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This article describes the origin of a number of culinary terms that penetrated the Bulgarian language through Turkish mediation. The Ottoman Turkish language contains a significant layer of Arabic and Persian vocabulary, which has also entered the Bulgarian language. Some of the Arabic vocabulary was inherited from Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ, and from the Akkadian language of Babylon and Assyria, and Persian - from the language of the Zend Avesta. As a result, Bulgarian culinary terminology preserves an ancient heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the temporal overlap between human dispersal across Australia and the disappearance of its largest animals is well established, the lack of unambiguous evidence for human-megafauna interactions has led some to question a human role in megafaunal extinction. Here we show that diagnostic burn patterns on eggshell fragments of the megafaunal bird Genyornis newtoni, found at >200 sites across Australia, were created by humans discarding eggshell in and around transient fires, presumably made to cook the eggs. Dating by three methods restricts their occurrence to between 53.9 and 43.4 ka, and likely before 47 ka. Dromaius (emu) eggshell occur frequently in deposits from >100 ka to present; burnt Dromaius eggshell first appear in deposits the same age as those with burnt Genyornis eggshell, and then continually to modern time. Harvesting of their eggs by humans would have decreased Genyornis reproductive success, contributing to the bird's extinction by ∼47 ka.

Copyright of Tiempos Modernos is the property of Tiempos Modernos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This short paper complements information about historical introduction of the seeds of Pimenta in Europa, the important paper of the English, the nearly ignorance of the seeds in French and American cooking, but their uses in some liqueurs and in cosmetic.

The current proliferation of modern cookbooks targeted to the public at large makes it impossible to conceive of there being any that could have had an overriding influence on culinary practice or eating preferences, even at a local level. However, when there was a historical absence of cookbooks for a half-century, as there was in France in the first half of the seventeenth century, it is argued herein that the advent of a single cookbook in 1651, Le Cuisinier Francois by La Varenne, could have had a transformational influence on culinary practice over the ensuing half-century. The book went into more than 50 subsequent editions in the second half of the century. La Varenne stated clearly that his intent was to provide a guide for professional cooks. However, it is hypothesized in this article that the widespread and enduring success of the book was due to its attraction to and acquisition by the general public, including household cooks. This can be ascribed to (i) the fact that there had been no French cookbook describing novel culinary approaches in the preceding 50 years, (ii) La Varenne's concise, uncomplicated, and practical style of presentation of recipes, and (iii) his selection of principal ingredients, which were within the reach of the household cook and which reflected the availability of foods at the time of writing. Furthermore, because Le Cuisinier Francois was laid out according to widely observed religious practices, finding the best options for the appropriate day of the month became an easy task for the user. La Varenne initiated a departure from an earlier style of heavily spiced cooking to one that was based on natural flavors, a limited use of spices, and uncomplicated cooking methods. Thus, rather than assuming that the enduring popularity of the book was due to its widespread use by culinary professionals, it is argued that its style and substance must have imparted a sense of empowerment and confidence in the home cook and that, in these terms, La Varenne's influence on culinary practice was far more widespread and truly transformative, accounting for the remarkable success of Le Cuisinier Francois.

Copyright of Boletin de Antropologia is the property of Universidad de Antioquia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article uses oral histories to examine how migration affected the gender dynamics of foodwork carried out by late postwar Italian immigrants in Toronto. Culinary gender roles remained preserved as narrators journeyed to Toronto. However, by the twenty-first century when national discourse emphasized a multicultural Canada—the climax of the shift toward culinary pluralism—the narrators each embodied a range of food masculinities and femininities. They also described other motives to do partake in culinary labor that cannot be categorized by the traditional binary. A new paradigm that accounts for the experiences of migrants encountering the homogenizing forces of multiculturalism is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asserting that recipes are textual evidences reflecting the society that produced them, this article explores the evolution of the recipes of the iconic Christmas pudding in the USA, Australia, New Zealand and India between the mid-nineteenth and the mid-twentieth centuries. Combining a micro-analysis of the recipes and the cookbook that provided them with contemporary testimonies, the article observes the dynamics revealed by the preparation and consumption of the pudding in these different societies. The findings demonstrate the relevance of national iconic dishes to the study of notions of home, migration and colonization, as well as the development of a new society and identity. They reveal how the preservation, transformation and even rejection of a traditional dish can be representative of the complex and sometimes conflicting relationships between colonists, migrants or new citizens and the places they live in. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the beginning of growth of cosmopolitan cuisines in Soviet Union after the Sixth International Youth Festival held in Moscow, Russia in 1957. It states that Soviet citizens in the post-Stalin Cold War needed to be knowledgeable about the world beyond their border, and mentions that tourism and travel helped break down borders by encouraging the consumption of alien foods. It notes that exotic and spicy dishes of Georgia challenged the primacy of Slavs and Europeans.

