Early modern European cuisine
The discovery of the New World, the establishment of new trade routes with Asia and increased foreign influences from sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East meant that Europeans became familiarized with a multitude of new foodstuffs.
Spices that previously had been prohibitively expensive luxuries, such as pepper, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger,[1] soon became available to the majority population, and the introduction of new plants coming from the New World and India like maize, potato, sweet potato, chili pepper, cocoa, vanilla, tomato, coffee, and tea transformed European cuisine forever.
Fare was naturally dependent on the season: a cookbook by Domenico Romoli called "Panunto" made a virtue of necessity by including a recipe for each day of the year.
[2] Everywhere both doctors and chefs continued to characterize foodstuffs by their effects on the four humours: they were considered to be heating or cooling to the constitution, moistening or drying.
There was a very great increase in prosperity in Europe during this period, which gradually reached all classes and all areas, and considerably changed the patterns of eating.
These dinner times began to change for the European upper class especially when there were wars in the 1600s and power was strengthened through kings and other sorts of government.
In regions of Europe such as Scotland, Scandinavia, and northern Russia, the climate and soil types were less suited for wheat cultivation, and rye and barley were far more important.
Oats made up a considerable minority of the produced grain but stood very low in status and was commonly used as animal feed, especially for horses.
[9] Peas and beans, which made up a very large part of the diet of the medieval poor, were still often treated as a staple food, but to a diminishing extent over the period, to be replaced by cereals and the potato.
[10] European consumption of meat remained exceptional by world standards, and during the period high levels generally moved down the social scale.
But the poor continued to rely mainly on eggs, dairy products, and pulses for protein, though wild game and fish were caught and eaten in less populated regions.
[11] Fruits and vegetables that were introduced to Europe during this time include the tomato, chili pepper, and pumpkin (from the Americas) and the artichoke (from the Mediterranean).
The innovation and popularization of the orangery, an early form of greenhouse, in the 17th century enabled the growing or wintering of fruiting plants that would otherwise be unable to survive the climate of more northerly locations in Europe.
This enabled the wealthy to have access to fresh oranges, lemons, limes, and even pineapples prior to the advent of refrigerated transport.
A map of Early Modern Europe could be drawn based on the characteristic fats that predominated: olive oil, butter and lard.
These kitchen staples had not changed since Roman times, but the onset of the Little Ice Age that coincided with Early Modern Europe affected the northernmost regions where olives would flourish.
All but the poorest drank mildly alcoholic drinks on a daily basis, for every meal; wine in the south, beer in the north, east, and middle Europe.
Gin, grain liquor flavored with juniper, was invented by the Dutch and commercial production by Lucas Bols began in the mid-17th century.
[13] The production was later refined in England and became immensely popular among the English working classes, ultimately resulting in the Gin Craze of the early 18th century.
A number of chefs were integral to this process, including Cristoforo di Messisbugo, steward to Ippolito d'Este, published Banchetti Composizioni di Vivande in 1549, which detailed banquets in the first half of the book, while the second half of the book featured a multitude of recipes for items such as pies and tarts (containing 124 recipes with various fillings).
[14] In 1570, Opera dell'arte del cucinare was written by Bartolomeo Scappi, personal chef to Pope Pius V, a five-volume work which to that date encompassed the most comprehensive example of Italian cooking.
The work contained over 1,000 recipes, with information on banquets including displays and menus as well as illustrations of kitchen and table utensils.
[15] Unlike France's continued path toward high-cuisine, Italy began to show a change toward regionalism and simple cooking in the late 17th century.
[17] Originating in booklet form, periodicals such as La cuoca cremonese (The cook of Cremona) written in 1794 give a sequence of ingredients according to season along with chapters on meat, fish, and vegetables.
As the century progressed these books increased in size, popularity, and frequency, while the price to attain them dropped well within the reach of the general populace.
His recipes marked a change from the style of cookery known in the Middle Ages, to new techniques aimed at creating somewhat lighter dishes, and more modest presentations of pies as individual pastries and turnovers.
Following the French Revolution, the dissolution of the Ancien Régime led the former cooks for the aristocracy to turn to new clients, either elsewhere in Europe or with the general public in France, accelerating the growth of restaurant culture.
