About culture and cuisineResearching the culinary history of a particular country involves more than identifying traditional foods in current cookbooks. What people eat in all places and through all ages depends upon six primary factors:

Food availability----indigenous animals & plants, imports Technology---cooking methods & scientific process/progress Seasons & climate---menus prepared according to ingredient availability;

droughts & famines Religion---customs, rituals, & taboos Socio-economic class---nobles? merchants? laborers? peasants? slaves? Politics---foreign influence, immigration patterns, regulations & rationing

General surveys:

Sally's Place (includes notes on meal times) Global Gastronomer/Destinations ---36 international cuisines plus recipes Cultural profiles (select country, then click food)

Country/region specific culinary history:<liAfrican Cook Book, University of Pennsylvania

Australia & New Zealand Canada: Bon Appetit, National Library of Canada, Canadian food firsts & A Taste

of Canada China Denmark: Prehistoric vegetables Finland: traditional gastronomy France Germany Italy Ireland Japan Mexico and Highland Central America , Cambridge World History of Food, Kiple

& Ornelas Spain United Kingdom

</li

Country sitesMany countries offer information about native food and cuisine (some include recipes) on their official government Web sites. Check the Ministry of Culture and/or Tourist Bureau. If that doesn't work run a keyword search on the terms "cuisine" or "recipe." (Hint...if you keyword "food" you will get lots of stuff on food exports, companies, subsidies and other social programs).

You can check sites that originate in a specific country for additional information. How? It's easy. Go to Google, select "advanced search" and look for the "domain" box. Type in the country's "endcode" (full list here) and see what you get. This turned out to be the best way to research the history of Irish Soda Bread (endcode .ie) and traditional Bulgarian foods (endcode .bg).

RECOMMENDED READING These sources are excellent for basic background information on specific country cuisines. Ask your librarian to help you find:

The Cambridge World History of Food, Kenneth F. Kiple & Kriemhild Conee Ornelas--Volume 2, Part V: Food and Drink around the World (Grades 9+); includes extensive bibliography for further research

Culturegrams, Brigham Young University--Dining customs and holiday traditions (all grades)

Food Lover's Atlas of the World, Martha Rose Shulman--Key ingredients, popular dishes, beautiful photos (all grades)

Foods of the World (series by country), Time Life--overview of each country's popular foods, dining traditons, & recipes, good for pictures

The Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson--Brief country culinary profiles; separate entries for many traditional foods mentioned in the primary article provide additional information. (Grades 6+)

The World Atlas of Food, a Gourmet's Guide to the Great Regional Dishes of the World (all grades)

You Eat What You Are: People, Culture & Food Traditions, Thelma Barer-Stein--Popular foods, dining customs, and holidays meals for 55 countries; includes glossary of foods. (Grades K-8)

Professional Chef/Culinary Arts Institute (8th edition)---excellent source for major ingredients and cuisine summaries by world region & selected countries.

Country-specific food history booksIn all U.S. library catalogs, use the subject heading: cookery, country or country adjective-history (as in cookery, italy-history or cookery, scottish-history). Scan the list...some cities and regions have their own food histories. Start with your local library's catalog. If you don't find what you need, use the Library of Congress catalog. Your librarian can borrow books for you from other libraries...though it may take some time (ie, if your report is due tomorrow this isn't an option). Many country-specific cookbooks contain historic notes along with popular recipes. They are worth checking out.

If you are conducting extensive research and need to identify books and journals originating from a specific country, start by checking that country's National Library catalog. Major universities, culinary schools, professional culinary organizations and trade associations are also excellent starting points.

Foreign influence on American cookingThe study of German American (Italian American, Greek American, etc.) cooking starts with the study of traditional homeland cuisine and immigration patterns. Wherever immigrants settled, so did their foods and recipes. Over time, some of these recipes morphed into uniquely American foods. Think chicken fried steak and hot dogs.

The impact of ethnic foods on American cuisine is a study of:

Original culture...traditional foods, recipes, dining customs, religion--people eat "what they know."

