Chicken Stroganoff in the Amazon: Is Food Always Matched with Weather Conditions? A Comparison between Temperate and Tropical Countries

Abstract

Until recently diet was linked to the seasonal availability of ingredients. But besides this constraint, do people adapt their diet to daily or seasonal weather variations? To answer this question, this article will examine diets from different cultures, from equatorial to temperate climates, using a comparative perspective. The article stems from my experience of being offered chicken stroganoff in the Amazon, which I perceived as a “winter dish”. In equatorial or tropical climates, even those with strong seasonal differences between a rainy and a dry season, it turns out that weather is rarely taken into account. In temperate countries with marked seasonal variations, diets follow the seasons and the weather. But each culture approaches this in a different way. Globalization tends to blur seasonal variations and social considerations may be stronger than weather.