The use of meat in traditional Serbian cuisine can be divided into three periods. The first period is the time from the arrival of Slavs in the Balkans, through the Middle Ages to the early 19th century. The second period, the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries, can be marked as special due to significant changes that impacted traditional Serbian cuisine, compared to the first period. It was a period during which the Europeanization of Serbia took place in all spheres of life, including cuisine. After World War II, Serbia and many surrounding countries eperienced a great surge in industrialization in all economic fields, including that of food production. The last sixty years has seen the globalization of our food supply, with food being transported globally from one part of the world to another, and which resulted in neglected traditional, local cuisines. Therefore, many countries, including Serbia, recognize a need for preserving traditional cuisine. This recognition has initiated several mechanisms for maintaining Europe's gastronomic heritage. Preservation of traditional cuisine in Serbia has special significance for tourism development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: The Mediterranean diet has been demonstrated to provide a range of health benefits in observational and clinical trials and adopted by various dietary guidelines. However, a broad range of definitions exist impeding synthesis across trials. This review aims to provide a historical description of Mediterranean diets, from the ancient to the modern, to inform future educational and diet index tool development representing the 'traditional' Mediterranean diet.Methods and Study Design: Nine databases were searched from inception to July 2015 to identify papers defining the Mediterranean diet. The definition accepted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was also reviewed.Results: The 'traditional' Mediterranean diet is described as high in unprocessed plant foods (grains, vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts/seeds and extra virgin olive oil), moderate in fish/shellfish and wine and low in meat, dairy, eggs, animal fats and discretionary foods. Additional elements relating to cuisine and eating habits identified in this review include frequent intake of home cooked meals; use of moist, lower temperature, cooking methods; eating main meals in company; reduced snacking occasions; fasting practice; ownership of a vegetable garden; use of traditional foods and combinations; and napping after the midday meal.Conclusions: Scope exists for future tools to incorporate additional elements of the 'traditional' Mediterranean diet to improve the quality, consistency, and synthesis of ongoing research on the Mediterranean diet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical cookbooks as a source of recipes and food preparation information would be expected to document advancements in food safety related to kitchen equipment, cleaning, foodborne illness knowledge, and consumer education materials. In turn, this food safety information might be expected to contribute to consumers' food safety behaviors. Using both quantitative and qualitative research methodology, this study assessed how food safety information in cookbooks changed and how quickly advancements were incorporated. Faster assimilation into cookbooks was associated with kitchen equipment, educational resources (hotlines and websites), and foodborne illness outbreaks. The rate of incorporation of education materials was moderate. Cleaning advances were the slowest to be incorporated. Modern cookbooks published after the 1980's rapidly evolved with advances in food safety knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While it is clear that Neanderthals used fire for cooking their foods in some times and places, the record of their use of fire is somewhat patchy. We should not assume that Neanderthals had the same relationship with fire that we do; as a technological/cultural behavior, fire may be better understood as a tool that was used only when the costs of manufacture and maintenance were outweighed by the benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the 1947 "Hadassah Shoppers' Guide and Cookbook" from the Winnipeg Council which focuses on the Jewish organization Canadian Hadassah WIZO (CHW). Topics include the history of CHW, the role of food and cooking in the society, and how cookbooks can reveal family and religious values, culinary culture, and domestic economy. Also discussed are CHW's programs and activities, contents of the cookbook, and its goals.

The study analysed public debates on the association of milk fats, vegetable oils and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) between 1978 and 2013 in Finland, a country with a decades-long history of public health initiatives targeting fat consumption. The main agendas, conflicts and participants were analysed. The data were collected from the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat and consisted of 52 threads and 250 texts. We identified four themes around which there were repeated, often overlapping conflicts: the health risks of saturated fats, expertise of the risks of fat consumption, the adequate evidence of the risks of fat consumption, and framing the fat question. During the research period, the main arguments of the effects of consumption of fats have remained the same. References to epidemiological and intervention studies and framing of the fat question as a public health issue, have been ongoing, as has the definition of what constitutes genuine expertise. Yet, we also found discontinuities. In the early 2000s new emphases began to emerge: personal experiences were increasingly presented as evidence of the effects of dietary choices on human health, and the question of fat consumption was framed either as one of enjoyment or of a consumers' right to choose rather than only being a public health question. Moreover, new professional groups such as chefs and creative professionals now joined the discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Secuencia: Revista de Historia y Ciencias Sociales is the property of Instituto de Investigaciones - Dr. Jose M. Luis Mora and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Review

The article presents a report from a June 25-26, 2015 conference in Stuttgart, Germany hosted by the history of medicine department of the Robert Bosch Stiftung endowment on the historical relationship between gender, nutrition, and health. Topics of presentations delivered included the relationship between gender and patterns of meat consumption in the 19th and 20th centuries, gendered aspects of food preperation in antiquity, and gendered aspects of the English famine of 1315 to 1322.

