National dishes are often taken for granted and when we travel we simply enjoy the flavours and smells of the food. Taking a closer look at why certain cultures are famous for their dishes can give us an insight into history. It's not just a delicious meal, there's a story on every plate.
Image from Eat Your Greens children's book by Chloe Greenfield
One of the most exciting parts of traveling or meeting people from other cultures is trying their traditional dishes. We take it for granted that pizza is a typical Italian dish and that you can (ironically) taste the best Chicken Tikka Massala in England, but do we know why?
Whilst national dishes usually reflect the abundant ingredients, spices, and flavors available in that country, it’s not always the case. Behind each typical meal is an interesting history and that can give you a better understanding of the culture. Examining food history can be a great way to trace human movement around the globe as well as sometimes highlighting the darker sides of history.
Prepare to feel hungry as we look at some famous national foods and start to scratch below the surface of their origins.
Fresh Hot Tamales Whilst not exactly a dish, these iconic Mexican snacks date back to between 8,000 and 5,000 BC! They’re delicious corn-based dough parcels filled with a mixture of ingredients. Each tamale is a little different but various filling options include meat, vegetables, cheese, beans, or fruit. They’re traditionally wrapped in corn husks or banana leaves then steamed. They have a long and enduring legacy. Historians and archeologists found evidence that Tamales were eaten by the Toltecs, Olmecs, Aztecs and Mayans. Pottery dating back to 300-1000 AD bears the Mayan word for Tamale etched into it. The snack clearly formed a huge part of people’s diets due to their travel-size form and high levels of sustenance. The wide cultivation of corn meant that it was a valuable and common resource for the indigenous people of Latin America and Mexico. Nowadays, Tamales are consumed widely across The Americas as well as in the Caribbean, and even the Philippines! Curry, the Indian Food That Traveled
Nothing is more ubiquitous to Indian cuisine than curry. Whilst curry is a vague title covering an array of dishes, it’s generally an aromatic slow-cooked dish with lots of spices. Etymologists attribute the word curry to the Tamil word kari - meaning sauce. Archaeological excavations found fragments of pottery from between 2600-2200 BC, infused with traces of turmeric and ginger. This could make curry one of the oldest dishes in the world.
A curry’s often accompanied by rice, due to that being one of the main crops in India. Common spices vary depending on the region but a curry usually includes cumin, coriander, clove, cinnamon, turmeric, fenugreek, and cardamom. Weirdly enough, curry powder is actually a throwback to the British invasion of India, when colonial government officials demanded the separate spices be made into a simple powder blend for them.
Since curry was brought to England over 200 years ago, it’s become one of the national dishes there too - with Chicken Tikka Masala, more popular in the UK than in Indian, reigns supreme as a national favorite.
Pizza, A Classic
Pizza, like many Italian dishes, was born from the resourcefulness of working people in 17th Century Italy. Before this, flatbreads with a variety of toppings were eaten by the Ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians. Historians and archaeologists have even discovered the burnt remains of flatbreads in Northeast Jordan that date back to hunter-gatherer societies 14,500 years ago!
Flash forward to Naples in the 17 and 1800s, then an independent nation, and you’ll find the birthplace of pizza. Naples was full of poor, working people -often referred to as the lazzaroni - who lived in close quarters in this busy, seafront city.
The Neapolitans created pizza out of a necessity for cheap food that could be consumed quickly. These flatbreads with simple toppings, such as cheese, anchovies and tomato, were found served on every street corner. Sniffed at by posh Italians and writers at the time, these people and their eating habits were looked down on and condemned as disgusting.
Pizza’s now iconic worldwide, and the white mozzarella, green basil and red tomato on the classic Margherita (named after Queen Margherita) reflect the colors of the Italian flag. You can now chow down on authentic pizzas in many USA cities, thanks to Italian immigrants who brought the flavours with them across the seas.
