When we talk about the history of gastronomy and feeding, we are talking about the narrow relation between this one and the human evolution in its civilization process. From the appearance of the human race to nowadays, foods and kitchen utensils of each period have been changing as well as the way to cook and to conceive the cooking. Questions like religion and social condition have played an important role.
Already in the Old Age, the Egyptians ate legumes, vegetables and all kind of fruits. Moreover, they fed themselves with papyrus stems, roots and bulbs and also cultivated cereals like barley, oats and rye. Thanks to that, they discovered the bread. The Hebrews drank pure wine and overcoat sour milk, because there was not any drinking water. Due to their religion, the poor class only could eat some types of meat in certain events and celebrations. With the arrival of the Greeks, the cooking gave an important turn. They introduced the olive oil in all type of stews and many spices until the moment unknown. The Romans continued with the same and new recipes, such as the “pullmentum” (pap of wheat flour diluted in water). They used to eat three times a day, a custom that still continues nowadays. Their passion to eat was so great that privileged classes used the “vomitorum” in their banquets, a private room where they made their vomit with peacock feathers to lighten their stomach and to continue eating later.
The cooking of the Middle Ages was an art that needed much dedication. People paid attention with the seasons and always looked for fresh and quality products. However, the Catholic Church began to impose its rules and forced not to eat meat at certain times of the year, during the Lent, for example. With the discovery of America, the Europeans met new foods like tomatoes, papas, chocolate and coffee and new spices like pepper, today very appreciated by our culture.
Now, we can affirm that a crossing of cultures is taking place in our traditional cuisine. The Globalization and overcoat the Media have contributed to this. Small and great restaurants cannot resist offering exotic recipes from all over the world. We even feel attracted, from our houses, by everything what comes from Asia, Africa or South America. We go to international cooking courses to surprise our guests and make wine tastings in order to be great gourmets. We travel around the world and pay crazy amounts for exquisite dishes. This is not bad; on the contrary, it allows us to know other cultures.
However, sometimes we do things like that only because we want to be cool and forgot that cooking must be more than a pleasure. In the day to day, it is really important to know the properties and functions of our nearer foods. In short, how to consume our foods in a suitable way, following the nutritional advices of the professionals. We would have to know how to plan the shopping and to organize our fridges, avoiding therefore the excessive consumption of frozen and precooked foods and overcoat rich fat products.
When I think about it, I am more convinced that my grandmother’s cooking is the best one of the world!
