Historic evolution of gastronomy: when, why and how cuisines have evolved Kevin Fields

Kevin Fields

How Did We Get from This?

Kevin Fields

To this?

Kevin Fields

From hunter / gatherers, weve progressed to consumers who view food as more than just fuel for our bodies.

Kevin Fields

Initially, we ate what we could catch or forage. Then it was catch, forage or cultivate. Now it is what we can catch, cultivate, forage (not so common anymore) or fly in from around the world.

Kevin Fields

In the developmental stages from eating merely to survive, to becoming sophisticated consumers, there have been a range of significant stages.

Kevin Fields

Those stages apply across two areas, what Gillespie (2001) refers to as:Gastro-geography

and

Gastro-history

Kevin Fields

Gastro-geographyThe food available to our ancestors was determined by the type of terrain and the prevailing weather conditions in their locality. This controlled what would grow (wild or cultivated), or what could be caught or reared

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Gastro-historyThis concerns food items, influences and techniques learned through trading with adjacent nations, and brought back by explorers traveling further afield.

Migration of people has also been a major factor.

Kevin Fields

Within Europe, the advent of Greek civilisation brought about much of what we know today about eating habits and ancient societies. The writings of Archestrate, Greek poet and gastronome (4th century BC), provides information about early Greek gastronomy, but very little has actually survived.

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Sicilian cooks were prized assets for many rich Greeks. The competition to deliver the best food for guests resulted in a move for feasts to be based on quality, rather than quantity.Standards of food production increased.

Kevin Fields

The Romans also played a major part in the development of gastronomy. Apicius wrote about the ..art of the table and recorded recipes, processes and the dining habits of Imperial Rome.

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Further gastronomic advances were made as the very rich competed with each other to serve the best dishes to guests.This process was enhanced by the Roman habit of bringing back foodstuffs and processes from conquered lands, adding them to their own culinary customs.

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The Romans also had a gastronomic impact on conquered countries.Example - Britain.Apples, garlic, onions, shallots, leeks, cabbages, peas, celery, turnips, radishes, asparagus, rabbits possibly even chickens were introduced by the Romans.

Kevin Fields

The next significant stage is probably the influence that Portuguese explorers had by bringing back previously unknown foodstuffs to Europe.Potatoes, peppers, tomatoes etc are key ingredients in many modern European diets

Kevin Fields

Another stage in the development of gastronomy, possibly a key one, was the French Revolution. The death of the aristocracy left many skilled chefs out of work with little prospect of ever again finding a fine household to practice their art in.The solution is that many of them opened eating houses - perhaps restaurants is too fine a word in their early stages - but its what they became.

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The advent of these restaurants brought dining, rather than eating, to the public in general those that could afford it rather than it being the domain of the very rich.

Kevin Fields

In the early 1900s our knowledge of the world around us was greatly advanced by the advent of cinema, including newsreels between the main feature. Previously, if you werent one of the very small percentage of the population with experience of travel, all knowledge was gathered through books, papers, and magazines.

Kevin Fields

The next significant stage was the increasing popularity of tourism. From the 1960s to the present day, tourists from the developed world have travelled, learned, and then looked for similar experiences, gastronomically speaking, back in their home locations.

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We now have critical mass of experienced, knowledgeable, adventurous, sophisticated diners whose wants and needs help push the boundaries of gastronomic provision.People who accept that gastronomy is both an art and a science.

Kevin Fields

Modern MediaAs well as knowledge developed through experience, vicarious learning takes place as we absorb knowledge through the experiences of others.Travel programmes have done much to teach us about food from places well never visit.

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Modern DevelopmentsMany tourism destinations have developed gastronomic provision through delivering an international menu ensuring the food is recognisable and acceptable to visiting tourists.

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While some tourists will always seek out the familiar, more and more are looking for something different. Food which represents both the heritage and culture of the destination. Not just national dishes but regional specialities as well.

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This is an ideal time for this to happen. As our concern for the environment grows, issues such as food miles the distance that food travels from production to consumption are reaching public consciousness.

Kevin Fields

The promotion of local cuisine satisfies environmental criteria, as well as cultural ones. Additionally, the benefits of tourism are that much greater if economic leakages are reduced as more food is produced locally, and less is imported.

Kevin Fields

In summary, the greatest impact upon the development of gastronomy has been the movement of people. Whether that movement was for trade, for war, for tourism, or for economic migration.As the movement of people is unlikely to cease, so is the development of gastronomy unlikely to cease.

Kevin Fields

The gastronomy of a region may rightly be considered to be part of the culture and heritage of that region, but just as culture grows and evolves, so does gastronomy.As it evolves, making it part of your tourism product can only be beneficial.

Kevin Fields

So how did we get from this?

To this?

Kevin Fields