Food Around the World Elements of Food Culture

Food Around the World

Elements of Food Culture & cuisine • Culture refers to a group’s pattern of behaviors: • Thought • Belief System • Language • Actions • Production of goods, artifacts, & art

• Culture is considered part of our civilization, often referring to an area’s advancements in: • Science • Technology • Art • Government • Spirituality

• Food Culture: • Describes the way in which a particular group of humans think about food and how they think and cook that food

• Progression of Food Culture • Primitive civilizations lack technology to have stable/abundant food supply • Spend more time searching for food • Prepare food quickly with less thought • Little to no time practicing new dishes

• Progression of Food Culture • Advanced civilizations have a stable/abundant food supply • Specialization of Labor = More leisure time and wealth • More time & wealth to cook more complex dishes • Cooking becomes CUISINE

• Cuisine is the skilled, thoughtful, refined cooking belonging to a particular style.

• Food cultures and resulting cuisines based on 3 elements: • Ingredients • Cooking Methods • Attitudes about Food & Eating

• Ingredients • Foundation Foods • Comprise a food culture’s principal starches, proteins, & produce • Starches & grains are usually most important in most civilization’s as they form the bulk of the human diet

• Ingredients • Seasonings • Herbs, spices, & condiments

• Ingredients • Cooking Media • Contribute to flavor & determine cooking methods • Examples: Fats for frying, liquids for poaching & stewing, etc.

• 2. Cooking Methods • Application of Heat • How heat is applied largely determines color, texture, & flavor • Sole reason for fire = Heat • Now = Evaluate cooking techniques of a culture can be linked to the culture’s heat technology development

• 2. Cooking Methods • Cooking Vessels • Types used affects heat conduction & flavor • Earliest food cultures used skin bags, animal stomachs, leaf wrappings, and flat stones • Now = Earthenware, Bronze, Steel, Aluminum, Stainless Steel, & new technological materials to make pots & pans

• 2. Cooking Methods • Cooking Media • Some cooking methods may depend on ingredients, as well as vessel technology • Example: Frying methods require frying fats & metal pots/pans Cultures that don’t use fats (either for preference or lack of availability), would not fry their food

• 2. Cooking Methods • Food Preservation • Essential element of many cuisines • Drying, curing with salt, preserving with sugar, smoking, sealing from air • Early history of preservation methods often strongly affect modern cuisine

• 3. Attitudes about Food & Eating • Fundamentally determine which ingredients & cooking methods are accepted/favored • Attitude toward food even more important than ingredients

• 3. Attitudes about Food & Eating • May be subtle, complex, and difficult to understand • Linked to Subconscious • May not even hold beliefs & attitudes about food without knowing why

• Preferences & taboos frequently linked to: • Social practices • Ethical beliefs • Spiritual beliefs

• Attitudes about Food & Eating • To fully understand a food culture, learn about their: • History • Culture • Religion