Lecture 2: Brief History of American Food Flashcards
How do we define food?
Any substance that animals eat or drink in order to produce energy, maintain life, and promote growth
-carbs, fats, proteins, essential vitamins and minerals
What is the difference in food acquisition historically vs. today?
- Before: food secured through hunting and gathering and/or agriculture
- Today: most of the food energy consumed by the world is supplied by the food industry (produced, manufactured)
How does food go beyond mere subsistence?
- Defines shared identities and embodies religious and group traditions
- Serves as a class marker
- A powerful element in celebrations and can bring people together
- Evokes memories
Pre-agricultural times
- Caveman cuisine
- Main concern was survival (just getting enough)
- Hunger/gather cultures = dependent on game they could kill and plants they could find
- Nutritional deficiencies –> short life span (30 yrs)
Agricultural times
- 10,000 BC: agriculture developed –> planned sowing and harvesting of plants, domestication of crop plants –> enabled stationary lifestyle
- Neolithic cuisine = fermentation, drying, heating with water, preserving with salt, sugar
Fermentation
- A metabolic process that converts sugar into acids, gases and/or alcohol
- Used to make liquids drinkable and safe
Yeast, bacteria, and fermentation
- Yeast,bacteria, and some molds obtain energy through fermentation
- Yeasts and bacteria produce lactic acid (sour) and creates an environment where bad bacteria can’t grow
- Used to make alcoholic beverages such as wine (fruit) and beer (grain)
In medieval times, how did your social class dictate your diet?
Upper class = high in protein; low in vitamins A, C, D –> scurvy
-wine
-fowl, beef, lamb, pork, fish, milled grains, cheese, butter, cooked fruit, nuts, spices
Peasants = low in calories, but healthy
-breads made from barley and rye (horse breads)
-peas, beans, onions, cabbage, nuts, berries, leeks, parsley, grains
-meat scarce (bacon, salt pork)
-ale (fermented from barley), mead (fermented honey)
Pottages
A thick soup that contained meat, vegetables, and bran that was continuously cooked in large cast iron pots
- common medieval food consumed by both upper and lower class
- usually served on bread
- pot rarely came off hearth to be cleaned
- wooden/bone spoon dipped into cooking pot to eat –> first manners about eating determined who could dip into pot
Early European table
- Table = boards laid across trestles and covered with cloth
- No individual plates used –> food served and shared on large platters and trenchers
- Trenchers = thick, dense edible bread plates (given to poor after meals)
- No forks or spoons –> personal knives and fingers used
Table manners
- Rules of etiquette on how to eat
- Cultural, regional, class differences
Firsts book on table manners
-“On Civility in Children” - Desiderius Erasmus (Dutch)
History of the fork
- Originated in Greece (two tined, used to carve meat)
- Brought to Italy by a Greek princess in 11th century –> adopted widely across Italy in 16th century
- Brought to France in 1533 by Catherine de Medici
- 1088: Thomas Coryate brought the first forks to England after seeing them in Italy during his travels
- Mid 1600s: eating with forks considered fashionable among wealthy British (marker of social status and sophistication)
- France developed forks with 4 curved tines to keep food from falling off
- Spread through Germany, England, America
Chopsticks
Developed 5000 years ago in China
-Hasty eaters broke twigs off trees to retrieve food from large pots that retained heat well
400 BCE: large pop and dwindling resources in China forced people to conserve fuel
-Food chopped into small pieces –> cooked more rapidly and no need for knives
King Louis XIV and utensils
- 1699: ordered that all table knives have rounded edges to make eating less dangerous
- First person in Europe to offer guests a place setting with a fork, knife, and spoon
Describe the Europeans colonization of America in relation to their food consumption and survival.
- Europeans colonized a land that already had native food cultures and traditions
- Clung to their European tastes and food conventions
- Inability to adapt killed many of the early settlers
- For 2 centuries, English food traditions dominated in America
- Late 1700s: American realization that there was a need to adapt in order to survive
- Learned from Native Americans to adapt their diets and eat unfamiliar items (beans, corn, squash, berries, fish, deer, rabbits, turkeys)
Typical colonial meals
- Breakfast = cider or beer with a bowl of porridge
- Dinner = stews, breads, cold meets, roots, pickles, vinegar, salt and cheese
- Supper = dinner leftovers, pottages, gruel
