Abstract
This article discusses the gastronomic activity that took place in Spain between 1900 and 1936. It does so assuming that the modernisation process of Spain’s gastronomy transpired during these years, which is the same period recognised for when modernity emerged in other areas. This approach has been possible due to the discovery and analysis of unpublished testimonies of that time, mainly obtained from the general illustrated and specialised trade press as well as treatises written by cooks and writers of the period and the contemporary literature on the subject. These findings support the existence of factors such as the desire to have a national culinary identity, the creation of the first training centres, the emergence of professional associations and the abundant production of cookery books, treatises and culinary magazines. All these elements enable us to outline and contemplate the formation of the modern structure of gastronomic activity, but above all, they enrich part of its history and highlight the advisability of conducting research in a field that is so important for Spain; namely gastronomy.
Highlights
The level of maturity reached in Spain’s gastronomy during the first third of the twentieth century in terms of its activity and professionalisation was not matched in many aspects until the 1970s, when the new Basque cuisine movement emerged, and until the end of the twentieth century in a broader sense, with Ferran Adrià
This approach has been possible due to the discovery and analysis of unpublished testimonies of that time, mainly obtained from the general illustrated and specialised trade press as well as treatises written by cooks and writers of the period and the contemporary literature on the subject. These findings support the existence of factors such as the desire to have a national culinary identity, the creation of the first training centres, the emergence of professional associations and the abundant production of cookery books, treatises and culinary magazines
All these elements enable us to outline and contemplate the formation of the modern structure of gastronomic activity, but above all, they enrich part of its history and highlight the advisability of conducting research in a field that is so important for Spain; namely gastronomy
Summary
The level of maturity reached in Spain’s gastronomy during the first third of the twentieth century in terms of its activity and professionalisation was not matched in many aspects until the 1970s, when the new Basque cuisine movement emerged, and until the end of the twentieth century in a broader sense, with Ferran Adrià. The evolution of Spain’s gastronomy was determined by a confluence of new factors: the first gastronomy courses and teachings; the defence of a national cuisine; the emergence of professional associations; the publication of cookery books and culinary treatises and the birth of the trade press. This was despite the fact that Spain was lagging behind other nations at the beginning of the twentieth century, as it failed to fulfil the conditions that had enabled the industrialisation of the first comers. This process of industrial modernisation, together with the increase in the population of the cities and the timid progress made in the social structure had an impact on consumption and on gastronomy
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