As everyone knows.

The light of Eastern civilization is Huaxia, and the West also has a light of civilization, which is Italy.

The reason why Italy is called the light of Western civilization is, on the one hand, because of the existence of the Roman Empire, and on the other hand, because it is the birthplace of the Renaissance.

One of the reflections of the latter is reflected in the influence of Italy on European culinary culture.

A very typical example is the fork.

The fork first appeared in Italy and was brought to France by Catherine de' Medici in the 16th century. The popularity of forks in England had to wait until the 18th century. Before that, there were mainly two utensils for meals:

Spoons for drinking soup and knives for cutting food.

In addition to this, the British used...

Their hands.

Yes, hands - this situation can be seen in many early British paintings, such as "The Peasant Wedding" preserved in the Vienna Museum of Art History in Austria.

This habit has not even changed in some areas in later generations. For example, a writer named "Newbie Fisherman" once saw a British person put instant noodles directly into a bowl, put it in the microwave for a while, and then ate it with his hands...

Well, it's not to say that it's bad, John Bull's side really doesn't pay much attention to eating this stuff.

Of course, there is currently a theory that knives and forks were brought to Europe by the Chinese.

But this theory doesn't have any particularly strong evidence, so let's just understand it.

Now let's return to the dining table.

Perhaps some readers have a misconception about the fishiness of eel, thinking that only river fish needs to be descaled, and eel doesn't.

In fact, there are two errors in this statement:

First, British eels are actually river fish, they live in the Thames River - in 19 years, the Thames River had a "riot" of eels due to high levels of benzoyl, caffeine, and cocaine in the river water.

Second, the fishy smell of British eels is not worse than that of river fish like carp. If you are interested, you can search or taste eel jelly. It is no less than the king of British dark cuisine that looks up at the stars.

In short.

Unprocessed eel soup is undoubtedly difficult to swallow for modern people like Xu Yun, but in the 17th century British commoner's household, this can be considered as one of the top delicacies.

"Huhaha-"

A mouthful of hot fish soup entered his stomach, and a look of enjoyment appeared on William's face.

Then he put down the bowl, picked up a piece of bread with his left hand, and directly picked up a cauliflower from the plate with his right hand. He dipped the bread in the gray-green soup and then stuffed it into his mouth, letting the juice drip onto the dining table.

Without maids or servants, and without red wine and candles, primitive to only slightly better than eating raw meat (because they were too poor to put salt in the food), this was Xu Yun's first meal in the 17th century.

He couldn't drink the eel soup, but he had to give face to the host, so Xu Yun hesitated for a few seconds and finally picked up the bread in front of him and spread some butter on it.

The bread made by Mrs. William is somewhat similar to the local steamed buns, with a thick and hard texture and a grainy feeling inside. It is dry to eat but extremely filling.

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Xu Yun had stayed in Wendeng, Shandong Province for a while and had eaten steamed buns and cornmeal cakes for several months, so he was quite used to this kind of bread.

Unlike the tradition of "eating without speaking and sleeping without talking" in the local area, John Bull likes to chat at the dining table, with the only requirement being that there should be no food in his mouth.

Therefore, after drinking two mouthfuls of fish soup, William took the initiative to speak:

"Mr. Fat Fish, how long do you plan to stay in Woolsthorpe this time?"

Xu Yun thought for a moment and said according to the requirements of the mission:

"Probably one to two months. With the plague raging, the passage between Britain and the Netherlands is blocked. It may take some time to contact my grandfather, Sir Third Zhang."

When he heard the word "plague," a worried expression also appeared on William's face:

"The plague... I hope those adults can come up with a solution as soon as possible. Although this is God's will, if it continues like this, something bad will really happen..."

Looking at William making the sign of the cross on his chest, Xu Yun shook his head slightly.

Whether it's the plague or cholera, the true source of these diseases was only discovered in the past one or two hundred years.

For example, the culprit of the plague, Yersinia pestis, was officially isolated by Alexander Yersin in 1894.

In the 17th century, although Europeans realized that isolation could delay the spread of the plague, they knew nothing about its fundamental cases - after all, cells were discovered by Hooke.

Therefore, most people's understanding of the plague is...

Divine punishment.

There are also some astrologers who attribute glandular plague to a malicious conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, and they even have a market.

There are also many similar things in the local area. For example, the well-known Five Dou Rice Sect also started by causing panic among the people with the plague.

By the way, speaking of the Five Dou Rice Sect, here is an interesting fact:

Tao Yuanming has a famous saying, "I cannot bow down for five dou of rice, I am devoted to the small people in my hometown." Many people believe that Tao Gong did not bow down for salary, and even some online encyclopedias record it this way.However, there was a huge flaw in this explanation - the monthly salary of a county magistrate during the Ming Dynasty was seven stones and five pecks, and it was considered meager. Could the salary of a county magistrate during the Jin Dynasty be only five pecks?

This was obviously impossible.

In fact, the five pecks of rice here referred to the Five Pecks of Rice Sect, the latest sect of Taoism. Those in official positions had to maintain a good relationship with this sect.

When Tao Gong took up the post of libationer in Jiangzhou, he had conflicts with his superior, Wang Ningzhi, who was a believer in the Five Pecks of Rice Sect. The inspector who came to inspect later was also from the Five Pecks of Rice Sect. Therefore, Tao Gong would rather resign than bow his head.

Although from the perspective of interpretation, both were to express Tao Gong's integrity, the irony in the sentence itself was actually two completely different things.

Alright, let's get back to the point.

Upon hearing that Xu Yun was planning to stay in Woolsthorpe for two months, William Escu didn't show any reaction, but Mrs. William raised her eyebrows:

If he was going to stay here for two months, wouldn't that mean he would have to come over and mooch off meals with little Newton every day?

If Xu Yun was a girl named Xu Yun, it would be fine. A girl's appetite shouldn't be too big, and it would be about the same as Lisa's.

But now, Xu Yun was a young and upright boy. As the saying goes, a half-grown boy can eat his father out of house and home, which would be a big challenge for the food stock of the William family.

At present, William owed a pile of debts, and there was only a little bit of emergency money left under the pillow. Although there were still some wheat flour and potatoes at home, it was only enough to feed the family until January next year.

Assuming Xu Yun's appetite was equivalent to the combined appetite of the Alula sisters and Lisa, then the family's food supply would probably only last until early December. If the plague was still not under control by then...

Thinking of this, Mrs. William's expression changed slightly.

....

Note:

Just woke up, slept for 20 hours.....

There's more tonight, all-night coding!