Columbian Exchange Kitchen Name Core Prior to the

Columbian Exchange Kitchen Name ________ Core _____ Prior to the rise of agriculture, people were hunters and gatherers. Over time, people learned how to domesticate some of the animals in the regions where they lived, and they learned how to purposely grow regional plants to create a stable food supply. Over time in the Old World, domesticated plants and animals were transferred across cultures through trade. Foods that originated in Europe, Africa, or Asia are Old World foods. For example, mountainous Central Asia is the center of origin of apples, making them an Old World food. Central Asia is where the first wild apples grew and where apples were first domesticated by people. Today the wild ancestors of domestic apples still grow in Central Asia, and this is where the greatest genetic diversity in apples can be found. In 1492, when Christopher Columbus came to America, he saw plants and animals that he had never seen before, and he took them back to Europe with him. It is estimated that nearly twothirds of the foods consumed today originated in the New World (the Americas). Prior to the Columbian Exchange, these foods were unknown to Europeans. Columbus’s trips were the beginning of an exciting time in the history of food. People were able to taste different foods; foods with flavors, shapes, and textures they had never experienced before! The Columbian Exchange refers to the transfer of animals, plants, ideas, diseases, and more that occurred during the two centuries following Columbus’s arrival in the Americas. Global trade and cultural exchanges significantly altered the lives of people around the world, starting with one of their most basic needs—food. Before Columbus’s voyages from the Old World to the New World, the people in the 2 separated regions of world didn’t have access to the wide variety of foods that we are used to seeing in our grocery stores, today. Because of the Columbian Exchange, we have the opportunity to eat both Old and New World foods and mix products from each geographic region together to make many of our common, favorite foods. The purpose of this activity is to explore the effect The Columbian Exchange has had on the way we eat, today. 1. Examine the information about the animals and crops that only existed in either the Old World or the New World before The Columbian Exchange using the attached Columbian Exchange Resources including the : • Centers of Origins of Selected Crops Map • Columbian Exchange Grains, Livestock, and Disease Map • and Check out this cool site showing the origins of foods over time. Food Timeline 2. Using these resources, create a table showing which animals and plants only existed in either the Old World or the New World Plants and Animals Old World Plants and Animals

3. Consider the following list of things we commonly eat, today. Highlight ALL the things that people, prior to Columbian Exchange, would NOT have been able to eat! Popcorn Stuffed Turkey Corn dog Milk with Oreos Chicken Parmasean BLT sandwich Spaghetti with meatballs in marinara sauce Black coffee Kroger’s salad bar Fritos with cheese and bean dip Potato chips and French Onion dip Plain cheeseburger Frisch’s Big Boy Grilled cheese sandwich Hot chocolate Oatmeal with raisins and milk Chocolate Ice Cream Fried chicken Fettuccine Alfredo Vanilla Ice Cream Pizza Beef Taco with lettuce and tomatoes Fish and Chips A Starbuck’s Latte Ham and cheese omelet Iced tea Hamburger and French Fries Popcorn with salt and butter Cornflakes with milk Strawberry shortcake PB& J sandwich Apple Pie Strawberry Milkshake 4. Pretend the year is 1490, and you’ve decided to open a restaurant. Which would you rather open, a New World Café or an Old World Café? ________ Why? ________________________________ 5. To attract customers, you decide to create a Daily Special that includes: 1) a beverage 2) main dish 3) side dish 4) and dessert. Write your menu items on the Daily Special Chalkboard. _____ World Café Daily Special

Columbian Exchange Resources The Columbian Exchange: Grains, Livestock, and Disease Map

The Flow of Crops and Animals: Old World New World Columbus wanted to establish new fields of plenty in the Americas. On his later voyages, he brought many Old World crops he hoped might flourish there. He and his followers brought the familiar food grains of Europe such wheat, barley, and rye. They also brought plantation crops such as sugar, bananas, citrus fruits, rice and cotton. At first, many of the Old World crops fared poorly, but eventually they all flourished. Wheat, which thrived in the temperate latitudes of North and South America and in the highlands of Mexico, eventually became a fundamental food crop for tens of millions of people in the Americas. Indeed, by the late 20 th century, wheat exports from Canada, the United States, and Argentina were feeding millions of people outside the Americas. The Columbian Exchange brought horses, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, ducks and a collection of other useful species to the Americas. While Native Americans had plenty of good food crops available before 1492, they had few domesticated animals such as llamas, guinea pigs, and turkeys. Of all the animals introduced by the Europeans, the horse held particular attraction. Native Americans first encountered it as a fearsome war beast ridden by Spanish conquistadors. However, they soon learned to ride and raise horses themselves. In the North American great plains, the arrival of the horse revolutionized Native American life, permitting tribes to hunt the buffalo far more effectively. Several Native American groups left farming to become buffalo-hunting nomads and, incidentally, these tribes became some of the most formidable enemies of European expansion in the Americas. Cattle, sheep, pigs, and goats also proved popular in the Americas. Within 100 years after Columbus, huge herds of wild cattle roamed many of the natural grasslands of the Americas. Eventually ranching economies emerged, based variously on cattle, goats, or sheep. The largest ranches emerged in the grasslands of Venezuela and Argentina, and on the broad sea of grass that stretched from northern Mexico to the Canadian prairies. The Flow of Crops and Cuisine from: New World --> Old World Before Columbus, the Americas had plenty of domesticated plants. By the time Columbus had arrived, dozens of plants were in regular use, the most important of which were maize (corn), potatoes, cassava, and various beans and squashes. Lesser crops included sweet potato, papaya, pineapple, tomato, avocado, guava, peanuts, chili peppers, and cacao, the raw form of cocoa. Corn from America soon established itself as a major food source for animals and humans in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Despite corn’s success, the humble potato probably had a stronger impact in improving the food supply and in promoting population growth in Eurasia. The potato had little impact in Africa, where conditions did not suit it. But the potato thrived in Northern Europe, Scandinavia, the Low Countries, Germany, Poland, and Russia. The potato also fed mountain populations around the world, notably in China, where it encouraged settlement of mountainous regions. Can you imagine Italian food without the tomato? When tomatoes first made their way to Europe, they found the tomato difficult to prepare. When it ripened, it appeared to be spoiled, and when cooked, it disintegrated. Finally, they adopted the Aztec technique of grinding it into a purée. The tomato that arrived in the Mediterranean in the sixteenth century was not the bright red, smooth, juicy fruit we know today, but rather a pale fruit with an acid flavor and unpleasant smell. It was the caring hands of Italian gardeners that improved the American tomato and turned it into the vivid, plump, thin-skinned fruit we appreciate today. While maize and potatoes had the greatest world historical importance of the American crops, lesser crops made their marks as well. In Africa, peanuts and cassava provided new foodstuffs. Cassava, a tropical shrub native to Brazil, has starchy roots that will grow in almost any soil. In Africa, cassava became an indispensable crop. Today some 200 million Africans rely on it as their main source of nutrition. Cacao and rubber, two other South American crops, became important export items in Africa in the 20 th century. The sweet potato, which was introduced into China in the 1560 s, became China’s third most important crop after rice and wheat. Indeed, almost everywhere in the world, one or another American food crops caught on. By the late 20 th century, about one-third of the world’s food supply came from plants first cultivated in the Americas. The modern rise of population surely would have been slower without them. In contrast, the animals of the Americas have had very little impact on the rest of the world, unless one considers its earliest migrants. The camel and the horse actually originated in North America and migrated westward across the Bering land bridge to Asia. One domesticated animal that did have an effect was the turkey.