Recipes - A History

Approximately 3 million years BC, early civilizations gathered, hunted, and fished for their food. This time period of food history was pre-agricultural, and everything that was eaten was wild.

This means that they didn’t have the food choices we have today, and didn’t even have any of the vegetables and fruits that we take for granted in our current world.

New ideas

Inventions were created in order to make fishing, hunting and gathering wild plants easier, and the first earthen made pots and pans were created that could withstand fire, to make meals over the newly discovered man-made fires. These early people would gather around the community fire to share in the cooking responsibilities, and thus meals became a community affair that we still enjoy today.

Changing diets

Between 10,000 BP and the 19th century, food history was in the agricultural period of which plants were domesticated, as well as animals. Making the food and animals domestic means that they depended on human interaction to survive, and suddenly men were creating villages, and communities, in which their sole purpose was to cultivate food for their families. Tools were created for farming the land, and animals were being used for their power, as men built carts and other related tools that could be used on the animals for planting and carrying items.

World travel

Christopher Columbus brought plants from America to Europe, which began the 2nd great food revolution! The imported plants benefited Western European countries. Suddenly, they began growing new plants and food sources, such as potatoes, tomatoes, American corn (maize), beans and peppers, as well as pumpkin and squash. Food had become tastier with the beginnings of these vegetables, and recipes and meals were developing as people had new food ideas and resources. Cooking became somewhat of a hobby, as people began trying different combinations of foods to make new dishes. It was also during this time that plantations of sugar cane, coffee, and cocoa and cotton originated, since people began using slaves to care for the plantations. America also benefited from transferred plants and animals. From Europe, America gained wheat, chick pea’s, rice, banana’s, citrus, among other plants, and cows, horses and sheep.

Industrial changes

The industrial revolution in the 19th century brought about the agro-industrial food period, beginning first in England. The advent of new machinery and manufacturing processes resulted in faster cultivated food, the ability of farmers to plant and care for more at one time, and lead to our current societies mass consumption mentality. Mass consumption does not mean that everyone is able to eat as much as they want, or that the food we consume is of adequate nutrition. Instead, mass consumption simply means that there are very large numbers of people who have the ability to access the world’s food trade. Unfortunately, there are still great numbers of civilizations who are starving and malnourished, as well as people who don’t have enough to eat in our nations richest, most developed countries.

Todays food

Our current food selections have resulted in many ready to cook foods rather than agriculture type foods, which has lead to the problem of our foods not providing the proper nutrition to maintain healthy bodies. Modern day lives are much more fast paced than our ancestors agricultural centered lifestyles, and due to the rushed pace of society, people demand recipes and fast meals that can be heated up directly from their packaging, or at least food ideas that are easy to put together. Restaurants that focus entirely on providing fast food to consumers have expanded throughout the world, offering high fat, low quality food- but it’s available within minutes of placing your order and that’s what many people feel is most important.