Cooking in History

Food and Knowledge

To maintain survival; to exercise creativity; or to treat disease?

Cooking has been viewed in different ways throughout history. For centuries, before any inkling of industrial revolution, cooking was relatively practical and food was prepared from ingredients attainable locally. Before trade from abroad became available in remote regions, cooks developed dishes traditionally associated with their locales and ethnicities.

When international trade became more prevalent, unique or exotic ingredients were then incorporated into cooking. Trade, as well as the rise in industry and prosperity, paved the way for common persons to enhance their cooking skills. Many countries in the Western world had the opportunity to exercise unparalleled creativity. The chefs of France and Italy, especially, pursued this inclination and brought culinary arts to an unprecedented height.

When it took time to prepare food and when cooks were dependent upon local resources from the village or wilderness, cooks had to know the properties of food and pay attention to acquiring it and making it palatable. Anyone that ate—namely, everyone—likely had a closer connection to their food than most people do today.

As food became less expensive and more available, another problem presented itself. As the 1900s progressed, fewer people spent large amounts of time cooking, and even fewer spent time growing or gathering food. As corporate abundance increased, knowledge about food decreased in the same proportion. A meal prepared by someone else is a meal that the consumer knows less about than if she had prepared it herself—and so the trend escalated. Food consumption became something to fill bellies rather than the activity which used to fill much time.

The place of the epicurean still holds a place in modern society–just as it has in the upper class for millennia and among the common class since the rise of commerce. Largely, however, food is now something that can be ignored except for the few minutes of momentary pleasure.

Yet there is a consequence to a reliance on restaurants and convenient, processed, ready-to-eat foods. Paying little heed to food except for eating it {no longer paying heed to gathering or preparing} has given rise to a new era of diseases that afflict the prosperous and ignorant.

The wise among us will say “wait” and will reevaluate our food. We will understand that for most of history, men and women had a close knowledge of the food they ate and its influence on their bodies. Western civilization has generally departed from that ancient tradition.

A return to informed cooking is not primitive or old-fashioned but is empowering, rewarding, and life-giving. Indeed, our ancestors’ cooking was not primitive but was arguably more wholesome, more seasonal, and more indigenous.

{The book Food in History by Reay Tannahill, published in 1995, was used as a resource for the above information.}

Food and Medicine

An encouraging trend is becoming more prevalent, wherein people are realizing the healing potential of food and are pursuing more knowledge about it. This practice has certainly existed in all periods of history, and as such is not new but is a return to, and a revival of, older ways.

A compilation of 19th century advice to young ladies shares the following thought:

“Seriously, ought not cookery to be taught much more extensively than is now in English schools? …It would be well if young ladies would undertake the preparation of a portion of the daily food in their homes in the most tasteful and economical way.

“To feed people in dainty ways only requires the exercise of the same powers that are called for in arranging a dress or beautifying a room, or doing several other kinds of work which are generally considered, but which really are not, more sublime and beautiful.

“Call cookery a department of chemistry, and cook herself a scientific chemist, and you can see at once the dignity of her work. Indeed, it would seem that the only reason why good cooks do not occupy the social esteem now enjoyed by medical men is the universal forgetfulness of the fact that ‘prevention is better than cure.’

“Trained cooks prevent ill-health, while physicians, though they drive around in carriages, and appear much grander, only cure it. Nor is it only the physical nature that is benefited by good cookery. Its effect upon temper and moral nature generally of husband and children is very great indeed.”  {From In My Father’s House, edited by Tamara and Naomi Valine, Lily Press, 2004. p. 61}

This advice reiterates an idea that has been popular, to various extents, for many eras. John Forti, the curator of Strawbery Banke Museumin Portsmouth, New Hampshire—a place I’ve visited, shared the following thought in this article.

In the ancient era, it was taught, “Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food.”

In the colonial era, people believed that “the cook is half a physician” and that every plant was an herb useful for “food, medicine, textiles, construction materials, or tools.”

In the modern era, some people still declare, “It is better to pay the grocer than the doctor,” though in practice they often do the opposite.

People disillusioned by detriments of convenience foods are once again putting stock in the truths that food is medicine and that cooking is prevention. They are seeking renewed knowledge about the benefits of nourishing foods, and are spending time preparing food from their own markets and gardens and in their own kitchens and communities.

At a time when healthcare costs are rising and are being more controlled by the federal government, people can study and learn to care for themselves. In a time when many women are choosing to take care of their families at home, it is encouraging to believe that anyone who cooks skillfully and intelligently is in essence serving the role of her family’s chemist and physician.

Forgetfulness of history and nature leads to the notion that conventional medical practitioners {as necessary a place as they indeed fill} are nobler than purposeful farmers, cooks, homemakers, and alternative wellness practitioners.

While physicians are often very necessary, it is good to remember that “prevention is better than cure”—and food can be both prevention and cure. Food is what our bodies survive on, and food-related fields of work are as noble and worthwhile as any other respected realm of work. The culinary field is one of endless artistry and science, and blesses with both health and pleasure those who partake of its bounty!