What about pasta? Did the Italians invent it independently, or did they (as I once saw in a school film-strip) get it from China by way of Marco Polo?
Likewise with Thai cuisine, and some Chinese dishes.
Corn was introduced to China in the 1500’s and they are actually one of the world’s leading producers, but consumers there generally prefer rice or wheat, and most of their corn is used as animal feed or in processed food products. Baby corn (or any type of whole-grain corn) is virtually unseen in typical everyday cuisine.
The history on pasta is not so clear-cut, but the general consensus is that it was independently invented around the world at various times throughout history using a variety of ingredients.
I particularly like Salt, because salt is so basic and universal, and the book covers so much territory. Also I recommend Tom Standage, A History Of The World In Six Glasses and An Edible History of Humanity.
Fair enough. I’ve never heard of that email, but the anecdote is very widespread.
Probably one reason for vanilla’s popularity was the invention of synthetic vanillin. If we had to rely on natural vanilla, it would still be considered a relatively scarce and exotic flavoring.
Of course there is a facebook group: Culinary Historians of Atlanta.
Interesting article. No Old World cotton, strawberries, or squashes, either?
Seconded. Bland currry? Bland Thai? Ewwww.
Cotton was first being cultivated in Mexico around 6000 BC and in the Indus region about 1000 years later.
Strawberries have 20 different native species scattered over the globe. The one we know;
The garden strawberry was first bred in Brittany, France, in 1740 via a cross of Fragaria virginiana from eastern North America , which was noted for its flavor, and Fragaria chiloensis from Chile and Argentina brought by Amédée-François Frézier, which was noted for its large size. (From the Wikipedia page)
Perhaps this was true back then (and, in truth, yes it was) but, now, I would posit that Chicago’s regional Mexican food is at least as vibrant as LA’s. (My bias is to prefer Chicago, of course.) Those are the only two cities I go out of my way to get Mexican food. I’ll leave Texas out of this discussion. I like their Mexican, too, but it’s a specific kind of northern Mexican/Tex-Mex food.
Ahem. You do not necessarily have to burn your tongue in order to get taste sensations out of it.
Not sure about peanuts per se, but that peanut sauce everyone loves with satay is actually a Malaysian/Indonesian import, as is satay itself. It’s become identified with Thai food though, and so is itself a local version of a “formerly exotic food that has become native.”
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I tend to think sweet corn isn’t so popular in China because they use archaic strains and feed crops mostly. Americas has been the unique, and native progenitors of the greatest variety and hybrids of corn. If I want rice technology I will refer to asia, if I want corn tech I will refer to the United States of America. American Sweet Corn is the best.
Well, to be “meta”, accurate , and entirely honest, even the bi-color sweet as candy, hybrids, strains, and varieties of sweetcorn we enjoy on July 4th and on through August and September are quite an exotic food that also happens to be native. some 600 years of intensive genetic engineering bring us the corn that would be entirely unfamiliar to any original American Aboriginals.
I’ve read all but two of these and loved them. I further recommend:
Rum: A Social and Sociable History by Ian Williams 2005
The True History of Chocolate by Sophie D. Coe and Michael D. Coe 1996
Tea: Addiction, Exploitation, and Empire by Roy Moxham 2003
Vanilla by Patricia Rain 2004
Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History by Sidney W. Mintz 1995
The most recent 600 years, even with the bits of genetic engineering on top of traditional selective breeding, was not nearly as intensive as what came before.
Croissants are Austrian in origin, introduced to Paris in the nineteenth century by an Austrian army officer.