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[twospots]

The link to the "Foodie Food Storage" article got me wishing I had more info about a few things. Sharon Astyk writes:

[I]t is worth remembering that the peasant cuisines that we base much of our best food upon never contained meat, milk and eggs in the quantities we have them now, never ate them all year round. That is, no one ever ate osso buco

Comments

[amyura]

Hmm....that's odd to me, from my own experience eating locally and in season. I've found that it's been fairly easy to get milk, eggs and meat year round, but that vegetables are far more sensitive to the calendar. I live in New England, FWIW. This time of year I'm replying on my freezer stash of veggies (at this point mostly dark leafy greens that I froze last June, and corn from the whole season), and then the more common winter veggies-- beets, winter squash, turnips. Fruits right now are limited to the last of the season cranberries and apples, plus whatever I've got left frozen

[twospots]

I think that Astyk's point is that, historically, some things (especially meat/dairy) were not nearly as common as they are now, rather than that milk/eggs/meat are seasonal: economic rather than seasonal limitations.

And yes, I certainly do know what is in season when here, but also I know that our local "traditional cuisine" is... er... a bit idealized. I've certainly picked up bits and pieces here and there from various historical sources; I was just wondering whether anyone has done any more comprehensive work on the topic in the way that historians seem to have descended, for example, on medieval or Roman food habits.

[sheafrotherdon]

Mark Bittman's new book, [Food Matters], sounds right up your alley. He's advocating a way of eating that relies on much less animal protein, as the current rate of consumption - especially in the US - is completely unsustainable. He spends quite a bit of time talking about the way in which people raised and used vegetables, fruits, grains, and animals before WWII, and also - crucially - includes 77 recipes at the end of the book that demonstrate how to eat the way he's advocating

[twospots]

Yes! That book is on my wishlist, but perhaps I had better move it up the list a bit. And yes, it sounds like he does some of what I'm looking for: some kind of decently-researched historical perspective.

[sheafrotherdon]

This might be worth looking at? http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=TlIFy8jEppYC&dq=social+history+of+food&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=raMxWSrPFs&sig=KDErBFa-8MrZEzu2G6dBMrTGMms&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result#PPR5,M1

That said, I have a government-issued guide to food preparation and storage, published in Britain in the 1930s, and it advises boiling carrots for up to an hour. So perhaps Britain isn't the way to go . . .

[twospots]

Ooh, yes, that does look interesting. I think that the overboiling thing is more characteristic of the 30s that of Britain, maybe. Both my grandmothers (who learned to cook in the 20s and 30s in New York City and the wilds of northern Ontario) were very fond of well-boiled veggies...

[stockpot]

Hi, "peasant food" has varied tremendously from culture to culture and throughout time so I don't know if it could be said to be one category. I really like the work of Weston A Price and feel MUCH healthier eating a traditional northern european diet than modern "health" diets

[twospots]

Hi, "peasant food" has varied tremendously from culture to culture and throughout time so I don't know if it could be said to be one category.

Yes, absolutely. That said, my preliminary search has turned up very little in terms of info on *any* lower-class cuisine (a common historiographical problem), so anything in a relatively northern clime would be interesting.

I don't know if thats the kind of thing you were looking for?

Yes, especially the old cookbooks link! I will have to take a closer look at the others. A number of the "eat like your ancestors" books I've seen tend to do a lot of handwavy stuff about what was actually eaten, and base their recommendations on spotty or nonexistant research. I'm mostly hoping to find some that are a bit more sound.

[rainbow]

Okay, great grandma is dead, how do I figure out how she used to eat?

one way to research it is to find books written 100-150 years ago where your forebears lived, and read about every day foods there, either in novels, receipt books, household management books, etc.

[cis]

I suppose the problem with learning about "peasant cuisines as they existed for ordinary people" is that the old cookbooks we have are more often written for the middle classes at a time when meat was more abundant, or discuss only the more lavish, dinner-party-food type recipes

[twospots]

the problem with learning about "peasant cuisines as they existed for ordinary people" is that the old cookbooks we have are more often written for the middle classes at a time when meat was more abundant, or discuss only the more lavish, dinner-party-food type recipes.

Yes, exactly. Same problem with most social history, really: the lives of ordinary people are much less documented, and what did exist tends to disappear more quickly (even the material stuff, like clothes and tools).

so maybe that kind of research will soon appear?

Oh, I hope so! Perhaps I ought to go back for a PhD and do that "Food Storage and Preparation in Ontario, 1850-1950." :)

[belleweather]

www.foodtimeline.org is probably the best starting place you could have. Check it out

[twospots]

Oh, that website is cool! Thanks very much.

And yes, I agree that Astyk's argument is a bit... questionable at times. It was more that she--like so many others--was going "blah blah blah traditions," which prompted me to start poking around to see whether there were actually any reliable, comprehensive sources for said traditions. So far, nothing comprehensive, but lots of reliable-looking interesting tidbits.

[albionwood]

Oh, dear, I just noticed she uses the "n-word" ("never")... That's a big red flag when talking history. Still, her overall point has merit.

Even some of our supposedly "traditional" ways of eating don't always follow seasonal patterns. When, for example, did green beans become a traditional part of a Thanksgiving feast? I would be very surprised to learn that the Pilgrims were able to grow fresh beans in late November!