Gastronomy: Its History and its key influencers and influences
Gastronomy is the study of the relationship between food and culture and it lays emphasises on how those two influence and get influenced by each other. It can thus be rightfully asserted that gastronomy is the art of preparing, serving and exploring the relationship between appetizing food, its cultural significance and the cooking style of the particular region and its historical significance and all these actively imbue themselves into the culture and traditions of a palace.
The one who is well versed in gastronomy is called gastronome while the one who actively unifies the theoretical aspect and its practical application is called a gastronomist. Often the term gastronomist is used in synchrony with the chefs that actively apply the conceptual gastronomy to marry the two historically distinct styles into their own.
Gastronomy as a term first traces its origins to a poem’s title written by Joseph Berchoux in 1801 which was titled as ‘Gastronomie”. Pascal Ory, a revered French historian defines the term as the rules of the elites that dictate the mannerism on the dining table thereby classifying and discriminating between the ways of the peasants and elites. The term under the reign of Louis XIV was first associated with a culinary attribution and was used as a tool that was used to comment and discriminate between the good and bad cooking styles. It was a way of judging and commenting on dishes by their sophistication, taste and presentation. Gastronomy thus became a set of rules that acted as a template upon which the French gourmet and culinary practices were developed, which in turn acted as a model that is still revered by the world and followed by the French.
Gastronomy after the french revolution
After the french revolution, which was inspired by the notion of abandonment of french aristocracy by the “peasants” to establish the democracy adopted from the Greek ideology of state governance by the people, gastronomy lost its touch and sway in the new French society. The revival and the reestablishment of gastronomy in French society as the art of culinary and established the link between the culinary practices and culture as a whole rather than its initial and now ill-perceived association with the aristocracy is credited to Alexandre Grimod de La Rainier.
“The works of Grimod are credited with the association of gastronomy with the culture rather than aristocracy as the foundation of theoretical gastronomy.”
The gastronomic literature coincided with the change in the cultural fabric of French society as after the end of nobility, only a few wealthier households can afford cooks creating an employment vacuum for the cooks. Also synchronous to the unemployment of the cooks is the desire of the new bourgeoisie class to assert its dominance by consuming the elitist food which resulted in the formation of restaurants. The restaurants further cemented the importance of gastronomy in French society along with the works of Gimod. The French origins of gastronomy explain the widespread use of French terminology in gastronomic culture.
“The emphasis of gastronomy on the relationship between the cuisine and the culture associated with it can be attributed to the rise of European colonialism.”
With it, the Europeans came in contact with the foods and culture of various colonies they subjugated and introduced the cuisines to their native land while introducing their cuisines to the colonies. By transferring the culinary traditions and the idea of gastronomy throughout the world the french colonialism especially can be accredited to the propagation as well as cultivation of the restaurant culture among the colonies which from there propagated throughout the world as different colonies under different colonial powers later came into contact with one another which further cemented gastronomy as a discipline across the world). Colonialism also cultivated and propagated the phenomena of fusion culinary where the colonies first absorbed the imperial cuisine into their cuisines and vice-versa. Thus food along with the language became the way of the colonisers to assert cultural dominance as well as propagation.
Culture, Diversity and Gastronomy
Cultural exchange, as well as immigration, has taken up the role of colonialism in the 21st century as a force that increasingly influences gastronomy and culinary science. The food is shaped by the environment and the living conditions of the people making it thus is defined by the resources at disposal to the people shaping the cuisine. As people immigrate, intra-nationally or internationally, they take their culinary practises, traditions and techniques with them which in turn either gets absorbed, adapted or fuse with other culinary disciplines thereby influencing gastronomy. A case can be made in context with the change in the gastronomic beliefs that can be seen in the United States and the United Kingdom.
The idea of gastronomy was first introduced in the United Kingdom by the French as the two kingdoms fought and aligned with each other amidst the politically and culturally dynamic Europe. This introduced the ideas of the Cafes, bistros, and restaurants to the English which in turn, along with the French, propagated the idea of gastronomy across the world during the age of colonialism.
Post-colonialism and the two World wars, the UK saw a period of unprecedented growth and this, in turn, led to a huge influx of immigrants from across the world bringing their culture and cuisine with them resulting in the globalisation of cuisine of the UK and turn the idea of the gastronomy in the UK. Sub-urban districts of Southall in London, as well as Chinatowns, are the places where the globalisation of the cuisine and by extension the gastronomy can be seen in the UK.
With immigration, gastronomy globalised as well by reshaping the moulds and conforms that once defined it by the french that suited the more traditional dining culture of the European aristocracy, to accommodate the more non-European culture of dining and cuisines as well the philosophies that shape the cuisines and by extension the food of different cultures.
“Gastronomy also asserts that the food adapts to the culture which in turn adapts the geography and demography it finds itself in”.
Gastronomic influences and the United States
The United States saw a different take as the influences varied into the new world continent when compared to Europe. The British colonists took the approach of eradication rather than assimilation in the Americas resulting in the persecution of the native Americans who found themselves replaced under the guns of the white settlers. The native Americans thus, settled towards the South where the Spanish colonists took the approach of assimilation and the two distinct cultures were influenced and got influenced by each other.
The exchange and the influence can be seen evidently in the evolution of the food of the local population of Mexico and the Latin Americas who assimilated the culture and cuisines of the colonisers into their cuisines, creating and introducing distinctly American dishes like the Tacos and hot-dogs to the world. The continental US is an excellent example of the adaptation of the food to the geography as the restriction placed on the culture by the dispensability of the resources. During the American freedom struggle and after the freedom of the United States of America the American population disowned their British association to forge its own cultural identity, this shift in the cultural outlook of the Americans is also visible in their take on the cuisines making the cuisine distinctly American, though their origins can be traced back to their European heritage.
The American food and by extension the gastronomic ideology saw similar effects of the globalisation and immigration as that of the United Kingdom, but more prominently as the rate of immigration in the United States is significantly higher than the United kingdom as America entered into its Gilded Age earning the moniker of the “land of opportunities”. The immigration from across the world, as well as the Civil rights movement, saw the change in the outlook of the Americans on the subject of gastronomy as it redefined itself to accommodate the various cultural, ideological as well as cuisine influxes of the late 20th and early 21st century.
Thus, humanity and gastronomy influence and get influenced by each other. Gastronomy, when studied concerning the culture that shaped it, gives us a new perspective of the history of humanity. History through the lens of the food. Gastronomy is influenced by our past and the present and is now shaping the future of humanity.
