin Stephanus]") festivities.

The year 1928 gathers Saint-Stephen Day groups in Tarascon, Toulouse and Vicdessos even as Freddie somehow gets into Nulle (from French nul, “nobody”) year-1328 village gatherings. A 14th-century house has such healthy, heated vegetables as broad beans in oil and mashed turnips, hot cabbage and bacon soup and steaming herbs and leeks. It includes such inviting ingestibles as main-course chicken, mutton, salted pork, trout; and dessert-course cardoon-flower buds blanched, cloth-buried, honeyed into smooth paste and honey-textured, ugly-fruited medlar.

The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse jubilates how Cathar Country cuisine journeyed judiciously through seven centuries despite what jeopardized that journey before and culminating in 1328.

Toulouse (from perhaps Gaulist, pre-Celtic predecessor to Irish tulach, “hill” via Occitanian Tolosa) commune and prefecture perhaps still keepsakes in 90-year-old Café Bibent Cathar-kindled protein-keeping recipes.

Le Bibent (from Latin bibent, “they will drink”) lodges among lunch fare filet mignon (from Latin fīlum, “thread” via French filet, “thin strip”; French mignon, “tender[loin]”). It memorializes Cathar Country drinks in its Bordeaux (from Occitanian Bordèu; Latin Burdigala; Gaulish Biturīges Uiuisci; Gaulish bitu rīges, “world kings” and Latin vīvere, “to live”). Red wine nourishes Nulle villagers and, especially as Bordeaux, those among whom Frederick Watson nestles in Ariège, Tarascon and Vicdessos December 1928 and Toulouse April 1933.

The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse offers such non-original Cathar Country drinks as brandy, coffee, gin and red, sweet, thick cassis (from Hebrew קציעה, “cassia-incense tree”).

Culinary panoramas present such original Cathar Country potables as barley- and malt-ground chicory and aniseed (Pimpinella anisum) flavored, “foul” (Mosse:203) pastis (from Occitanian pastis, “mashed”) liqueur.

Salted, sliced ham with fresh butter and plum jam for toasted brown-grain or white-flour bread or warm rolls queue among breakfast-, lunch-, supper-like Cathar Country quintessentials. Ham or soup with hot bread; salted, sliced ham with fresh-buttered, plum-jammed rolls; steaming meat; jellies; moitié-moitié (from French moitié, “half”) gritty-breadlike crumble-cake recall Cathar refreshments. Cathar Occitania (from French langue d’oc, “language of yes”; Occitan òc, “yes”) sheltered neither éclair nor jésuite (from French éclair, “lightning”; jésuite, “Jesuit [hat-shaped)”) cream-stuffed sweets.

The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse transmits Cathar Country culinary traditions in the Occitanian territory whose tough terrain threatened all temptations, all tendencies to tame it.

Honey-textured, ugly-fruited medlar (Mespilus germanica, from Greek μέσπιλον, "[Iranian, southeast European, southwest Asian] medlar" via Latin mespilum and germānica, "Germanic, Teutonic") members of the rose Rosaceae (from Greek ῥόδον, “rose (Rosa gallica, “French rose, Gallic rose, rose of Provins”]” via Latin rosa and -āceae, “-like”) family appear alongside cardoon flower-bud desserts in Cathar-culture areas. Cathar-culture and Cathar-diaspora areas likewise approve their arrangements in traditional fares during Christmas celebrations; illustration of "Néflier d'Allemagne. Mespilus germanica L." in Amédée Masclef, Atlas des plantes de France utiles, nuisibles et ornementales, Tome deuxième Planches 1 à 200 (1891), Pl. 109: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus, from Greek κύναρα, “artichoke [Cynara scolymus]” and Latin cardus -unculus, “artichoke, wild thistle, -little”) members of the aster, composite, daisy, sunflower family Asteraceae (from Greek ἀστήρ, “star” via Latin astēr [Aster amellus, “European Michaelmas daisy”] and -āceae, “-like”), through their blanched, cloth-buried, honeyed flower-bud paste, act as dessert adored in Cathar-culture areas. The edible-flowered, the edible-stalked perennial addressed commonly as artichoke thistle and taxonomically by Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1778) agrees traditionally with Christmas fare, in such Cathar-diaspora areas as northern Italy and northern Spain; hand-colored illustration of "Cinara hortensis non aculeata, Ital. Carciofolo Gall. L' Artichaud" by Cesare Ubertini, botanical artist active in Rome ca. 1772-1793, and engraved by Maddalena Bouchard, botanical and ornithological plate engraver active in Rome ca. 1772-1793, in Nicolao Martellio, Hortus Romanus juxta systema Tournefortianum, tom. VII (MDCCLXXXIV [1784]), Tab. 78: Public Domain, via The New York Public Library Digital Collections @ https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47dd-d825-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99; Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48586801; Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cinara,_hortensis_non_aculeata_-_Carciofolo_-_L' Artichaud._(Cynara,_Artichoke)_(NYPL_b14444147-1130844).tiff

Honey-textured, ugly-fruited medlar (Mespilus germanica, from Greek μέσπιλον, "[Iranian, southeast European, southwest Asian] medlar" via Latin mespilum and germānica, "Germanic, Teutonic") members of the rose Rosaceae (from Greek ῥόδον, “rose (Rosa gallica, “French rose, Gallic rose, rose of Provins”]” via Latin rosa and -āceae, “-like”) family appear alongside cardoon flower-bud desserts in Cathar-culture areas. Cathar-culture and Cathar-diaspora areas likewise approve their arrangements in traditional fares during Christmas celebrations; illustration of "Néflier d'Allemagne. Mespilus germanica L." in Amédée Masclef, Atlas des plantes de France utiles, nuisibles et ornementales, Tome deuxième Planches 1 à 200 (1891), Pl. 109: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:109_Mespilus_germanica_L.jpg; Public Domain, via picryl @ https://picryl.com/media/109-mespilus-germanica-l-2be8b7; CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 International, via Real Jardín Botánico Biblioteca Digital @ https://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es/records/item/14309-redirection; Copyright Status Not provided. Contact Holding Institution to verify copyright status, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/75661

For further information:

Dictionnaire de l’Occitan Médiéval. DOM en ligne. Munich, Germany: Bavarian Academy of Sciences..
Available @ https://dom-en-ligne.de/dom.php?lhid=4dqN83calp4xbiz5Nsx8Wu

Lepage, Denis. 2024. Avibase – Bird Checklists of the World France.” Avibase – The World Bird Database > Checklists > Avibase – Bird Checklists of the World > Europe > France.
Available @ https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/checklist.jsp?region=FR

Marriner, Derdriu. 16 February 2024. "Animals Are Allowed Lives Apart From The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2024/02/animals-are-allowed-lives-apart-from.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 9 February 2024. "Plants Are Allowed Lives Apart From The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2024/02/plants-are-allowed-lives-apart-from.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 2 February 2024. "Brian Gallagher Adds Graphic Art to The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2024/02/brian-gallagher-adds-graphic-art-to.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 26 January 2024. "Kate Mosse Adds A Fictitious Place to Real Places in The Winter Ghosts." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2024/01/kate-mosse-adds-fictitious-place-to.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 19 January 2024. "Kate Mosse Assembles Fictitious and Real People in The Winter Ghosts." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2024/01/kate-mosse-assembles-fictitious-and.html

Mosse, Kate. October 2009. The Winter Ghosts. London UK: Orion Publishing Group.