The debate on the future of meat centres on recent environmental, economical, ethical, and health issues, whereas historical dimensions are all too often overlooked. The fiery discussions are nevertheless affected by an underlying legacy of “meat traditions” and accompanying hunting, slaughtering, eating, and sharing activities, rituals, and rites. Eating meat is a biocultural activity. Therefore, a closer inspection of the evolutionary, collective, and semiotic aspects of meat in human societies is required. This study ventures such an exploration based on a heuristic model inspired by Maslow's pyramid of needs, distinguishing between physiological, security, community, value, and holistic levels. Besides the potential relevance of an innate craving, it is argued that meat has interfered with the development of fundamental human characteristics, both as a physical and conceptual resource. This relates, amongst others, to elements of gender differentiation, cooperation and reciprocity, social stratification and power, religion, cultural expression, and identity. As such, meat traditions provide a basis for evolutionary and long-term social processes, on which more recent and shallow courses of action are superposed, affecting contemporary behaviour. Several research questions were identified to further explore and anticipate the impact of meat on human populations and their societal and economic functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnopharmacological relevance This paper speaks to the theme of the boundaries of food and medicine as constructed in the Greek and Roman worlds. It examines how physicians developed innovative ways of thinking about the body that did not attribute health and sickness to the intervention of gods. Ancient physicians and natural historians conceived of new potencies for substances and described their impact on the body׳s physiology between the late fifth century BC and the early third century AD. The legacy of these ideas and practices had great traction in the Mediterranean world and survived into Early Modern Times, and until the rise of new forms of science. Materials and methods This article analyses texts transmitted from the ancient world and considers how substances were attributed nutritional and medical potency. The texts relevant to this analysis include medical and philosophical treatises as well as cookery books. The article highlights discussions about the nature of food and drugs and the herbs thought to cross the boundaries between them. It interrogates different contexts within which foods were thought good or bad for the body, and the social and moral connotations attached to those perceptions. Conclusion Much of the analysis is devoted to understanding the flavours that were a key marker in the nutritional potencies attributed to foodstuffs. However there are clear and influential moral boundaries set by Plato in the discourse around food and pleasure. While every physician should be a chef, and many wrote cookery books that have been lost, a chef׳s talent was located in increasing pleasure, and therefore a less valuable skill. However the different literary genres show overlapping terminology and concerns, particularly with the quality of ingredients. Poor taste was not only a culinary concern. With regard to the setting of boundaries between foods and medicines, the transition between one category and another is frequently determined by the preparation and strengthening of a food׳s potency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnopharmocological relevance During the European Middle Ages aromatic products imported from Asia and Africa were credited with both preventive and curative medical properties. In addition spices provided an image of wellness and as they were expensive and had many uses in cuisine and fragrance, they functioned as prestige consumer goods. Materials and methods This is an effort to look historically at a social and cultural phenomenon for the period roughly A.D. 1200–1500. Sources of information about the demand for and uses of spices include lists of materia medica, medical treatises, cookbooks, religious writings, descriptions of banquets and court ceremonial and literary works showing what might be called aspirational lifestyles. Results It is important to focus on the demand side of the spice trade rather than simply assuming a consistent demand and looking only at the supply (prices, routes, for example). Conclusions The demand for spices must be understood in terms of their attributed medical and wellness powers, but these in turn are related to the mysterious Eastern origins of spices that enhanced their image as elite consumer products and their association with spiritual as well as medical healing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historians of the Eurasian spice trade focus on the fortunes of black pepper (Piper Nigrum L. ) , largely because the trading companies of the Dutch and English which they study also did. Capsicum peppers are, however, the world׳s most consumed spice, and their story needs to be told in parallel. The five species of capsicum peppers spread across the world in less than two hundred years following their discovery by Europeans in South and Central America and proved both hardier than Piper nigrum and able to reproduce spontaneously. While the taste was similar but more pungent than black pepper, capsicums provided an important vitamin C and bioflavanoid supplement to poorer people in southern and eastern Europe far from the precepts of good taste as dictated from Paris, and rapidly became a mainstay of tropical cuisine across the world. This contribution seeks both to trace and to understand that diffusion and its principal vectors from historical research amongst a plethora of primary source materials in European and Asian languages. Medical and dietetic reaction is presented from a wide range of contemporary texts. The work proceeds according to deductive reasoning and in comparison to the diffusion of black pepper consumption. It reveals the very different strategies of import substitution and commercial embargo undertaken by Portuguese and Spanish authorities, a somewhat later date of arrival in China than previously thought, and three different, competing lines of entry