Migration patterns...where did these folks settle? Economics & labor... where did they work? farms, fishermen? Adaptation & assimilation...think weinerschnitzel and chicken fried steak. The

"Americanization" of ethnic cuisine. Business patterns...1920s speakeasies, contemporary specialty restaurants, fast

food joints and 5 star restaurants Consumer behavior...soldiers returning from WWII craved international foods

they tasted abroad

SOURCES FOR LEARNING ABOUT IMMIGRATION & AMERICA---Port of entry were the first areas of culinary influence (New York, Boston). Study settlement patterns (Germans in Milwaukee, Italians in Pittsburgh PA, Greeks in North Carolina )...to examine regional influence & local contributions.

American Immigrant Cultures: Builders of a Nation, David Levinson & Melvin Ember

Atlas of American Migration, Stephen A. Flanders Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, Robert Von Dassoanowsky Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups, Stephan Thernstrom

ABOUT FOREIGN INFLUENCE ON AMERICAN CUISINE

American Cooking: The Melting Pot, James P. Shenton et. al America Eats Out, John Mariani (German-American restaurants and beergardens) American Food: The Gastronomic Story, Evan Jones American Heritage (magazine, use the index to find appropriate articles) Eating in America, Waverly Root & Richard de Rochemont Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads, Sylvia Lovegren Hungering For America: Italian, Irish, & Jewish Foodways in the Age of

Migration, Hasia R. Diner Taste of American Place, Shortledge & Shortledge

HELP! I need a recipe now!!!

RecipeSource, select region, then countryThe Cookie Tin, nice collection of cookies by country; includes holiday cookies!

France

Every country presents a unique buffet based on its geography, history, and people. What people eat in all times and places is a function of where they live (country? city?), who they are (religion/ethnic background) and how much money they have (wealthy usually eat better than the poor).

POPULAR TRADITIONAL CUISINE/OVERVIEW

France , Sally's Place France , Global Gastonomer (has some pictures) France, Time-Life Foods of the World Series, perfect school reports, includes

many pictures The World Atlas of Food, Jane Grigson contributing editor You Eat What You Are, Thelma Barer-Stein, traditional foods & dining customs

FRENCH CULINARY HISTORY (SURVEYS THROUGH TIME) Cambridge World History of Food, Kiple & Ornelas, Volume Two

---"France," five page summary with lots of references Gastronomy of France, Raymond Oliver

---prehistory to present, cooking methods and selected historic menus Larousse Gastronomique (any recent edition)

---history of French ingredients, recipes, chefs, and cooking methods. Arranged alphabetically.

Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson---"France," two page synopsis and histories of specific recipes.

PERIOD-SPECIFIC SOURCES Early French Cookery, D. Eleanor Scully Culture and Cuisine: A Journey Through the History of Food, Jean-Francois

Revel (18th century) Louis XIV & modern French Cuisine Louis XV French Revolution foods restaurants, caterers & menus Acquired Taste: The French Origins of Modern Cooking, T. Sarah Peterson Haute Cuisine: How the French Invented the Culinary Profession, Amy B.

Trubek The World of Escoffier, Timothy Shaw

PRIMARY SOURCESSeveral major French cookery texts have been scanned, republished and translated into English. Selected popular titles:

[1817] Le Cuisinier Royal, Alexandre Viard [1826] Le Physiologie du Gout, Jean-Anthelme Brillat Savarin

[1903] Escoffer: The Complete Guide to the Art of Modern Cookery, First translation in to English by H.L. Cracknell and R.J. Kaufman of Le Guide Culiniare in its entirely. Book!

OUR FAQS ON SELECTED FRENCH FOODS Chocolate mousse Coq au vin Cream puffs & eclairs Crepes Croissants French onion soup Galette Madeleines Napoleons Parfait (ice cream treat) Pralines Quiche

TWO FOODS ASSOCIATED WITH FRANCE THAT ORIGINATED ELSEWHERE

French fries I & II French toast

United Kingdom

Every country presents a unique buffet based on its geography, history, and people. What people eat in all times and places is a function of where they live (country? city?), who they are (religion/ethnic background) and how much money they have (wealthy usually eat better than the poor).

