Although a bad cold has delayed the first feast, I thought I would share some of my observations of relatively recent food trends. I do this somewhat by remembering how food was different when I was little to how it is now, but mostly by looking at old cookbooks from the 1950s through the 1990s and comparing them to a modern cookbook. Although dietary staples change slowly, flavorings and preparation methods change much more rapidly, and in the last 30 – 60 years I can see some significant changes. First, what was required to make a “complete” meal has changed significantly, generally becoming simpler over time. However, while having less time available for cooking certainly plays a role, there is also the possibility of greater realism by cookbook authors, who now realize that even for those that have the time and money, it seems silly to prepare a soup or salad, protein, starch, vegetable, and cooked dessert every night for dinner. Despite what the ideals seemed to be, I doubt that the average 1950s household actually ate what was seen in movies and TV shows, especially since real income was lower and food prices, especially meat prices, were higher relative to income. Perhaps the upper middle classes, which could afford such food and to have a stay-at-home-wife, did, but just as huge banquets were the exception rather than the rule during Victorian times and earlier, so such abundance seemed unlikely for the average. With that in mind, however, the average worker’s diet was much better than it had been even half a century earlier, as society became somewhat more equal. Even while not being able to dine on the ideal fare on a daily basis, most of the populace could afford to recreate more modest versions of the ideal feast on special occasions. Now, with those qualifications aside, how have ideals and general preferred tastes changed over the last six decades? Looking at the main course, what is considered complete has changed significantly. While in the past it was typically separate meat, starch, and vegetables, now there are more one-dish meals, and vegetarian dishes are more mainstream. Quicker cooking methods are preferred, and there is often heavier spicing than in the past. Even the types of foods have changed. Beef is still a preferred meat, while chicken has gained a lot of popularity. Pork has lost some ground, but mutton and lamb have become very rare except for holidays and special occasions, along with goose, duck, and other game. Except for hunters, any game except duck is very hard to come by. Variety meats have also lost a lot of popularity. As for vegetables, there has been less change, but more exotic vegetables are gaining ground, as is the case with fruit. Tastes in fruit have changed, especially in desserts. Raisins, figs, dates, prunes, and candied fruits have lost a lot of popularity. This may in part be due to better preservation of fresh fruits, and may also be due to increased usage of chocolate, which has largely displaced fruit in many favorite desserts. Even beverages have changed. In the past, no formal dinner was considered complete without wine, but now, although many non-alcoholic drinks are not considered formal enough for a formal dinner, only serving water with the food is perfectly acceptable. If I have rambled in this post, I apologize, I have just had a lot to think about. The first feast will be coming up soon, focusing on Ancient Mesopotamia.

For a long time, I have been interested in both cooking and history, so I suppose that it is only natural that I would develop an interest in food history. My interest further increased when I discovered Guns, Germs, and Steel, a brilliant anthropological study by Professor Jared Diamond. This may seem like a jump between two topics, but there is a connection. The conclusion of the study is that certain geographic factors and local resources widely affect when (or even if) a society makes the transition from foraging for food to active food production and how rapidly and fully this change takes place. Essentially, it is all about what foods are available and how they are obtained. Hence, the study of food history and anthropology are intertwined. What is eaten, both by the elites and the common people, says a lot about the society. Ideals and norms about food share an insight into the ideals and norms of the world they were produced in. In the process, we can learn from history and often learn a bit about ourselves.

With that in mind, and inspired by the BBC series The Supersizers (available on Youtube, I highly recommend it), I will hold a feast of the time period being studied in each post. However, due to budget, time, and space restrictions, I will simplify and “tone down” the feasts to something that I can manage. Since I don’t have unlimited access to the state treasury, a kitchen large enough to roast a dozen oxen alongside all manner of fowl and fish, dozens of servants to staff the said kitchen, a feasting hall large enough to feed a few hundred people, or a convenient place to buy such historic delicacies as peacocks, swans, or flamingoes, I am unable to create a perfect representation of such feasts. However, with a bit of research into foods and cooking methods and some improvisation to fill in the gaps, I believe that I can, with a few substitutions for prohibitively expensive or hard-to-find foods, create a reasonable idea of the food and its culture using my average middle class kitchen to prepare a feast for my parents and a few friends and neighbors. After all, food prices relative to income are much lower than in the past, and many onetime luxuries are now commonplace. Thus, I can create what would have been considered a fairly good meal by a moderately wealthy family of the age with summer job income while still saving most of it for college expenses. Considering that, despite some of the issues of modern life, we live much better than our ancestors did even a hundred years ago. Now that is something to celebrate. So please, join us while we celebrate how the past made us who we are today. We have food.