Lesson 2 Tasty History

In a region near the Middle East, called the “Fertile

Food and History
Food is one of the basic necessities of life. Finding, Crescent,” the earliest known wheat was domesticated

growing, preserving, storing, trading, and eating it and grown in about 8500 BCE. It spread west to

have driven the course of human history. The need Greece and to Germany over a period of about 2,000

to eat and the desire to eat something pleasant have years. China and Southeast Asia seem to have been

encouraged meetings of cultures and exchanges of the center of the cultivation of rice about 7000 BCE.

ideas. Looking into the tasty history of food will Moreover, corn was first grown in Central America

allow us to better understand how food has shaped around 8000 BCE. Modern people would probably

the world and our history. not even recognize the earliest strains of rice and

corn, to say nothing of enjoying their taste. However,

More than 12,500 years ago, humans transitioned they are nonetheless the source of our modern

from chasing their food around to growing it where cuisine.

they could settle. It is difficult to say which particular

plant was the very first to be farmed, but there are Farming allowed people to settle down instead of

a few crops that archaeologists believe sparked the moving around all the time. This new sedentary

Agricultural Revolution. lifestyle allowed humans to develop settlements with

higher populations, division of labor, trade, political

structures, writing, and much more.

In times of abundance, settling and farming yielded

a surplus of food, and thus certain societies were

able to expand their horizons and meet other groups

of people. This resulted in trade and the exchange of

ideas, languages, and traditions. Such meetings also

resulted in war, the expansion of influence, and

cultural domination.
 At around 1200 CE, Genghis Khan united the The ancient methods of preserving food such as

numerous small tribes of Northeast Asia under the salting, drying, and smoking have not changed for

Mongol Empire. At its peak, it stretched from west to thousands of years. One additional method was

east from Central Europe to the East Sea, north into introduced in the early 19th century and has been a

Siberia, and south into India. Genghis Khan needed a game-changer: canning. Canning dates back to the

massive, mobile army in order to maintain his Napoleonic Wars when the French government

empire, and this army needed to be fed enormous offered a large reward to anyone who could find a

amounts of food. Khan and his advisers needed to way to effectively preserve food. This would allow an

develop a system to cure and dry meat so that army to be not only healthier but also better able to

calorie-dense, healthy food could be preserved and fight in tougher conditions. Different types of the

easily transported over long distances. The result was canned foods we enjoy today were originally

developed to support the needs of the military.

meat jerky similar to that which is available today at

a convenience store near you!

Spices made food taste good, leading to an era of

exploration and discovery. With demand for spices

growing in the early 15th century Europe, many

explorers began long sea voyages in search of spices,

which lasted for about 200 years. Columbus from

Khan's army cut long, thin strips of donkey and cow
Italy ended up going west to the Americas; Da Gama
meat, and salted them in small bowls, after which
from Portugal discovered the first sea route to India;
the strips were air-dried and possibly roasted over a
and Magellan from Portugal went east and was the
fire. The result was surprisingly delicious and
first to sail around the world. On land, the Silk Road
contained enough nutrition to sustain an entire army.
carried spices and many other trade goods between

Asia and the Middle East. A search for ways to make

food taste better sparked a global trade network

which many historians agree eventually resulted in

intellectual and cultural exchange, diplomacy, conflict,

and wealth.
 The story of pizza reveals how food evolves over

time because of the creativity of people. Tomatoes

were brought to Europe from the Americas in the

16th century, but many Europeans believed them to

For example, pepper is a very common spice all be poisonous. Some poor people in Naples, Italy, in

over the world today; however, an ancient Roman the late 18th century, maybe out of curiosity or

cook could not just go to the grocery store to get necessity, began to use tomatoes as a bread topping.

some. The Romans had a flourishing spice trade with It tasted good, so tourists were attracted to the area

India, but acquiring pepper was difficult and costly, to try this specialty. This was probably how pizza was

leading to myths about how dangerous it was to born. Immigration in the 19th century brought pizza

harvest. In fact, some stories said that pepper trees to the United States and Canada, increasing its

in India were protected by poisonous snakes. They popularity and sparking the creation of regional

had to be scared away by burning the trees, which recipes like Chicago deep dish or New York pizza.

gave the peppercorn its black color. These kinds of

fantastic stories maintained the charm of the spice, Food gives strength, helps people fight, and evolves

and they also enabled pepper investors to strengthen over time. It is also an intriguing way to learn about

their hold on the prized commodity. history. With the world becoming a smaller place and

more and more varieties of foods being invented, it's

no wonder that many people take vacations where

the focus is on their stomachs. When they try a local

dish for the first time, they feel an intimate

connection with the unique history of that particular

Technological progress, human curiosity, and the
place. Food: what a wonderful, tasty way to learn
determination to explore moved people all over the
about people and the history of the world.
world. This movement of people also meant that

more and more people from different backgrounds

would come together. The tasty history of food also

includes what happens when cuisine and culture

intertwine.
Read More

A Brief, Beautiful Moment Suddenly there was another knock at the door: it

War might seem like a time for hate and conflict.

was four German soldiers. The thought that she
However, even during the darkest of times, there is
might be jailed for harboring enemy soldiers came to

still room for charity and humanity. We see this in mind, but she calmly explained that the Americans

the story of Elisabeth Vincken, who made a decision

were desperate and it was Christmas Eve, so she

that warmed the hearts of sworn enemies during a

took them in. One German soldier stared intently and

time of war. then finally said, “It's Christmas. There will be no

shooting here.”

On Christmas Eve, 1944, German and American

soldiers fought in one of the biggest battles of That Christmas Eve, enemy soldiers gathered

World War II near the town of Aachen, Germany.

together and shared a meal. In the morning, they

With the safety of her family being put at risk by

thanked the woman for her kindness and courage,

remaining in the city, Elisabeth Vincken and her son picked up their guns, and returned to the war. The

decided to take shelter in a small cabin in the

brief, beautiful moment of peace in the middle of

woods. Elisabeth waited for her husband to return

that chaos was over.

from work as she prepared a simple Christmas dinner

of roast chicken and potatoes.

When the sun went down, there was a knock at the

door. Elisabeth opened the door to find three

American soldiers, one badly wounded. They asked if

they could come in, and Elisabeth politely invited

them in to the warmth of the cabin despite the fact

that they were enemy soldiers. They were in need,

and she was a charitable person.