Illustration by Chloe Greenfield
The Humble Sandwich
The sandwich comes in many shapes and forms and is a classic lunch option for many workers in the UK, USA and beyond. These days you can get lavish and exotic sandwich options. Yet, the typical sandwich would have involved a chunk of cheese or meat between two dry pieces of bread. The small town of Sandwich in South-East England is often wrongly cited as the birthplace of the sandwich.
Whilst the Earl of Sandwich, John Montague, did indeed name the famous food, the sandwich existed long before.
The sandwich has existed in a multitude of forms throughout history. For example, Hillel the Elder, a rabbi during the 1st Century BC was one of the earliest-known sandwich lovers. He reportedly made sandwiches of lamb, herbs and matzoh bread.
The Earl of Sandwich visited the Ottoman Empire, during the 17th century. It’s possible he observed them rolling flatbreads with filling, then brought the idea back to England. He was a known gambling addict and allegedly asked a London club owner to prepare him beef between bread whilst absorbed in a gambling marathon.
The first-recorded use of the term sandwich is found in the journal of British historian Edward Gibbon. In November 1762, he wrote that he saw men eating “a bit of cold meat, or a Sandwich,” but there’s no mention of the Earl. So, like a lot of food history, the origins of the iconic sandwich are hotly debated.
Pão de Queijo
Like many famous foods, Pão de Queijo (cheese bread) originates from one of the darker times of human history, the slave trade. African slaves were deprived of edible cuts of meat and proper food, so many modern delicacies were originally created out of their desperation and hunger.
Manioc, also known as cassava, was a staple food during the Portuguese colonization of Brazil. Better known as tapioca in the USA, this white powder’s made by soaking and drying grated cassava. The root contains cyanide so requires lengthy preparation in order to eat it.
Some food historians believe that the indigenous Guaraní of Minas Gerais were pounding and preparing cassava this way long before Brazil’s invasion. The gold-rush area wasn’t suitable for growing grains, so the starchy root was a staple for enslaved people. [9]
The addition of cheese and milk didn’t come until later when slavery was abolished and the farming of cattle common. These days, you can find Pão de Queijo in any cafe in Brazil, best eaten fresh from the oven with a steaming cup of Brazilian coffee.
Acqua Sale of Italy’s Campania region
It’s not just the pizza and pasta dishes of Italy that have important, cultural significance and quirky origins. The lesser-known dish Aqua Sale - literally translated as water and salt - originates in the South of Italy and holds an interesting past. Whilst now you can feast on it in some of Italy’s fanciest restaurants, it was originally considered a piatto povero - poor plate.
Peasants living in Puglia 70-odd years ago would find a way to use old stale bread to fill hungry stomachs. The bread could be dipped in sea or salt water and was then mixed with oil, tomatoes, onion and herbs - all they had - a cooked slowly in a wood oven. Typically made in one big pot, it was intended as a sharing dish for the whole family. Like many typical foods, it was born out of lack and desperation but remains today a much-loved favorite.
Salty Bacalhau of Portugal
Bacalhau, salted codfish balls, is a famous Portuguese dish that dates back to the 14th century. When the Portuguese were exploring a colonizing around the globe, they needed food that could keep for months at a time aboard their ships. Salted cod was ideal because it could be preserved and then re-hydrated. Fresh fish could then be obtained whilst aboard the ships if stock ran low, and this could be similarly preserved.
Cod isn’t found in Portuguese waters, so it’s interesting that it’s considered one of the country's specialties. In the 15th century, the Portuguese reached Canada and it was there that they discovered an abundance of cod. By the 16th century, the Atlantic cod trade was booming - high-grade pieces were brought to Europe whilst the leftovers were sent to feed enslaved people in the Caribbean. Because of this, salted codfish forms part of many modern traditional dishes there too.
These are just a few dishes and snacks that tell a story of people and times gone by. Next time you travel or taste a typical dish, ask the people to tell you more as it's often more fascinating than you can imagine.
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