into an important area of later cultivation, namely Central Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnopharmacological relevance The history of Chinese spices has received increasing attention in recent years, but little research been carried out on where they fit on the food-medicine continuum for early China, during the formation of the classical medical system. This paper describes how the synaesthetic qualities of spices attracted a particular analysis in that emerging system which serves to mark them as different to other medical materials and foodstuffs. We aim to clarify the special role created for spices to accommodate their boundary-crossing synaesthetic action on the body. Material and methods This paper analyses the contents of several spice bags excavated in 1972 from a tomb that was closed in the second century BCE. It uses archaeological reports of material culture together with the early Chinese textual record, extant in both manuscripts and received texts, to bring out the role of spices in ritual, food and medicine. Results Noting that the flavours and aromas of early China were assigned physiological potency in the first centuries BCE, we argue that by medieval times the unique synaesthetic role that spices played in mediating the senses was systematically medicalised. While being deployed for the purpose of curing disease in medicine, they also remained within the realm of everyday healthcare, and religious practice, deployed both as aromatics to perfume the environment, attracting benign spirits, but also to ward off the agents of disease, as well as for enhancing health through their use in cookery. Conclusion While foodstuffs entered the digestive system spices were all considered ‘pungent’ in the emerging clasical medical system. They acted on the body through the nose and lungs, making them neither food nor drug. This implicit categorisation medicalised spices which, like music, could affect the passions and lighten the spirit, codifying observations about the impact on the body of the ritual environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnopharmacological relevance Tropical spices have long been utilized in traditional medicine and cuisine. New archaeological evidence highlights temporal changes in the nature and scale of the ancient spice trade and in the ancient usage of these plants. Furthermore, a study of their ‘materiality’ highlights that the impact of spices extends beyond their material properties. Here the botanical remains of spices recovered from archaeological excavations at a port active in the Roman and medieval Islamic spice trade are evaluated. Materials and methods Recent excavations at Quseir al-Qadim, an ancient port located on the Red Sea coast of Egypt, have provided new evidence for the spice trade. Due to the arid conditions ancient botanical remains were preserved in abundance and these included spices, as well as a wide range of other food plants. Quseir al-Qadim was active as a transport hub during both the Roman and Islamic periods (ca. AD 1–250, known as Myos Hormos, and again during ca. AD 1050–1500, known as Kusayr), and the remains thus facilitate a study of temporal change in the trade and usage of these spices. Standard archaeobotanical methods were used to recover, identify and analyze these remains. Results At least seven tropical spices were recovered from the excavations, as well as several other tropical imports, including black pepper ( Piper nigrum ), ginger ( Zingiber officinale ), cardamom ( Elettaria cardamomum ), turmeric ( Curcuma sp.), fagara (cf. Tetradium ruticarpum ), myrobalan ( Terminalia bellirica and Terminalia chebula ) and betelnut ( Areca catechu ). A marked contrast between the two chronological periods in the range of spices recovered points to changes in the nature and scale of the trade between the Roman and medieval Islamic periods, while differences in the contexts from which they were recovered help to identify temporal changes in the way in which the spices were utilized during those periods. Conclusion Archaeological and textual evidence suggest that in antiquity spices were used in ritual (funeral rites, offerings), in perfumery, and in medicinal remedies, with black pepper the only tropical spice regularly employed in cuisine. By the medieval period the culinary role of spices had grown significantly, both in the Middle East and in Europe, while retaining their importance in medicinal applications. In both time periods they were luxuries available only to the upper strata of society, but the material properties of spices and their elite status made them desirable to a wider section of society. In their pursuit of spices people became entangled in a meshwork of relationships, altered social realities and political power struggles. Globalization is one such entanglement, highlighting that the potency of spices goes far beyond their ability to stimulate our taste buds, delight our sense of smell and cure our ailments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the saltwater fish called spot which is common in the lower Chesapeake and in North Carolina's sounds. Topics discussed include the spot's culinary associations which are integrated into the history of the place. Also discussed are the results of a late 1880s surveys of the diets of African American families in the Virginia Tidewater and the process of preparing the fish for cooking.

El artículo discurre sobre el uso de cacao y chocolate en la comida venezolana. La autora presenta una breve historia del cacao en Venezuela y describe la importancia económica de la planta para el país. También se considera el desarrollo de corporativas y nuevas empresas que han reformado las plantaciones de cacao, una causa de gran controversia.

One of the greatest challenges for European settlers in 16th century Portuguese America was the adaptation to the new environment, especially with regard to food. Food was generally that available on native soil. Tropical fruits were several, coupled to sugar from sugar-cane plantations and mills. The environmental and flora dynamics were greatly relevant in the process of fixing the settlers to the place as the values attributed to these food and to sugar in the New World. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]