I am providing culinary history for the following DISH: Cornmeal Porridge (Samp)
The following is how this DISH evolved in the Americas:
Corn Porridges have been a food staple in the Americas for thousands of years. The Olmec civilization (1400-400BCE) deified maize. In fact, the Maya were buried with containers of atole (ground maize meal cooked into a gruel, seasoned with herbs, seeds, honey, and chile). Iroquois hunting parties would swallow a few spoonfuls of dried cornmeal, wash it down with water, and the porridge would cook itself in the heat of the stomach, and would swell to fill the belly once cooked. 1
Samp is simply Indian corn (maize), beaten and boiled with water. The English added milk and butter to this traditional recipe.
The following is how this DISH evolved in the Americas:
Corn Porridges have been a food staple in the Americas for thousands of years. The Olmec civilization (1400-400BCE) deified maize. In fact, the Maya were buried with containers of atole (ground maize meal cooked into a gruel, seasoned with herbs, seeds, honey, and chile). Iroquois hunting parties would swallow a few spoonfuls of dried cornmeal, wash it down with water, and the porridge would cook itself in the heat of the stomach, and would swell to fill the belly once cooked. 1
Samp is simply Indian corn (maize), beaten and boiled with water. The English added milk and butter to this traditional recipe.