The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 11.0320  Tuesday, 15 February 2000.

From:           David Evett <
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Date:           Monday, 14 Feb 2000 17:01:45 -0500
Subject:        Rice Pudding

We don't think of rice as an early modern English foodstuff, but the
earliest citation in OED is from 1234:  Close Roll 18 Hen. III (1905)
381 Dimidiam centenam de rys; and two other citations from the Liber
Cocorum of 1420 indicate that the writer supposed that the little white
grains would be available to some at least.  Does anybody know whether
it is grown in the British Isles?  Otherwise, I would suppose at the
dates we are concerned with that most of what was eaten there would have
been imported from the Mediterranean.

Dave Evett