By THL Johnnae llyn Lewis, CE

Carved watermelons have been part of the Midrealm’s summer banquet tables for decades. I can personally remember creating a festive one for a head table as far back as the summer of 1974. The nagging question has always been: Was it period to do so? Fruit carving has been a subject of much discussion on the various Society Cookery E-Lists over the past several years. On the one hand we know that watermelons are of course suitable for eating as they were grown within our period in the lands surrounding the Mediterranean, but the question often arises as to whether or not medieval or Renaissance cooks ever carved or decorated melons. Did they carve any fruits or vegetables for decorative purposes at all prior to 1650?

The one long quoted recipe with the evidence is this one by Gervase Markham which appears in his volume The English Housewife. There we have carrots of differing colors cut into various shapes for use in a sallat.

Sallats for shew onely.

Now for Sallets for shew only, and the adorning and setting out of a table with numbers of dishes, they be those which are made of Carret rootes of sundrye colours well boiled, and cut out into many shapes and proportions, as some into knots, some in the manner of Scutchions and Armes, some like Birds, and some like wild Beasts, according to the Art and cunning of the Workman; and these for the most part are seasoned with Vinegar, Oyle, and a little Pepper. A world of other Sallets there are, which time and experience may bring to our Hous wifes eye, but the composition of them, and the seruing of them differeth nothing from these already rehearsed. Pp 66-67.

So here we are given license to “fancify up” carrots for use in sallats, but does help us in our quest? (Today’s cooks seeking to follow Markham’s instructions might make use of those small modern stainless steel hors d'oeuvres cutters of assorted shapes and turn this matter into an easy task.)

Markham’s Housewife dates from as early as 1615 and dominated the marketplace for almost thirty years. Where else might one look for such instructions besides Markham? Well, there are works dedicated to just carving. In 1508 Wynkyn de Worde printed the first book dedicated to the art of carving in England. Titled The Boke of Keruynge, the early Tudor work was reprinted and included then in numerous other cookery books until well past the English Civil War and Restoration period by which time it was quite dated to say the least. De Worde’s Boke is dedicated primarily to meats and instructs one how to “break and display” game and domestic animals, fish, and birds, and includes what sauces must be served with said meats for the noble table. The Boke of Keruynge does not, however, delve into the carving of fruits or vegetables nor does it feature illustrations for carving.

Roughly contemporary with Markham, however, is an Italian carving book, which does include both fruit carving and illustrations. Matthias Giegher’s instructive Italian works featured elaborate folding of napkins, carving instructions, stewardship, and table service. They were first published in Il Trinciante (Padoua) in 1621 and in 1623. Later in 1639 long after Giegher’s death, Li Tre Trattati (a combination of Giegher’s earlier books and more importantly featuring 48 engraved plates) was published. Almost as an afterthought, this carving manual includes engravings that feature “frutti”. Ivan Day describes the book as showing how to “also whittle fruits, such as citrons, into the most extraordinary shapes.” (Day, p. 123)

It’s possible today to actually browse through Giegher’s masterpiece online. After a number of false starts and several hours, I finally managed to locate an online copy that includes the sought after plates. (Any number of these early volumes may exist but often they lack the desired woodcuts or engravings. The valuable illustrations or fold-outs have simply disappeared over the preceding centuries.) The Academia Barilla Gastronomic Library has a copy, which may be viewed online once one has registered. Plate 21 (image/page 150) shows a pear being sliced into birds. Plate 22 (image/page 152) shows cedri or citrons being carved into flowers, fish, turtles, & birds and even forming the center of a double-headed eagle. The final page shows melarance or oranges being carved into a variety of decorative spheres. Academia Barilla allows zooming so one can examine all the details. It’s a marvelous work, and we should be very grateful that the work and the plates can be viewed online.

The Eastern Tradition

So in the west, we have 17^th century sources for the practice, but if we are willing to look to the Far East, we can date fruit and vegetable carving back another four or five centuries or possibly even to the Chinese Tang Dynasty (AD 618-906) and Sung Dynasty (AD 960-1279). The new revised volume of Culinaria China in the section on “The sweet fruits of Fujian” states definitely that “The art of fruit and vegetable carving in China dates back to the Tang dynasty (618-907).”

Interestingly, we also know that the watermelon was introduced and being grown in India in the 9^th century and in China possibly as early as the 10^th century. By the 11^th century, (c 1080 AD) sources mention that the Chinese were eating watermelon seeds, a habit that continues to this day. Were they carving watermelons in the Far East as early as the 10^th or 11^th centuries?

The September 2008 issue of Saveur magazine #113 carried a major article on watermelons. Included in that article on pages 78-79 is a paragraph devoted to the art of watermelon carving or garnishing. Of interest to us in the Society, is the section that talks about the history of fruit carving in Southeast Asia. It reads:

"In Thailand, however, the elaborate carving of watermelon and other fruits and vegetables is a long-standing and respected tradition that dates to the 14th century, when the art evolved in the court of King Phra Ruang. Chefs for Thai nobility and royalty were expected to make food that was not only delicious but also beautiful, even fantastical."

Other sources date festival fruit carving to an exact year, 1364 to be exact. There are literally dozens of sites now on the Internet that cite the same date, the same king, and the same tradition. Are all these sites correct or are they merely copying each other? I’m still not certain, but I am hopeful that perhaps the forthcoming reference volumes The Oxford Companion to Chinese Food and The Oxford Companion to Southeast Asian Food will contain details on the history of fruit carving and clear up some of the various mysteries.

