History of food and drink

Question

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

Answer 1

History of Chinese cuisine

The history of Chinese cuisine is marked by both variety and change. The archaeologist and scholar K.C. Chang says “Chinese people are especially preoccupied with food” and “food is at the center of, or at least it accompanies or symbolizes, many social interactions.” Over the course of history, he says, "continuity vastly outweighs change." He explains basic organizing principles which go back to earliest times and give a continuity to the food tradition, principally that a normal meal is made up of grains and other starches（simplified Chinese: 饭; traditional Chinese: 飯; pinyin: fàn) and vegetable or meat dishes (菜; cài).

The Sinologist Endymion Wilkinson sees a succession of incremental and successive changes that fundamentally altered the "richness of ever-changing Chinese cuisine". Four key developments were:

The philosopher and writer Lin Yutang was more relaxed:

Chinese cuisine as we now know it evolved gradually over the centuries as new food sources and techniques were introduced, discovered, or invented. Although many of the characteristics we think of as the most important appeared very early, others did not appear or did not become important until relatively late. The first chopsticks, for instance, were probably used for cooking, stirring the fire, and serving bits of food and were not initially used class eating utensils. They began to take on this role during the Han dynasty, but it was not until the Ming that they became ubiquitous for both serving and eating. It was not until the Ming that they acquired their present name (筷子, kuaizi) and their present shape. The wok may also have been introduced during the Han, but again its initial use was limited (to drying grains) and its present use (to stir-fry, as well as boiling, steaming, roasting, and deep-frying) did not develop until the Ming. The Ming also saw the adoption of new plants from the New World, such as corn, peanuts, and tobacco. Wilkinson remarks that to "somebody brought up on late twentieth century Chinese cuisine, Ghing food would probably still seem familiar, but anything further back, especially pre-Tang would probably be difficult to recognize as 'Chinese'".

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Answer 2

History of chocolate

The history of chocolate begins in Mesoamerica. Fermented beverages made from chocolate date back to 1900 BC. The Aztecs believed that cacao seeds were the gift of Quetzalcoatl, the god of wisdom, and the seeds once had so much value that they were used as a form of currency. Originally prepared only as a drink, chocolate was served as a bitter, frothy liquid, mixed with spices, wine, or corn puree. It was believed to have aphrodisiac powers and to give the drinker strength. Today, such drinks are also known as "Chilate" and are made by locals in the South of Mexico.

After its arrival to Europe in the sixteenth century, sugar was added to it and it became popular throughout society, first among the ruling classes and then among the common people. In the 20th century, chocolate was considered a staple, essential in the rations of United States soldiers at war.

The word "chocolate" comes from the Classical Nahuatl word chocolātl, and entered the English language from the Spanish language.

Cultivation, use, and cultural elaboration of cacao were early and extensive in Mesoamerica, to which the cacao tree is native. When pollinated, the seed of the cacao tree eventually forms a kind of sheath, or ear, 20" long, hanging from the branches. Within the sheath are 30 to 40 brownish-red almond-shaped beans embedded in a sweet viscous pulp. While the beans themselves are bitter due to the alkaloids within them, the sweet pulp may have been the first element consumed by humans. Evidence suggests that it may have been fermented and served as an alcoholic beverage as early as 1400 BC.

While researchers do not agree which Mesoamerican culture first domesticated the cacao tree, the use of the fermented bean in a drink seems to have arisen in North America (México). Scientists have been able to confirm its presence in vessels around the world by evaluating the "chemical footprint" detectable in the microsamples of contents that remain. Ceramic vessel with residues from the preparation of chocolate beverages have been found at archaeological sites dating back to the Early Formative (1900-900 BC) period. For example, one such vessel found at an Olmec archaeological site on the Gulf Coast of Veracruz, Mexico dates chocolate's preparation by pre-Olmec peoples as early as 1750 BC. On the Pacific coast of Chiapas, Mexico, a Mokayanan archaeological site provides evidence of cacao beverages dating even earlier, to 1900 BC.

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Answer 3

History of coffee

The origin and history of coffee dates back to the 10th century, and possibly earlier with a number of reports and legends surrounding its first use. The native (undomesticated) origin of coffee is thought to have been Ethiopia. The earliest substantiated evidence of either coffee drinking or knowledge of the coffee tree is from the 15th century, in the Sufi monasteries of Yemen. By the 16th century, it had reached the rest of the Middle East, South India (Coorg), Persia, Turkey, Horn of Africa, and northern Africa. Coffee then spread to the Balkans, Italy and to the rest of Europe, to South East Asia and then to America.

The word "coffee" entered the English language in 1582 via the Dutch koffie, borrowed from the Ottoman Turkish kahve, in turn borrowed from the Arabic qahwah (قهوة).

