Copy of: Re: French words (mdmd(4) - questions)

[Sherwood, Harrison]

>From: 	Joseph Cerrato

>By the way does anyone know how they managed to keep wines (and food )
>chilly or cool at the time?  Or is this another example of anachonism?
>
Not at  all. There are at least a couple of ways to do it, both quite
satisfactory: To chill a bottle of wine, lower it in a bag into your
well. It'll be nice and chilly in an hour or two. For long-term storage
of non-perishables, and for keeping perishables fresh, virtually all
houses at the time would have been equipped with a root cellar--a
windowless structure dug under ground. On even the hottest days a root
cellar or similar underground construction is perfectly adequate for
keeping milk and cheeses and whatnot fresh for short periods of time. 

And then, of course, you had to pay _very_ careful attention to the
freshness dating on the packaging. Entire plagues could have been
avoided if the poor illiterate peasantry had managed to decipher "Best
if consumed by" warnings.

Harrison
>