History

A historical knowledge of the food and drink one uses in the kitchen lends to more understanding and appreciation of the food, which can lead to more inspired infusion. If one understands where the food they use comes from both currently and historically, they are more likely to start to understand the indigenous cultures of the areas the food originated from.

This section includes not only how we've been eating food In the past, but where, when and why. One of my favorite books is called “A History of the world in 6 Glasses" by Tom Standage. This book details historical events as seen through the lenses of six common substances we drink everyday. The list includes beer, wine, tea, coffee, spirits, and soda. The book was introduced to me in my sociology class “Censorship and Silencing” when I was assigned an excerpt from the chapter on coffee.

Beer has been around for centuries. Archaeologists have found that workers in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt would be paid in beer due to analysis of some of the earliest writing discovered has been for accountants. One of the earliest Mesopotamian hieroglyphs discovered was for beer, which can be directly translated as "liquid bread."There is even a theory that agriculture developed because...people love beer and wanted more of it. The distribution of beer was easier to do in a settlement. Because of the fermentation process, beer has been used as a staple, stable drink as an alternative to water. For instance, all across England during the 1800s, the water was not safe to drink because of bacteria, mold and pollution.

The spread of coffee from the Middle East to Europe was a Godsend in places such as England as a great alternative to beer where the water was not safe to drink. Coffee was highly favored because it meant that one could think much more clearly as a result of not being buzzed the effects of the caffeine. Coffeehouses were the gathering places of the majority of the educated populace, and they could talk about politics and intellectual ideas. It was the current place to receive the day's news as well as any other ideas being passed around.

Another book I was going to read, but watched the Netflix instead, is “Botany of Desire.” It explains human history from the point of view of four plants, two of which are food. The foodstuffs talked about in this book are the Apple and the potato. These plants used humans to their advantage to spread them worldwide. For instance, the Apple came from somewhere in Turkey and was originally a small fruit. However, the Apple gained popularity and was introduced to Europe and then to North America where it was used to make apple cider.

At least for me, history is a lot more fun when learned through the lens of food. One might not learn about all the wars and who became president, but will be able to make a sensory connection to events, which will ensure that they remember it for a long time have told, all factory sentences at claim to have the most impact on memory. For example, I am willing to bet you remember your waking up to your grandmother baking chocolate-chip cookies more than you remember all of Martin Luther's 99 points.