Cuisine and Culture: A History of Food and People

A fascinating look at how history and culture shape ourdiets

Why did Americans once believe Italian food was very bad foryou? When was sugar a medicine prescribed by doctors? What doHawaiian sweet bread, Japanese tempura, and Indian vindaloo have incommon? How did the Aztecs use tamales in religious festivals? Andwhat′s on the menu at a 700–seat McDonald′s in Beijing? Cuisine andCulture, Third Edition answers these questions and many more withan informative and witty exploration of the many ways food,culture, and history intersect and influence each other.

From prehistory and the discovery of fire to modern cuisines andcelebrity chefs, this book uses a global, multicultural approach toexplain how major historical events have affected and definedculinary traditions in different societies around the world. Thisindispensable new Third Edition is more comprehensive andinsightful than ever, featuring:

New cuisines and cultures including Norwegian, Ethiopian,Canadian, and Mayan

More detailed coverage of Japanese, ancient Greek and Roman, andregional Indian and African cuisines

New content on modern food technology and food marketing

French and Italian pronunciation guides, a chronology of foodbooks and cookbooks of historical importance, and an extensivebibliography

Enlightening Holiday Histories, Food Fables, Food Chronologies,and historical recipes and menus

A thorough examination of the way history, culture, politics,wars, and religion determine how and what we eat, Cuisine andCulture, Third Edition is an essential guide for students,historians, and food lovers.

Antipasto/Antojitos/Amuse–Bouches: Food for Thought viii

Acknowledgments xii

FIRST COURSE:
From Raw to Cooked: Prehistory, Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, India1

Prehistory 1

The Ancient Agricultural Revolution 5

The Fertile Crescent 9

Egypt: The Nile River 13

China: The Yellow (Huang He) River 18

India: The Indus River 21

SECOND COURSE:
Grain, Grape, Olive: The Ancient Mediterranean 25

The Mediterranean Sea 25

Greece 26

Rome 38

THIRD COURSE:
Crazy Bread, Coff ee, and Courtly Manners: Christendom and Islam inthe Middle Ages, 500 1453 58

Christendom: Western Europe, 500 1000 59

Byzantium: The Eastern Roman Empire 65

The Muslim Empire 67

Christendom: The Late Middle Ages in Europe 74

FOURTH COURSE:
New World Food: Potato, Corn, Chile, Chocolate 89

The Search for Spices 89

The American Empires 92

South America: The Inca Empire 93

Central America: Vanilla 101

Central America: Maya Mystery 103

Central America: The Aztec Empire 107

North America: Cahokia 116

Columbus Sets Sail for the Americas: 1492 116

FIFTH COURSE:
Food Goes Global: The Columbian Exchange 119

The Age of Exploration 119

The Columbian Exchange 120

Old World to New 121

New World to Old 136

SIXTH COURSE:
America from Colony to Country: Sacred Cod, Black Rice, Maple Moon,1588 1850 151

The Mercantile System 151

Colonial America 152

A New People and a New Cuisine 167

SEVENTH COURSE:
Hutsepot, Stove Potatoes, and Haute Cuisine:Seventeenthto Eighteenth–Century Dutch, Russian, and French Cuisine182

The Scientific Revolution 182

The Golden Age of the Netherlands 183

The Russian Bear 189

France: Haute and Nouvelle Cuisine 195

The French Revolution: "Let Them Eat Cake" 203

The Napoleonic Era: 1799 1815 207

Napoleon′s Aftermath 215

EIGHTH COURSE:
Cattle, Coca–Cola, Cholera: The United States and Europe,1850 1900 217

The American South 217

The American Civil War: 1850 1865 220

Reconstruction: 1865 1877 223

The West: Railroad and Indian Wars, 1860s 1886 225

The Gilded Age 231

Nineteenth–Century Health Food Movements 240

Europe: Nutrition, Sanitation, Evolution 244

NINTH COURSE:
Africa and Asia: Native vs. Colonial Cuisine 258

Food Patterns 258

Africa: Shea Butter, Kola Nuts, Monkey Bread 258

India: Not Just Curry and Chutney 266

China: Tea and Opium 274

Korea: Kimchee and Pulgogi 282

Vietnam: Spring Rolls and Pâté 283

Indonesia: The Spice Islands 283

The Philippines: Chinese–Spanish Fusion 285

Thailand (Siam): Lemongrass and Jasmine Rice 285

Japan: Tempura and Umami 287

TENTH COURSE:
The Purity Crusade, Cuisine Classique, and Prohibition:1900 1929 in Europe and the United States 295

The New Immigrants and the Melting Pot 295

Progressives and the Purity Crusade 300

Escoffi er and Ritz: Cuisine Classique and the GrandHotels 309

World War I and the Russian Revolution 316

The Roaring Twenties in the United States 323

ELEVENTH COURSE:
Soup Kitchens, Spam, and TV Dinners: The Depression, World War II,and the Cold War 334

The Depression and the New Deal 334

World War II 343

The Cold War 352

The Fast–Food Fifties 354

The Sixties: Revolutions in Color 359

TWELFTH COURSE:
Agribusiness vs. Organic: The 1970s into the Third Millennium364

The Seventies: Food Revolutions 364

The Eighties: Political and Restaurant Revolutions 367

The Nineties: The Celebrity Chef 373

The New Millennium and the Future of Food 381

Appendix A: French Pronunciation 404

Appendix B: Italian Pronunciation 405

Appendix C: Major Wars and Battles 406

Appendix D: Selected Cookbook and Food Books Chronology 408

Notes 411

Selected Bibliography 424

Index 431

LINDA CIVITELLO holds an MA in History from UCLA and a BA in English from Vassar. She has taught food history at Le Cordon Bleu and Art Institutes culinary schools, and has recorded an audio tour on food and art for the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. The first edition of Cuisine and Culture won the 2003 Gourmand World Cookbook Award for Best Culinary History Book in English, United States.