Food: A Cultural Culinary History

Food as a major catalyst in human history; what food choices reveal about one's values and ambitions; studying food culture in prehistoric times; a wide-ranging diet; the ways in which how human ancestors ate directly drove evolution.

The transition to agriculture; exploring the factors surrounding the rise of agriculture; how plants and animals were domesticated; why agriculture directly led to civilization; how the menu of foods favored by agricultural societies came about.

Ancient Egypt's prosperity and advantages; a sophisticated food tradition and the first elite cuisine; the archeological evidence of Egypt's food customs; the religious significance of foodstuffs and animals; the components of Egyptian cuisine.

Why practices regarding food were integral to the lives of the ancient Hebrews; exploring prescriptions regarding food in Genesis; considering that the Fall was an act of eating; Hebrew rituals and the meaning of sacrifice; complex food prohibitions.

How the ancient Greeks' need for arable land led to their imperial and mercantile systems; what can be learned about ancient Greek food culture; the role of food in rituals; classical Greek diet components that later influenced the rest of the world.

Alexander's conquests herald an era where previously unconnected cultures mix; tracing the diffusion of foodstuffs over trade networks in the Hellenistic period; studying early dietary regimens based on Galen's famous theory of the body's humors.

Ancient India's culinary traditions carry a wide influence; learning about the culture of the Aryans, whose religion prefigures Hinduism; food customs relating to caste and the traditions of vegetarianism in Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism.

Chinese culture produces what is arguably the most complex and varied culinary tradition on Earth; tracing the rise of civilization in China from the Hsia to the Han dynasty; the social and technological factors underlying China's food traditions.

Contrasts in the dining habits of the ancient Romans; the expanding empire; how exotic food becomes a status symbol; a cookbook aimed at those eager to flaunt their wealth; how satirist Juvenal responds; the gastronomic decadence of the late empire.

Observing the role of food in Jesus's parables and miracles, as well as in the ritual of the Eucharist; early Christian and monastic dietary prescriptions; practices regarding ritual fasting; the significance of purification through self-denial.

Studying the "barbarian" diet and the culture of "fast and feast"; these are rooted in the opposing ideals of Christian asceticism, meat-eating virility and classical moderation; tracing Charlemagne's dynamic rule; his impact on food culture.

Contemplating the Muslim cultural values that permit pleasure, the cultivation of the senses and the creation of an exquisite cuisine; studying Islamic eating rituals; looking at Persian-influenced culinary techniques such as perfuming food.

Learning about the great innovations in medieval cooking, spurred by contact with Islamic civilization; tracing the food rituals and exuberant indulgence of Carnival; grasping the symbolism of outlandish folktales relating to food.

The plague in 14th-century Europe leads to a resplendent era in food; the influence of three seminal cookbooks; the craze for spices and sugar; studying specific recipes; cooking techniques; the culture of medieval court banquets.

Uncovering some of the era's extremes in books by food writers Platina, Ficino and Messisbugo; noting connections with the self-conscious sophistication of Mannerist painting; studying menus and recipes from the banquets of the court of Ferrara.

Learning about Aztec society; its indigenous foodstuffs; its distinctive diet; descriptions of Aztec banquets; "signature" foods, from avocados, beans and chilies to chocolate and maize; the Aztec philosophy of balance and moderation in eating.

Tracking the trading empires of the Venetians and Portuguese; the Spanish conquest of the New World; the "Columbian exchange", where plants and animals from five continents are globally transplanted, changing eating habits around the world.

Witnessing new dynamics in culture; they bring the use of cutlery, tableware, ritualized behavior at the table and food ideologies distinct from courtly fashions; observing the effects of the religious Reformations on eating habits.

Exploring the rise of distinct regional and national cuisines; reviewing the culinary writings of Bartolomeo Scappi, bringing together specialty dishes from all of Italy; studying excerpts from two classic books of Spanish cookery.

Grasping the aesthetics of the new French cuisine, which is based in subtlety, refinement and pureness of flavors; discussing four French cookbooks that revolutionize culinary history and set the context for a variety of cuisines that follow.

Considering the religious and political factors that produce a "schizophrenic" gastronomy; contrasting native and foreign influences; courtly and country cooking; the wide range of British foodstuffs; comparing recipes using unusual embellishments.

The 17th and 18th centuries see the rise of European colonial empires; following the conquests of the Dutch, British and French; grasping how the trade in a group of entirely superfluous luxury items changes the focus of the global economy.

Learning about distinctive African foodways that predate extensive outside contact; reviewing the variety of Australian plant and animal species used in aboriginal cookery but never adopted by European settlers.

Contemplating the traditional Japanese reverence for nature as reflected in their respect for natural flavors of food; studying the elements of Japan's cuisine; the origins of sushi; the aesthetics of ritualized manners, decoration and presentation.

Eating habits in the American colonies; contrasting the culinary fashions of Virginia with the mercantile, Puritan ethic of New England; the varied foodways of the Dutch settlers, Germans, Quakers and Québécois; the unique cuisine of Louisiana.

The advent of industrially organized farming, urban labor and mass production in the British Isles; this leads to artificial modification of food, a decline in the quality of diet and human-made disasters such as the 1840s potato famine.

In the 19th century, food-conscious social movements react against the ills of industrial society; new dietary ideologies backed by both quasi-scientific and religious thought; health reform movements; Graham crackers, breakfast cereals and granola.

European culinary art blossoms in the 18th and 19th centuries; the West's first true restaurants in 18th-century Paris; the exploits of four of the first celebrity chefs; the development of gastronomy, the science and art of eating well.

The process by which late 19th-century food production becomes a vast industry; technological developments such as freezing, canning and pasteurization give large companies increasing control over food production; industrial food processing.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, European colonialism expands across the globe as a form of economic empire-building; Western powers control massive production of export crops in nonindustrialized countries; dominating global food markets.

How American eating habits are shaped by immigrants; the social phenomenon of immigration; how food cultures are imported and adapted; how Italian, Jewish and Mexican foods enter the American mainstream; their wide and sustained popularity.

In early 20th-century America, World War I changes the way civilians eat; how corporations dictate the American diet; the advent of chain supermarkets, junk foods and the marketing of food with health claims; food supply during the Depression.

Food technologies developed to aid the war effort become the template for American eating in the postwar era; freeze-dried and convenience foods, TV dinners and chain restaurants; the phenomenon of fast food; the success of McDonald's business model.

The revitalization of food culture in the late 20th century; the health food movement and new dietary ideologies; the new era in food reflected in the work of food writers and cooks, artisan food producers, slow food culture and farmers' markets.

Science transforms both how one prepares foods and the foods themselves; the meeting of science and fine dining in modernist cuisine; the genetic modification of foods, its promise and potential dangers; technologies such as cloning and hydroponics.

Albala's predictions on the future of the food culture; potential trends in food supply, industrial processing, agriculture and food delivery; the projected obsolescence of old forms of shopping; possible successors to traditional kitchens.