Meanwhile, Julia Abramson’s article for the Oxford Symposium points out that the Eastern tradition is alive and well. Try a Google Images search under “watermelon carving”. Add in the term Thailand” or “China” and that will narrow the search. Or search YouTube and watch “A traditional Chinese dragon being carved around a watermelon.” The Thai tradition is one of carving flowers, while the Chinese often incorporate more animals (like dragons) into their work.

Bookwise, Chef Martin Yan mentions food carving in his books, including his 2008 volume Martin Yan’s China. (Yan now runs a culinary program in Shenzhen, China which offers some tourist sessions.) Chef Fuchsia Dunlop in her award winning Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper compares present day Chinese food sculpture to the creation of past subtleties. She writes, “It is as ostentatious and utter frivolous as the sugar-paste cathedrals… Vegetable carving can only exist in a society with a surplus of underpaid and underworked youths, who can be persuaded to spend hours engraving the outside of a watermelon with minutely realized scenes….”

Dunlop’s words remind us that watermelon, fruit or vegetable carving can take a long time to master. Those extraordinarily intricate designs take practice and more time than one can often spare in those rushed hours before events. On the other hand, the activity is decorative, relatively inexpensive when the fruits or vegetables are in season and abundant, and a most festive thing to do for Society sideboards and tables. It’s also fun and simple designs can be relatively easy, if one has the time. Professionals use special tools; one drawback is the professional garnishing kits with the wide variety of tools and design cutters can be quite expensive and hard to come by. (Amazon.com at times offers a relatively priced imported Chinese “International Culinary Carving Set of 80 Pieces” for $140.) It’s perhaps best to start simply with a selection of extra sharp paring knives. Throw in a few of those specialty shaped knives known as bird’s beak paring knives before spending money on more elaborate garnishing knives and special saws. Or consider acquiring those pumpkin carving kits and making use of those tools; those always go on sale in late October or early November.

There are a number of other books that might help or provide ideas and patterns. Yuci Tan has written a general book titled The Art of Food Sculpture. Xiang Wang has authored a number of books that feature the Chinese techniques; Penpan Sittitrai and Sumitra Narain have written on the Thai techniques. The Decorative Art of Japanese Food Carving: Elegant Garnishes for All Occasions by Hiroshi Nagashima (2009) covers the Japanese techniques. Inquire if your local public library can interlibrary loan these books for you, as the books are not inexpensive.

I would end as I did many years ago and say once again that serving carved watermelons or other fruits and even vegetables, can still be as it was centuries ago ‘marvelously refreshing’ and entertainingly festive on today’s Society tables.

Selective Sources include:

Abramson, Julia.
"Vegetable Carving: For Your Eyes Only," Vegetables: Proceedings of
the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2008, Ed. by Susan Friedland. Totnes, Devon, UK: Prospect Books, 2009. pp. 9-18.

Bowen, Dana. “Why We Love Watermelon.” Saveur. #113. September, 2008. http://www.saveur.com/article/Our%20Favorite%20Foods/Why-We-Love-Watermelon

Cancila, Karen. “An Ancient Art.” Saveur. #113. September, 2008. (watermelon carving) http://www.saveur.com/article/Kitchen/An-Ancient-Art

Culinaria China. Cuisine. Culture. Country. Edited by Katrin Schlotter and Elke Spielmanns-Rome, et al. Potsdam, Germany : H.F. Ullmann, 2010.

Day, Ivan. “From Murrell to Jarrin: Illustrations in British Cookery Books, 1611- 1820.” The English Cookery Book: Historical Essays. Ed. by Eileen White. Devon, UK: Prospect Books, 2004. Pp. 98-150.

Dunlop, Fuchsia. Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper. A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China. NY: W.W. Norton, 2008. Pp. 89-90.

Giegher, Mattia Li tre trattati di messer Mattia Giegher bavaro di Mosburc, trinciante nell'ill.ma natione alemanna in Padoua. Padua. 1639. http://www.academiabarilla.com/ [Registration required.]

Manneeratana, Pam. “The History of Thai Fruit and Vegetable Carving.” http://www.veggyart.com/?q=history/by_pam

Markham, Gervase. “Sallats for show only.” The English Housewife.1615, 1631. Edited by Michael R. Best. Kingston and Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1986. Pp. 66-67.

Tan, Yuci. The Art of Food Sculpture. Designs & Techniques. Atglen, PA: Schiffer, 2002.

Wang, Xiang. “The History of Garnishing.” http://www.veggyart.com/?q=history/by_xiang

Yan, Martin. Martin Yan’s China. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2008.

My original article “Regarding Watermelons” August 2006 Pale is now archived in part at: www.florilegium.org. An updated article on watermelons appeared in the 2009 August Pale.

Published originally in the Citadel, Barony of Cynnabar, June 2010 and revised for the House Excelsior website in December 2011.

Contributed by THL Johnnae llyn Lewis, CE

About the Author:

THL Johnnae llyn Lewis is known on many SCA culinary lists as the librarian extraordinaire and the rumored lady with all the cookbooks who answers impossible questions. She's also the lady joined the SCA in 1973 and who still writes for Tournaments Illuminated. Outside the SCA, Johnna really is professional librarian, former university information scientist, and former head librarian of a county library. Crippling, degenerative osteo-arthritis from a freak knee injury in 2002 leaves her unable to drive distances or travel by herself. She is sadly increasingly homebound and unable to attend events. Her book, Concordance of English Recipes: Thirteenth to Fifteenth Centuries by Constance Hieatt and J. Terry Nutter with Johnna Holloway, was published in 2006 by MRTS [Medieval and Renaissance Text Studies] at Arizona State University.

© JK Holloway 2011