Cuisine and culture

I have based this discussion on three mainly authors that I consider they are very well focused on the topic we are talking about. These authors are: Landweber (2015), Rumbado Martín (2011) and Civitello (2008).

I would like to start asking: Why do we eat like we eat? Why this way and no other way? Is it well seen to admire other culinary culture and ignore ours? Is it the influence of other cultures, especially French as much important as our ancestry? What is the relation between food, culture and health in all times?

As you see there are many questions that could be a little bit ambiguous but the true is that it is vital that our behaviour at the tables is due to and there’s no doubt it is to our culture and the demographic accident we were borne. Good or bad this is what we have to accept and it is our responsibility as professionals to face on and develop our cuisine and exalt our virtues and history.

I don’t know why we are so fallen in love with French Cuisine knowing that they do not love ours at least in the grade and level we exalt theirs. It is my personal appreciation that their cuisine is not as new and delicious as ours, theirs is too heavy and greasy, and their sauces are full of tallow. Let put two things on the table: one is the delicatessen an perfection they print in their food and the way they prepare it, this is absolutely honourable and worthy and before this we have a lot to learn, but on the other hand is the way they cook, that in some aspects it is not healthy at all, it is delicious in deed but not necessarily healthy. Only to do a reflection I would say that the culture is important, the ancestry is important, the influence around the world is important but we are not condemned to eat something it is bad for our bodies.

Civitello (2008) says: “Food is one of the ways humans define themselves as civilized.” Another thing to consider is the identity in food such us religious, culture, family, costumes, etc. for example French identity is connected to white bread, southern Italians on tomato sauces. It also implies political questions. After the French objected to the United States invasion of Iraq, Some Americans refused to eat French fries. (Civitello, 2008, p. 15)

To understand the changes that are occurring in our food and in the gastronomy in general it is necessary to know their evolution through the centuries. There is an abundant bibliography dealing with this constant evolution, but perhaps there is a book that explains it in a very concrete way, explaining how the kitchen taught to speak and how it shaped the man. According to Faustino Cordón, in his work Cook made Man, "talking about culinary tradition is talking about our own history."  (Cited in Rumbado, 2011, p. 7)

Throughout history, there is a spectacular advance of the kitchen, from the discovery of fire, considered as the beginning, to the current kitchen with high technology. Each impulse has occurred on an earlier fact. In this sense, many ingredients have disappeared or have been forgotten, both because of resource depletion and others because of changes in the tastes of societies. The fact is that food has changed and will continue changing the behaviours of humans, just because we love eating and we do anything just for eat something.

References

Rumbado, M. E. (2011). Cocina creativa o de autor (UF0070). Málaga, ES: IC Editorial. Retrieved from http://www.ebrary.com

French Historical Studies, Vol. 38, No. 2 (April 2015) DOI 10.1215/00161071-2842542

Civatelo, L. (2008). Cuisine and Culture: A History of Food and People. Retrieved from https://goo.gl/1nsISh