The Arabic word qahwah originally referred to a type of wine, whose etymology is given by Arab lexicographers as deriving from the verb qahā (قها, "to lack hunger") in reference to the drink's reputation as an appetite suppressant. The word qahwah is sometimes alternatively traced to the Arabic quwwa ("power, energy"), or to Kaffa, a medieval kingdom in Ethiopia whence the plant was exported to Arabia. These etymologies for qahwah have all been disputed, however. The name qahwah is not used for the berry or plant (the products of the region), which are known in Arabic as bunn and in Oromo as būn. Semitic had a root qhh "dark color", which became a natural designation for the beverage. According to this analysis, the feminine form qahwah (also meaning "dark in color, dull(ing), dry, sour") was likely chosen to parallel the feminine khamr (خمر, "wine"), and originally meant "the dark one".

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Answer 4

Coffee in Korea

Coffee in Korea has been a strong element in Korean culture. Originating in the 19th-Century, it has become a prominent commodity in Korean marketplaces. It is one of the most popular beverages in the area.

According to Junman Kang’s King Gojong goes to Starbucks(한국어: 고종 스타벅스에 가다) states that King Gojong was the first person to taste coffee in Korea. Antoinette Sontag, the sister-in-law of a Russian ambassador, treated the king to a cup of coffee in 1896. Koreans were curious about foreign cultures and the new beverage. Because it came from the West and resembled Asian herbal medicine that only the rich could afford, it was consumed as a symbol of westernization and modernization. In the early days, people called coffee shop or café "dabang". The very first dabang in Korea was built by Sontag as named Sontag Hotel at Junggu Jeongdong in Seoul in 1902.

The modern type of dabangs dates from 1927 in Myeongdong and were spread to Jongno and Chungmuro. At first dabangs were open to the royal family and people in high positions and later were used as politicians’ hall, artists’ headquarters, and businessmen’s meeting place. Koreans were fascinated by dabang because they enjoyed the practice of drinking coffee in dabang atmosphere; it was a great pleasure to experience using forks to have cake and drinking coffee in a teacup instead of using chopsticks and drinking Korean traditional soup out of a bowl.

In mid-1900, dabangs continued to exist as a meeting place rather than as a place where people could drink coffee; however, it was not the time for ordinary citizens to consume coffee yet due to the high price. Before the introduction of coffee shops, people in high positions often held meetings at kisaeng houses while commoners hung out at jumaks to talk about their lives and politics. Since dabang was the center of debates about politics, economy, culture, education, art, and religion by people of different professions, the Korean government strictly restricted individuals’ visit to dabangs. In that sense, Korean cafés in 1950s were very similar to Parisian cafés in the late seventeenth century when the “police [had] closely watched cafés” due to the cafés’ function as social institutions (Haine 1992, 608).

In the 1960s, the value of coffee skyrocketed because coffee was prohibited from dabangs due to the movement of using domestic products after dictator Park Chung-hee’s 5.16 military coup d’etat in 1961. However, dabangs in general became more open to middle class citizens in 1960s. Although dabangs were still for adults only, it became a popular dating place for young men and women. The first Korean theme café was probably a music dabang in the 1970s. This type of dabang had DJs who received song requests from customers and played record music for them. It provided a feeling of freedom to college students who could not express their political opinions openly in 1970s.

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Answer 5

Cuestión moral: si el chocolate quebranta el ayuno eclesiástico

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Answer 6

An Edible History of Humanity

An Edible History of Humanity is a book written by Tom Standage that encompasses the history of the world from prehistory to modern day times through the tracing of foods and agricultural techniques used by man.

Standage's book is divided into 6 major sections starting in prehistoric times and advancing up to present day. The six sections are:

The first section introduces hunting and gathering to the reader, but quickly moves on to agriculture and farming techniques, which enabled a great expansion of population. Standage defends his thesis that farming is a man-made, unnatural system. He does so by discussing the history of maize, an altered, man-made crop. Maize is a major topic in this book as it has become a major staple throughout the world today. Standage also mentions wheat and rice, which were also important cereal grains, often involved in certain religious beliefs of people.

Moving into the second section, Standage claims that sedentary (farming) communities with the ability to store food gave rise to economic and political inequality, and hence to government, social structure, laws, culture, and almost every aspect of life that humans possess today.

In the third section, Standage describes the European desire for spices that could only be purchase by way of Arabia from Asia. Because of the high (and rising) cost of spices, European governments invested in exploration, such as the voyages of Columbus and Magellan.

The theories of Thomas Malthus (that the world's growing population could not be supported by the agriculturally based food supply) are a recurring theme throughout this book.

In section four, Standage shows how two particular innovations of the 18th century (New World crops and replacement of wood with coal for fuel) increased agricultural productivity and made industrialization possible. This section also showcases a darker side of innovation as potato monoculture led to the Great Famine in Ireland beginning in 1845.

Control of the food supply has been, as Standage shows, an important source of power for military and political leaders. In Section Five (Food as a Weapon), Standage talks about the strategies, including developing food preservation techniques, that Napoleon used to feed his troops. Provisioning armies is only one side of this use of power, however. Standage also describes the deaths from hunger of people whose leaders chose to deprive them of food.

