The New Worlds influence on Old World Cooking

I was recently in the Colonial Williamsburg Governor’s Palace kitchen and while there a small school group came in and had some questions they needed answered to help them with their school projects.  One of the students kept asking about the Native People’s influence on the Governor’s diet and/or on the diet of some of the lower classes in Virginia.  This got me thinking of all the possible influences that there might be from back in the 18^th century and all the way up to modern day cuisine. With my research, the following are just a few of the ingredient influences that I found interesting.

 

When Columbus set sail in 1492, he was looking for a quick and easy route to the Orient and all the riches that it offered.  He actually landed on what we now know is the Caribbean and even though it was not his intended target, the two huge land masses he discovered were completely new and  just as lucrative as the Orient in a different way.  However, the Spanish failed to realize that what Columbus thought were non-connected villages on scattered islands were actually large organized, social groups that were in control of both North and South America.  These cultures had diverse foods and customs that the Spanish found odd at first but eventually grew to love. 

One example of food influence and change because of this exploration is pineapple.  It was one of several foods that Columbus found in the Caribbean that he and his crew really enjoyed.  Columbus encountered the pineapple on the island of Guadeloupe in 1493 and called it “pina de Indes” or “pine of the Indians”.  The pineapple was consumed by the natives raw and in its pure state with nothing added.  It became a new food in Europe when Europeans took this pineapple and added sugar or fried it in a batter. 

Columbus saw several other foods that were new to him but these foods were most of the time trade foods that were not native to the Caribbean but from Central and South America.  One of these foods was the tomato.  The tomato at that time was sweet and primarily yellow.  The native people ate the tomato crushed up in stew.  The first European recipe for tomato is found in an herbal medicine book written in 1544 by Pietro Andrea.  (It may seem a bit odd to us but all food was considered medicinal at that time.)  It calls for the tomato to be cooked like eggplant, fried in oil (most likely olive oil) with salt and pepper.   

Cortes was the first to truly venture past the Islands and into the mainland.  When Cortes and his men landed in what is now Mexico, he was confronted with what we now consider chocolate.  The Aztecs drank a chocolate drink which contained Chile pepper, vanilla and honey and with corn added to thicken it.  This was served cold in goblets.  It is said that Montezuma and his court drank fifty cups of chocolate a day.  The Spanish took chocolate back to Spain and Europeans adapted it by adding milk, cream or wine along with sugar to make something similar to what we would call hot chocolate today. 

 

As the Spanish moved further into South America and towards the Andes Mountains, they encountered the Incas and more interesting foods.  The most interesting and possibly influential of all would be potatoes.  Today potatoes are eaten everyday by billions of people in many forms and that shows the influence of the Incas.  One of the most popular Incan methods of preparing potatoes was to let potatoes sit out for days allowing them to rot.  They were then stepped on to remove the skin and consumed raw or added to stews.  Food historians believe it was the constant stream of soldiers going into the region during this time and bringing the potatoes back to Spain and planting them that caused the spread of their use.  The most popular recipe for Europeans was to roast them along with their meat. 

In both North and South America, corn was the principle part of the diet of the Native peoples.  Nutritional Anthropologists believe that corn was an accident.  They believe that some two types of grains were grown close together and eventually became what we now consider corn.  Corn never took a real foothold in Europe.  It was considered to be fit only for the poor and animals.  Also in America, it is not until the early to late 19^th century that corn is considered more refined.  It wasn’t until the invention of baking powder and baking soda that cornbread could truly be enjoyed.  Until then, cornbread was incredibly dense and heavy. 

We seem to be especially reflective at this time of year, Thanksgiving.  It causes us to look back at what the first Thanksgiving dinner table may have looked like.  We may think of all the things we eat and their origins.  Maybe this year, give a little thought and some thanks to exploration, discovery and the contribution of the New World and its people.