History of food and drink

Question

This piglix contains articles or sub-piglix about History of food and drink

Answer 1

History of alcoholic drinks

Purposeful production of alcoholic drinks is common and often reflects cultural and religious peculiarities as much as geographical and sociological conditions.

Discovery of late Stone Age jugs suggest that intentionally fermented beverages existed at least as early as the Neolithic period (cir. 10,000 BC).

Chemical analysis of jars from the neolithic village Jiahu in the Henan province of northern China revealed traces of alcohol that were absorbed and preserved. According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, chemical analysis of the residue confirmed that a fermented drink made of grapes, hawthorn berries, honey, and rice was being produced in 7000–6650 BC. The results of this analysis were published in December 2004. This is approximately the time when barley beer and grape wine were beginning to be made in the Middle East.

Wine's first appearance is thought to date from 6000 BC in Georgia. The earliest firm evidence of wine production dates back to 5400 BC in Iran [1][2].

Evidence of alcoholic beverages has also been found dating from 3150 BC in ancient Egypt, 3000 BC in Babylon, 2000 BC in pre-Hispanic Mexico, and 1500 BC in Sudan.

The medicinal use of alcohol was mentioned in Sumerian and Egyptian texts dating from about 2100 BC. The Hebrew Bible recommends giving alcoholic drinks to those who are dying or depressed, so that they can forget their misery (Proverbs 31:6-7).

...

Wikipedia

Answer 2

History of agricultural science

History of agricultural science looks at the scientific advancement of techniques and understanding of agriculture. Scientific study of fertilizer was advanced significantly in 1840 with the publication Die organische Chemie in ihrer Anwendung auf Agrikulturchemie und Physiologie (Organic Chemistry in Its Applications to Agriculture and Physiology) by Justus von Liebig. One of Liebig's advances in agricultural science was the discovery of nitrogen as an essential plant nutrient.

Johann Friedrich Mayer was the first scientist to publish experiments on the use of gypsum as a fertilizer, but the mechanism that made it function as a fertilizer was contested by his contemporaries.

In 1840, Liebig published what is now known as Liebig's law of the minimum. Liebig's law states that growth is not controlled by the total amount of resources available, but by the limiting factor.

In the United States, a scientific revolution in agriculture began with the Hatch Act of 1887, which used the term "agricultural science". The Hatch Act was driven by farmers' interest in knowing the constituents of early artificial fertilizer. Later on, the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 shifted agricultural education back to its vocational roots, but the scientific foundation had been built. After 1906, public expenditures on agricultural research in the US exceeded private expenditures for the next 44 years.

A genetic study of Agricultural science began with Gregor Mendel's work. Using statistical methods, Mendel developed the model of Mendelian inheritance which accurately described the inheritance of dominant and recessive genes. His results were controversial at the time and were not widely accepted.

In 1900, Hugo de Vries published his findings after rediscovering Mendel's work, and in 1905 William Bateson coined the term "genetics" in a letter to Adam Sedgwick. The study of genetics carried into an experiment isolating DNA.

...

Wikipedia

Answer 3

History of vegetarianism

This piglix contains articles or sub-piglix about History of vegetarianism

...

Wikipedia

Answer 4

History of salt

This piglix contains articles or sub-piglix about History of salt

...

Wikipedia

Answer 5

History of bread

Bread was central to the formation of early human societies. From the western half of Asia, where wheat was domesticated, cultivation spread north and west, to Europe and North Africa. This in turn led to the formation of towns, as opposed to the nomadic lifestyle, and gave rise to more and more sophisticated forms of societal organization. Similar developments occurred in eastern Asia, centered on rice, and in the Americas with maize.

There is extensive evidence of breadmaking in Ancient Egypt in the form of artistic depictions, remains of structures and items used in bread making, and remains of the dough and bread itself.

The most common source of leavening in antiquity was to retain a piece of dough (with sugar and water in) from the previous day to utilize as a form of sourdough starter.Pliny the Elder reported that the Gauls and Iberians used the foam skimmed from beer to produce "a lighter kind of bread than other peoples." Parts of the ancient world that drank wine instead of beer used a paste composed of grape must and flour that was allowed to begin fermenting, or wheat bran steeped in wine, as a source for yeast.

The idea of a free-standing oven that could be pre-heated, with a door for access, appears to have been Greek.