A SURVEY OF BRITISH FOODS THROUGH TIME

British cookbooks Roman Britain Anglo-Saxon/Norman Britain Chaucer's foods Medieval Britain History of London's Markets (begins on page 27) 16th Century (Shakespeare's England) 17th Century , Dining with Samuel Pepys (begins on page 127), authentic recipes

(not modernized) & modernized recipes I & II 18th Century: I, II, III, & IV Captain James Cook's 18th century rations & mess 19th Century /Victorian Era World War II (rationing)

Today's foods 21st Century (includes links for decade overviews, 1950-2000.

RECOMMENDED READING

Historic overviews

British Food: An Extraordinary Thousand Years of History, Colin Spencer---details on dining customs, popular foods, trade & economics

Food and Drink in Britain: From the Stone Age to the Nineteenth Century, C. Anne Wilson---evolution of foods and recipes grouped by commodity

Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson---historic overview & histories of dishes/ingredients

Seven Centuries of English Cooking, Maxime de la Falaise---period overviews and selected recipes for modern kitchens

A Taste of History: 10,000 Years of Food in Britain, Peter Brears et al.---period foods, cooking techniques, dining customs and selected recipes for modern kitchens

Traditional Food from Wales, Bobby Freeman---historic overview, recipes with history notes

The World Atlas of Food, Jane Grigson Contributing editor---general overview, food map & traditional recipes

About British meal times

Period-specific information & primary sources (recently reprinted)

[Roman Britain]

Food in Roman Britain, Joan P. Alcock

[9th-12th centuries] see also history notes

A Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food: Processing and Consumption, Ann Hagen A Second Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food and Drink: Production and

Distribution, Ann Hagen Tastes of Anglo-Saxon England, Mary Savelli (includes modernized recipes)

[13th-15th centuries] see also history notes

Food and Feast in Medieval England, P.W. Hammond To the King's Taste, Lorna J. Sass (includes modernized recipes)

[16th century] see also history notes

The Good Housewife's Jewel, Thomas Dawson (primary source) Food and Feast in England, Alison Sim The Tudor Kitchens

[17th century]

The Accomplisht Cook, Robert May (recently reprinted) The English Housewife, Gervase Markham (recently reprinted) The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digbie Opened, Published by

his Son's Consent (primary source) And So To Dine: A Brief Account of the Food & Drink of Mr. Pepys Based on His

Diary, S.A.E. Strom

[18th century]

The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, Hannah Glasse (primary source) The British Housewife: Cookery Books, Cooking and Society in Eighteenth-

Century Britain, Gilly Lehmann (culinary styles, etiquette, meal times...no recipes)

English Houswifery , Elizabeth Moxon The Experienced English Housekeeper, Elizabeth Raffald (primary source) Feeding Nelson's Navy: The True Story of Food at Sea in the Georgian Era, Janet

McDonald Cooking with Jane Austen, Kirstin Olsen (includes modernized recipes) The Jane Austen Cookbook, Maggie Black & Dierdre Le Faye (includes

modernized recipes)

[19th century] see also history notes

The Charles Dickens Cookbook, Brenda Marshall (modernized recipes with notes) Modern Cookery for Private Families, Eliza Acton (primary source) Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management, Isabella Beeton (primary source)

[20th century]

Last Dinner on the Titanic, Rick Archbold & Dana McCauley Victory Cookbook: Nostalgic Food and Facts from 1940-1954, Marguerite Patten

[We'll Eat Again by same author includes same recipes w/o historic commentary] Bombers and Mash, Raynes Minns Wartime Recipes: A Collection of Recipes from the War Years, Jarrold Publishing Ration Book Cookery: Recipes & History, Gill Corbishley

SELECTED TRADITIONAL DISHES

British breakfasts & brunch Comfits & sugarplums

Crumpets & scones English muffins English trifle fish & chips Shepherd's pie Toad-in-the-hole Yorkshire pudding

Captain Cook's rations & messCaptain James Cook provisioned his ship for a two year journey. He expected to supplement these rations with indigenous fare. Adequate fresh water and antiscorbutics to ward away scurvy played critical roles in his success.

What kinds of food and drink were consumed on Cook's ships?

