Mediterranean cuisine as "conditioned naturally by variations in climate and soil and the relative industry or indolence of the inhabitants." David identifies "the ever recurring elements" in the food of this extensive region as olive oil, saffron, garlic, "pungent" local wines, as well as the "aromatic perfume" of herbs, especially rosemary, wild marjoram, and basil, and the bright colours of fresh foods in the markets, "pimentos, aubergines, tomatoes, olives, melons, figs" and "shiny fish, silver, vermilion, or tiger-striped". She includes cheeses of "sheep's or goat's milk", "figs from Smyrna on long strings" and "sheets of apricot paste which is dissolved in water
Herb Strewer job again on the occasion of the coronation of William IV but, owing to cutbacks in the ceremony, her services were not required. Neither Queen Victoria nor any subsequent British monarchs have appointed a Herb Strewer for their coronations; however the Fellowes to this day claim this position for the eldest unmarried daughter of the family. Thomas Tusser, a regular at the court of Henry VIII, lists twenty-one strewing herbs in his 1557 instructional poem, "Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandrie": basil, lemon balm, chamomile, costmary, cowslips, daisies, fennel, germander, hyssop, lavender, spike lavender, cotton lavender, marjoram, maudeline (sweet yarrow),