Even in antiquity there were a wide variety of breads. In ancient times the Greek bread was barley bread: Solon declared that wheaten bread might only be baked for feast days. By the 5th century BC bread could be purchased in Athens from a baker's shop, and in Rome, Greek bakers appeared in the 2nd century BC, as Hellenized Asia Minor was added to Roman dominion as the province of Asia; the foreign bakers of bread were permitted to form a collegium. In the Deipnosophistae, the author Athenaeus (c.A.D.170 – c. 230) describes some of the bread, cakes, and pastries available in the Classical world. Among the breads mentioned are griddle cakes, honey-and-oil bread, mushroom-shaped loaves covered in poppy seeds, and the military specialty of rolls baked on a spit. The type and quality of flours used to produce bread could also vary, as noted by Diphilus when he declared "bread made of wheat, as compared with that made of barley, is more nourishing, more digestible, and in every way superior." In order of merit, the bread made from refined [thoroughly sieved] flour comes first, after that bread from ordinary wheat, and then the unbolted, made of flour that has not been sifted." The essentiality of bread in the diet was reflected in the name for the rest of the meal: ópson, "condiment", i.e. bread's accompaniment, whatever it might be.

...

Wikipedia

Answer 6

Bread trough

A bread trough is a rectangular container with a shallow basin, used in traditional breadmaking in Europe. The wooden form has been used for centuries for making bread. It is variously called an "artesa" or "dough trough".

A kneading trough (Hebrew: מִשְׁאַרְתּ‎‎ mishereth) is a term for the vessel in which dough, after being mixed and leavened, was left to swell or ferment (Exodus 8:3; 12:34; Deuteronomy 28:5,17). The dough in the vessels at the time of The Exodus was still unleavened, because the people were compelled to withdraw in haste.((Eastons))

The first citation of kneading-trough in Oxford English Dictionary is Chaucer, The Miller's Tale, 1386. Flour was not stored, perhaps for fear of insect infestation, but kneaded into dough and baked into bread without delay. Kneading-troughs in the Miller's Tale are big enough for people to sleep in, and may be used as floating rafts.

It has also been used for watering and feeding livestock, and in wine production.

Mechanization in bakeries and new technologies in bread ovens have mostly relegated the artesa to either recycling or as a garden box, excepting for weekends or more traditional or rural areas. Some small bakeries continue to use them.

...

Wikipedia

Answer 7

History of breakfast

Breakfast is the first meal taken after rising from a night's sleep, most often eaten in the early morning before undertaking the day's work. The Old English word for dinner, disner, means to break a fast, and was the first meal eaten in the day until its meaning shifted in the mid-13th century. It was not until the 15th century that “breakfast” came into use in written English to describe a morning meal, which literally means to break the fasting period of the prior night; in Old English the term was morgenmete meaning "morning meal."

From archeological evidence at Neolithic sites we know that there was an early reliance on cereal grains once agriculture had begun. Neolithic peoples used quern-stones to grind the hulled grains, then boiled them to make a kind of porridge. The domesticating of crops is thought to have begun in the Fertile Crescent around 7000 BC. Three of the eight so-called founder crops are cereals – emmer wheat, einkorn wheat, and barley.Rye and oats were cultivated in Europe starting in the early Neolithic in Anatolia before spreading to the rest of Europe in the Iron age and Bronze Age.

Peasants ate a daily meal, most likely in the morning, consisting of beer, bread, and onions before they left for work in the fields or work commanded by the pharaohs.

In Greek literature, Homer makes numerous mentions of ariston, a meal taken not long after sunrise. The Iliad notes this meal with regard to a labor-weary woodsman eager for a light repast to start his day, preparing it even as he is aching with exhaustion. The opening prose of the 16th book of The Odyssey mentions breakfast as the meal being prepared in the morning before attending to one’s chores. Eventually ariston was moved to around noon, and a new morning meal was introduced.

...

Wikipedia

Answer 8

British military rations during the French and Indian War

During the French and Indian War, British military rations contained enough food energy to sustain the soldier in garrison but suffered from a lack of vitamins that could lead to nutritional deficiencies if not supplemented by the soldiers themselves through garden produce or purchase. During field conditions, the energy content tended to be too small. Colonial rations for provincial troops generally had a higher energy content.