"In his journal for July 1772, Cook gives the following account of the provisions placed aboard the Resolution and Adventure...Biscuit, flour, salt beef, salt pork, beer, wine, spirit [distilled alcohol], pease [dried peas], wheat, oatmeal, butter, cheese [hard], sugar, oyle olive [olive oil], vinegar, suet, raisins, salt, malt, sour krout [sauerkrout], salted cabbage, portable broth [dessicated soup], saloup, mustard, mermalade [marmelade] of carrots, water..."---Sailors & Sauerkraut: Excerpts from the Journals of Captain Cook's Expeditions All Pertaining to Food With Recipes to Match, Barbara Burkhardt, Barrie Andugs McLean & Doris Kochanek [Grey's Publishing:Sidney BC] 1978 (p. 23)

Where live animals were taken on board?Yes. "...cows, sheep, pigs, chickens...The live-stock was for leaving on desert islands needful of such provender and the poultry was to provide eggs during the voyage."---Sailors & Sauerkraut (p. 12)

Could the crew bring their own food on board?Yes. Generally, the higher the rank, the more "personal" food was packed. This was a matter of economy (wealthy people could afford to supply their own consumables) and space (officer's quarters were roomier than regular crew).

"Individuals, particularly the officers, supplemented their needs with personal provisioning; this might be Madeira [a sweet wine] brought on board for their own use. In the case of the crew...it was usually what serendipity delivered into their laps: lying fish or tired albatross."---Sailors & Sauerkraut (p. 15-16)

What was a typical weekly menu for the crew? "Each man was allowed every day one pound of Biscuit [thick, hard cracker] as much small Beer [very low alcohol] as he can drink or a pint of Wine, or half a pint of Brandy, Rum, or arrack [alcoholic beverage], they will have besides on

Monday. Half a pound of Butter, about ten ounces of Cheshire Ceese and as much boild Oatmeal or Wheat as the can eat.Tuesday. Two 4 pound pieces of Beef, or one four pound piece of Beef three pounds of Flour and one pound Raisins or half a pound of suet.Wednesday. Butter and cheese as on Monday and as much boild Pease as they can eat.Thursday. Two 2 pound pieces of Pork with Pease.Friday. The same as Wednesday.Saturday. The same as Tuesday.Sunday. The same as Thursday.---Sailors & Sauerkraut (p. 23-24)

What is scurvy?Scurvey is a disease caused by lack of Vitamin C. Without remediation, it is deadly. Since fresh fruits and vegetables were not possible on long voyages, other foods had to be substituted. Captain Cook was committed to ensuring his crew received plenty of Vitamin C.

How did Captain Cook prevent his crew from getting scurvy?"Customarily, on ocean voyages lasting longer than three months, scurvy decimated the crew, and it was common practice to double overstaff in preparation for the toll of this nutritional deficiency disease. By the middle of the eighteenth century it was known how to prevent scurvy; James Cook was the first sea captain to put that knowledge into practical application, and he practiced those principles with such vivacity that on none of the three voyages did any man die of scurvy."---Sailors & Sauerkraut (p. 13-14)

Which foods were brought to prevent scurvy?Preserved foods high in vitamin C were provisioned by Cook. These included sauerkraut & salted cabbage.

Italy

The history of Italian food is a fascinating and complicated subject. Not quite sure how much information you need, so we are sending you a variety of sources to begin your project:

Traditional favorites/basic overview:

Regional cuisine Global Gastronomer Italian & Mediterranean culinary history ,Clifford A. Wright

History of popular Italian foods

o bruchetta & garlic bread

o cioppino o focaccia o Italian ice & granita o Italian wedding soup o pizza o pasta (includes ravoli, lasagne, spaghetti etc.) o polenta o risotto o sausages

Historic sources:

Ancient Roman Marco Polo & the Merchants of Venice Renaissance Italy Christopher Columbus' food & the Etruscan Origans of Tuscan Cuisine

RECOMMENDED READING

General overview

1. Delizia! The Epic History of the Italians and their Food/John Dickie 2. Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink/John Mariani 3. Food Culture in Italy/Fabio Parasecoli 4. Foods of Italy/Waverly Root 5. Foods of the World: Italy/Time-Life Books 6. Italian Food/Elizabeth David, 2nd ed. 7. Oxford Companion to Food/Alan Davidson "Italy." (also has separate entries for

specific foods) 8. Oxford Companion to Italian Food/Gillian Riley 9. World Atlas of Food/Jane Grigson, editor 10. You Eat What You Are/Thelma Barer-Stein

