Food exchanges between the Old and New Worlds

Abstract

The history of human eating habits paradoxically straddles two opposite tendencies: enduring conservatism and profound transformation. The latter, in particular, have often come about in the course of history. However, the transformations initiated by the developments in world history that began in 1492 constitute an extraordinary test case for evaluating the importance of various such transformations. Indeed, the products characterizing the respective New and Old World diets considerably increased in variety with the exchange between the two continents that began in 1492. Many historians have attempted to establish the chronology and diffusion of various products in different regions of the world. Some have analyzed the results of this transformation as a kind of “blending” of the food traditions. But if we hope to study such “blending” seriously, we must make a distinction between, on the one hand, studying components of the diet (an approach requiring us to think primarily about specific food products that were consumed) and, on the other hand, studying components of the cuisine in general, in which we adopt a more complete perspective. Likewise, when studying food habits, we must be certain to think in terms of individuals and groups of individuals rather than in terms of “continents”. In weighing the concept of “food blending”, we must question whether such blending affected all individuals or groups of individuals in one or the other continent, whether it affected only certain human groups, or even whether it affected some individuals or groups in a given manner and to a certain extent while other individuals or groups were affected in other ways and to another extent.