During the colonial wars the regular army was provisioned according to victualing acts enacted by the British Parliament. During the French and Indian War the daily allowance was as follows:

Source:

Women permitted to accompany the army received half a ration per day, and children a quarter ration. Fresh bread and meat could be substituted with fresh or salt pork, hardtack, flour or corn meal. Additional provisions such as fruits, vegetables and cheeses were issued when available.

The enacted daily allowance had an energy content of 2,400 to 3,100 kcal per day, which was enough for garrison duty, but during field conditions it had to be supplemented in order to give sufficient energy. The main shortcoming was the lack of fresh food, especially fresh vegetables, which often led to outbreaks of scurvy, both in the field and in garrison. To avoid this, local spruce beer began to be used to supplement the rations with additional vitamin C. Spruce beer was not consistently used, however, but primarily in reaction to occurrences of scurvy. An army brewery was founded at Fort Pitt in 1765. During field conditions, the soldiers often went hungry as the supply chains could not be maintained due to long distances, primitive transportation and difficult terrain. Fresh food was also easily spoiled during hot summers.

...

Wikipedia

Answer 9

History of California bread

The history of California bread as a prominent factor in the field of bread baking dates from the days of the California Gold Rush around 1849, encompassing the development of sourdough bread in San Francisco. It includes the rise of artisan bakeries in the 1980s, which strongly influenced what has been called the "Bread Revolution".

There have been independent retail bakeries in San Francisco continuously since the California Gold Rush of 1849, and many restaurants make their own bread. However, in the wholesale market (which distributes bread regionally to restaurants and grocery stores) was marked by a slow decline from the early heyday, and the subsequent emergence of a new generation of artisan bakers.

Sourdough bread traces its origins to ancient Egypt and is common in parts of Europe. It became a staple in San Francisco during the California Gold Rush of 1849. Gold miners valued it for their camps because of its durability, and the relative ease of obtaining yeast. Although many different kinds of pre-ferment (a dough-like mixture of fermented flour and water containing bacteria and wild yeast) are suitable for making sourdough, specific species of bacteria (Lactobacillus sanfrancisco) and wild yeast (Candida humilis) have been identified as the predominant cultures in local breads. Sourdough starters were carefully kept and maintained by each bakery as a "mother sponge".

By 1854 there were 63 bakeries in San Francisco. The Boudin Bakery was founded in 1849 by Isidore Boudin, son of a family of master bakers from Burgundy, France. Boudin applied French baking techniques to the fermented-dough bread. The bakery continues to use the starter which originated in the 19th century. Parisian, a popular bread in San Francisco for many years, started in 1856. Parisian supplied San Francisco's oldest restaurant, Tadich Grill, for 141 years until the bakery closed. In Oakland, Toscana started in 1895 and Colombo in 1896. Also in 1896, the Larraburu Brothers bakery, located at 365 3rd Avenue, was started by two Basque brothers who immigrated to the U.S. from France, bringing their starter with them.

...

Wikipedia

Answer 10

History of cheese

The production of cheese predates recorded history. Its origin is assumed to lie in the practice of transporting milk in bladders made of ruminants' stomachs, with their inherent supply of rennet. There is no conclusive evidence indicating where cheese-making originated, either in Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, or Sahara. Cheese-making was known in Europe at the earliest level of Hellenic myth and, according to Pliny the Elder, had become a sophisticated enterprise by the time ancient Rome came into being, when valued foreign cheeses were transported to Rome to satisfy the tastes of the social elite.

Though shards of pottery pierced with holes found in pile-dwellings of the Urnfield culture on Lake Neuchatel —dated at 6,000 BCE—are hypothesized to be cheese-strainers, the earliest secure evidence of cheese making dates back to 5,500 BCE in Kujawy, Poland. Dairying seemingly existed around 4,000 BCE in the grasslands of the Sahara. Hard salted cheese, the only form in which milk can be kept in a hot climate, is likely to have accompanied dairying from the outset. Since animal skins and inflated internal organs have provided storage vessels since ancient times for a range of foodstuffs, it is probable that the process of cheese making was discovered accidentally by storing milk in a container made from the stomach of a ruminant, resulting in the milk being turned to curd and whey by the rennet remaining in the stomach. Though an Arab legend attributes the discovery of cheese to an Arab trader who used this method of storing milk, cheese was already well-known among the Sumerians.

...

Wikipedia