Historic surveys

1. Cambridge World History of Food, Kiple & Ornelas, Volume Two ---Mediterranean, Southern & Northern Europe (extensive bibliographies for further study)

2. Treasures of the Italian Table, Burton Anderson 3. Pomp and Sustenance: Twenty-five Centuries of Sicilian Food, Mary Taylor

Simeti 4. Food: A Culinary History, Jean-Louis Flandrin & Massimo Montanari (several

chapters) 5. Italian Cuisine: A Cultural History, Alberto Capatti & Massimo Montanari

---there are dozens of books that are period/region specific. If you need to focus

on a particular time and/or place, your school's librarian can help you find the sources you need.

6. A Mediterranean Feast, Clifford A. Wright (includes recipes)

Ancient Roman foods (with modernized recipes): I, II, III & IV Ancient Roman colosseum fare & fast food Ancient Roman cook-caterers Ancient Roman food prices Ancient Roman soldier mess

Recommended reading

Around the Roman Table: Food and Feasting in Ancient Rome/Patrick Faas (includes modernized recipes)

Cooking Apicius: Roman Recipes for Today/Sally Grainger (includes modernzed recipes)

Cooking in Ancient Civilizations/Cathy K. Kaufman (includes modernized recipes)

De Agricultura (On Farming)/Cato (Andrew Dalby's translation:Propect Books) Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome/Apicius (Joseph Dommers Vehling

translation) Empire of Pleasures: Luxury and Indulgence in the Roman World/Andrew Dalby Food in the Ancient World, Joan P. Alcock (excellent for grades 6-12) Food in the Ancient World from A to Z/Andrew Dalby Natural History, books 12-16/Pliny (primary documentation of food &

agriculture) Roman Cookery, Mark Grant (includes modernized recipes) The Classical Cookbook, Andrew Dalby and Sally Grainger (includes modernized

recipes) A Taste of Ancient Rome, Ilaria Gozzini Giacosa (includes modernized recipes)

Medieval/Renaissance period

1. The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy/Odile Redon et al 2. The Fine Art of Italian Cooking/Giuliano Bugialli (16th century dinner menus p.

7-15) 3. Food in Early Modern Europe/Ken Albala (section on Italy) 4. On the Right Pleasure and Good Health/Platina (15th century cookbook, Mary

Ellen Milham translation) 5. The Neapolitan Recipe Collection (15th century cookbook, Terence Scully

translation) 6. The Art of Cooking/Martino (16th century cookbook, Jeremy Parzen translation)

19th century

1. Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well/Pellegrino Artusi [1891]

Italian-American cuisine

1. Hungering for America: Italian, Irish, & Jewish Foodways in the Age of Migration, Hasia R. Diner

2. Italian Cook Book /Maria Gentile [1919 3. Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith

Germany

Every country presents a unique buffet based on its geography, history, and people. What people eat in all times and places is a function of where they live (country? city?), who they are (religion/ethnic background) and how much money they have (wealthy usually eat better than the poor).

TRADITIONAL GERMAN FOODS AND INGREDIENTS

GermanFoods.org Global Gastronomer (good for pictures) Selected traditional German recipes /German Embassy in Washington D.C.

HISTORIC INFORMATION Northern Europe-Germany and Surrounding Regions /Cambridge World History

of Food (very detailed scholarly source) Food in Medieval Times, Melitta Weiss Adamson

---"Germany," (p. 131-140) Food in Early Modern Europe, Ken Albala

---"Germany," (p. 188-192)

SELECTED FOOD HISTORIES

Christmas foods /17th century (has pictures) Gingerbread Lebkuchen Stollen

RECOMMENDED READING: [your librarian will be happy to help you find these!]

Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson---historic overview, separate entries for specific food items and recipes

Germany, Time-Life Foods of the World Series---perfect school reports, great pictures and many recipes

World Atlas of Food, Jane Grigson editor---general cuisine history & selected traditional recipes

You Are What You Eat, Thelma Barer-Stein---traditional foods & dining customs

Spain

Spain is a country rich in culinary heritage and famous foods. Each traditional dish tells a unqiue story of history, culture, agriculture, religion, economy, and human taste. As true with most countries, different regions have different specialties.