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Answer 7

Food history

Food history is an interdisciplinary field that examines the history of food, and the cultural, economic, environmental, and sociological impacts of food. Food history is considered distinct from the more traditional field of culinary history, which focuses on the origin and recreation of specific recipes. Food historians look at food as one of the most important elements of cultures, reflecting the social and economic structure of society.

The first journal in the field, Petits Propos Culinaires was launched in 1979 and the first conference on the subject was the 1981 Oxford Food Symposium.

Journals

Other languages

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Answer 8

Food and dining in the Roman Empire

Food and dining in the Roman Empire reflect both the variety of foodstuffs available through the expanded trade networks of the Roman Empire and the traditions of conviviality from ancient Rome's earliest times, inherited in part from the Greeks and Etruscans. In contrast to the Greek symposium, which was primarily a drinking party, the equivalent social institution of the Roman convivium (dinner party) was focused on food. Banqueting played a major role in Rome's communal religion. Maintaining the food supply to the city of Rome had become a major political issue in the late Republic, and continued to be one of the main ways the emperor expressed his relationship to the Roman people and established his role as a benefactor. Roman food vendors and farmers' markets sold meats, fish, cheeses, produce, olive oil and spices and pubs, bars, inns and food stalls sold prepared food.

Bread was a staple food for Romans, with more well-to-do people eating wheat bread and poorer people eating barley bread. Fresh produce such as vegetables and legumes were important to Romans, as farming was a valued activity. A variety of olives and nuts were eaten. While there were prominent Romans who discouraged meat eating, a variety of meat products were prepared, including blood puddings, sausages, cured ham and bacon. The milk of goats or sheep was thought superior to that of cows; milk was used to make many types of cheese, as this was a way of storing and trading milk products. While olive oil was fundamental to Roman cooking, butter was viewed as an undesirable Gallic foodstuff. Sweet foods such as pastries typically used honey and wine-must syrup as a sweetener. A variety of dried fruits (figs, dates and plums) and fresh berries were also eaten.

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Answer 9

Groaning food

In English folklore, groaning food was food customarily made and served after childbirth, which was occasionally kept uneaten for superstitious reasons.

The word groaning referred to the noises made during childbirth by the woman. The groaning food was served on a groaning board, with the various foods served prefaced by the term 'groaning'.

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Answer 10

History of the hamburger

The Hamburger most likely first appeared in the 19th or early 20th century. The modern hamburger was a product of the culinary needs of a society rapidly changing due to industrialization, the emergence of the working class and middle class and the demand for mass-produced, affordable food that could be consumed outside of the home.

Americans contend they were the first to combine two slices of bread and a steak of ground beef into a "hamburger sandwich" and sell it. Part of the controversy over the origin of the hamburger is because the two basic ingredients, bread and beef, were prepared and consumed separately for many years before their combination. Shortly after its creation, the hamburger was prepared with all of the now typically characteristic trimmings, including onions, lettuce, and sliced pickles.

After various controversies in the 20th century, including a nutritional controversy in the late 1990s, the burger is now readily identified with the United States, and a particular style of cuisine, namely fast food. Along with fried chicken and apple pie, the hamburger has become a culinary icon in the United States.

The hamburger's international popularity demonstrates the larger globalization of food that also includes the rise in global popularity of other national dishes, including the Italian pizza, and Japanese sushi. The hamburger has spread from continent to continent perhaps because it matches familiar elements in different culinary cultures. This global culinary culture has been produced, in part, by the concept of selling processed food, first launched in the 1920s by the White Castle restaurant chain and its visionary Edgar Waldo "Billy" Ingram and then refined by McDonald's in the 1940s. This global expansion provides economic points of comparison like the Big Mac Index, by which one can compare the purchasing power of different countries where the Big Mac hamburger is sold.

Prior to the disputed invention of the hamburger in the United States, similar foods already existed in the culinary tradition of Europe. The Apicius cookbook, a collection of ancient Roman recipes that may date to the early 4th century, details a preparation of beef called isicia omentata; served as a baked patty in which beef is mixed with pine kernels, black and green peppercorns, and white wine, isicia omentata may be the earliest precursor to the hamburger. In the 12th century, the nomadic Mongols carried food made of several varieties of milk (kumis) and meat (horse or camel). During the life of their leader Genghis Khan (1167–1227), the Mongol army occupied the western portions of the modern-day nations of Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan, forming the so-called Golden Horde. This cavalry dominated army was fast moving and sometimes unable to stop for a meal, so they often ate while riding. They wrapped a few slices of meat under their saddles so it would crumble under pressure and motion and be cooked by heat and friction. This recipe for minced meat spread throughout the Mongol Empire until its split in the 1240s. It was common for Mongol armies to follow different groups of animals (such as herds of horses or oxen or flocks of sheep) that provided the necessary protein for the warriors' diets.Marco Polo also recorded descriptions of the culinary customs of the Mongol warriors, indicating that the flesh of a single pony could provide one day's sustenance for 100 warriors.

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