ABOUT CONTEMPORARY SPANISH CUISINE"The most common misconsception about Spanish food is that it is spicy hot. In fact, Spanish foods are noted for their fresh natural flavors and a minimum of seasonings, and many an authentic Spanish dish perpared elsewhere fails simply because of the lack of quality and freshness in the basic ingredients. The staples of the Spanish kitchen include olive oli, tomatoes, garlic, and onions. Fresh bread is always on the table not only for each meal but also for each course except dessert. Partly because they are the freshest, and partly because of regional price and preferences, the Spanish cook adds local specialties from land or sea to the staples to produce distinctive regional dishes. Cocida and gazpacho are national dishes of Spain, but there as many variations as there are kitchens, and each variation is stoutly defended as being the best. Fruits and subtle light seasonings, combinations of fruits and nuts with meats and fish, and dishes based on rice are all influences from Muslim times. But the oldest additions to Spain's table--wine and olive oil--have never lost their importance."---You Eat What You Are: People, Culture and Food Traditions, Thelma Barer-Stein [Firefly Books:Ontario] 1999 (p. 394)

You will find a nice overviews (with basic history) here:

Spanish travel guide Spain/Global Gastronomer Traditional foods of Andalucia Gastronomy of Andalucia Food of Andalucia /Clifford A. Wright

RECOMMENDED READING (your librarian can help you get theses books):

You Eat What You Are, Thelma Barer-Stein (Spain)---excellent for basic foods, holiday meals & dining customs World Atlas of Food, Jane Grigson---nice summary of popular/traditional foods and regional favorites The Foods and Wines of Spain, Penelope Casas---detailed history & dozens of recipes The Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson---brief overview of Spain's culinary history

HOW DID THE MOORS INFLUENCE SPANISH CUISINE?The Moorish occupation (711AD--1492AD) left its greatest mark on the region of Spain called Andalucia. Here you will find a cuisine rich with examples of Arab culinary

influence. Spices, ingredients, cooking techniques mingled to create a new cuisine. Many of these included sugar and spices.

"Introductions by the Arabs were...of fundamental importance to Spain's future. They are particularly associated with the use of almonds (the essential ingredient for so many Spanish desserts, baked goods, and confectionery items); with the introduction of citrus fruit (including the lemon and the bitter (Seville) orange...sugar cane and the process of refining sugar from its juice; many vegetables, among which the aubergine (eggplant) was outstanding; and numerous spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, sesame, coriander, aniseed, etc. The Arabs introduced rice to the tidal flatlands of what is now Valencia...The use of saffron in paella is also something whch stems from an Arab introduction."---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 741)

"The occupation of Iberia by the Moors for seven hundred years had a great influence on the cultural and culinary development of both Spain and Portugal. The Moors were a cultured and sophistcated people who brought a new way of life to the Iberians and to the Roman colonists who inhabited the peninsula at that time. Experts at irrigation, the Moors introduced the cultivation of rice, now a staple food, and gourhg wtih them figs and citrus fruits, peaches and bananas and may of the Eastern spices, including cumin and aniseed, which are used so much in Iberian cooking today. They used almonds a great deal in the cooking of both savoury and sweet dishes. The huge groves of almond trees along the Levante coast and the Algarve were originally planted by the Moors. Today, in all the areas of the peninsula where the Moors once ruled, rich and varied rice dishes, little cakes and confections made from eggs and almonds, cinnamon, butter and honey, as well as crystallized fruit and the special turrones, sweet nougats, are part of the Iberian legacy from the East."---World Atlas of Food, Jane Grigson editor [Mitchell Beaszley:London] 1974 (p. 170)

Two popular examples of Spanish foods influenced by Moorish/Arab cuisine POLVORONES & PAELLA.

Andalusian cookbook/13th century is good for examples of specific dishes. Reommended reading? Medieval Arab Cookery/Maxime Rodenberry et al

HISTORIES OF SELECTED TRADITIONAL SPANISH FOODS

Empanadas Flan Gazpacho , Clifford A. Wright Jamon (ham) Paella Polvorones Sevillanos Tapas , (skip down to Spain)

PAELLAPaella, endless combinations of various meats, fish, shellfish, rice and vegetables, is considered by some to be one of Spain's "national" dishes. Indeed, the ingredients and method of paella make it an excellent culinary example of the Spain's history and peoples.

"Paella, to be precise the Valencian paella, universally known as a traditional dish in Spanish cooking, takes its name from the utensil in which it is cooked and from the Spanish region on the shores of the Mediterranean where the union and heritage of two important cultures, the Roman which gave us the utensil and the Arab which brought us the basic food of humanity for centuries: rice. The etymological roots of the word are of interest. Going back a long way one finds in the Sanskrit language the word pa, which means to drink, from which were derived the Latin terms patera, patina, patella, meaning a chalice or culinary utensil to be used for various purposes including frying. In Castilian there existed a primitve form of denomination paela and also tapella, so in an ancient dictionary we can read that patella is a pan or paella for frying'...In Isalmic Andalusia there were dishes based on rice with definite traditional and symbolic character, casseroles of rice and fish with spices which were eaten at family and religious feasts. Later on, when rice began to take on the chararcteristic of an everyday dish, it was combined with vegetables, pulses, and also some dry cod, in this way forming a part of the menu during Lent. Along the coast fish always predominates with rice. Perhaps as a hangover of these Islamic customs, in the orchards of Valencia, and as a special celebration, rice was cooked in the open air in a paella-pan with vegetables of the season, chicken, rabbit, or duck. With the sociological changes of the 19th century, social life became more active, giving rise to reunions and outings to the countryside. There also came into being the tradition, still very much alive, that men did the cooking of paella. This rice for special days evolved into a Valencian paella. In 1840 in a local newspaper it was in fact given the name of Valencian paella. By natural process the tradition had already come into being. The ingredeints for the traditional dish are as folows: rice, fresh butter beans, tomato, olive oil, paprika, saffron, snails (or, a curious alternative, fresh green rosemary), water, and salt. The ancient tradition was to eat the paella directly from its pan, so the round pan, surrounded by chairs, was converted into a admirable 'Round Table'. The companions, which their spoons made of box wood with a fine finsih, began to eat, each one drawing out his triangle and limit, then meeting the geometical centre of the paella."---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 566-7)

"Paella is a word that has come worldwide to mean a Spanish dish with a variety of seafood and usually some chicken. However, the word originally referred only to the pan in which the food was cooked--a paellera...Paellas actually come in endless varieties, depending upon the chef and on regional specialties. Those rice dishes that are made in paella pans, whatever the ingredients, are often referred to as paellas, although just as often the name of a rice dish is a description of its ingredients...Although variations on paella abound, no one will dispute that the home of paella, and of most Spanish rice dishes, is Valencia. Rice growing in Valencia was made possible when, more than a

thousand years ago, the Romans introduced irrigation, a system later perfected by the Arab invaders. It is thought that these same Arab conquerors brought rice to Valencia in the eighth century. Many centuries would pass, however, before rice would become the staple of the Valencian diet that it is today and become a basic crop of the Valencian economy...Purists insist that...Valencia is the only place in the world to eat a properly prepared paella...Ask a Spaniard what makes a perfect paella and never expect two opinions to coincide."---The Foods and Wines of Spain, Penelope Casa [Alfred A. Knopf:New York] 1982 (p. 173-4)[NOTE: Ms. Casas includes several recipes for paella in this book.]

Related dishes? Italian Risotto & "Spain is famous for its huge dried mountain hams, jamon serrano, eaten raw, made from the lean meat of the wild Red Iberian pig. These are huge hams cured in the mountain areas near Madrid. The temperature is high, the pieces of meat large, so a quick penetration of salt is essential before drying. The fresh meat is packed into a clean cloth sack filled with crystalline salt and then placed on the basement floor. Friends and relatives visiting the house are expected to pop down to the basement and do a bit of jumping on the sack of meat. By compressing the ham, the drying and salting process is speeded up. Nowadays a case of strong Spanish wine can be used to weight the hams instead. By strange association, in the finale of the film Jamon Jamon, the two protagonists beat each other to a pulp using the hard, giant jamon serrano as weapons!"--- Pickled, Potted and Canned: How the Art and Science of Food Processing Changed the World , Sue Shepard [Simon & Schuster:New York] 2000 (p. 72)