Food History

Dr Barbara Santich is one of Australia’s leading culinary historians. She is best known for her book The Original Mediterranean Cuisine, though she writes about Australian food history as well. She is Program Manager of Le Cordon Bleu Graduate Program in Gastronomy at the University of Adelaide.

Question 1: How is food history different from other schools of history?

Not ever having studied history (although my grandfather was a historian) I’m really not sure, although I suspect food history is far more multidisciplinary that other schools of history. For example, in researching mediaeval Mediterranean cuisine I found I had to study systems of agriculture and climatic systems. In general, though, I see food history as a subset of social history.

Question 2: Could you please introduce us to one of your favourite sources?

Not sure that I have a single one, or even a series, of favourite sources. We use the Flandrin/Montanari edited book, Food: A Culinary History, as a text, and although I sometimes consider it too Euro-centric, or even Franco-centric, I haven’t yet found a better text. It is very wide-ranging, and the individual chapter authors are specialists in their fields.

Question 3: What’s your favourite food history question - the one you > always hope will appear in conversations and interviews?

Again, I don’t think I have favourites, but I suppose I’d always welcome a question about the origin of tomatoes, or about when Italians started eating pasta and tomato sauce.

Question 4: The Original Mediterranean Cuisine was far more popular and widely-read than most books of its kind. Did its popularity change anything in your life, help you or hinder your work in any way? How did you react to its reception?

I didn’t realise it was as popular as you say! Life is rather sheltered at the bottom of the world. I just remember being delighted that the first reviews in Australia were so positive. It was a way of publishing my PhD thesis after all the mediaevalist and academic publishers I approached (and this was about 1989/90) said it was far too specialised and would never attact enough readers. It was fun to do!

Question 5: What are the first books that people here should look at if they have an interest in food history?

The encyclopedias - perhaps Alan Davidson’s Oxford companion, the Cambridge World History of Food, and the three-volume Encyclopedia of Food and Culture.
Question 6: The token frivolous question: just how many dialects were there in Medieval Italy? (my history is main Medieval France and England and I thought they were bad enough, then I looked at the sources you use and started wondering.)

Never bothered to count, and the answer would depend on how you differentiate one dialect from another, but there could well have been hundreds. Not that this would have prevented communication from one city to another.

Question 7: If Australians want to study food history at university, what subjects are useful prerequisites? What sort of degree can someone expect to do, and what universities offer these sorts of qualifications?

Rather than subject prerequisites, I’d say an interest in food and a healthy curiosity about the world. Courses in food history are offered in history disciplines in at least three Australian universities that I know of - Macquarie, Monash and Adelaide (about to start). I’d advise that food history be studied in conjunction with anthropology or sociology of food.

Question 8: Could you give us your favourite recipe?

Again, I don’t really have a particular favourite, it depends on the day and the mood. Often it will involve lots of parsley and garlic (the right kinds of both). But since the apricot tree outside my window has just started flowering, I’ll give the recipe for apricot jam (via Miss Futter, author of Miss Futter’s Australian Home Cookery, 2nd ed, 1934) This is how I wrote it out for my daughter to make a batch of jam, once when I had to be away for a week at the precise time the apricots were ripe.

4 lb apricots to 3 lb sugar
Cut up apricots, cover with sugar, leave overnight.
Next day, stir in undissolved sugar on surface, slowly bring to boil, stirring occasionally (15-20 mins). Boil for 10 mins. Skim off foam. Remove from heat, take out apricots (I didn’t include this, but she knew the apricot pieces were lifted out with a special wire spoon thing we inherited when living in France). Return to heat, cook syrup until thick, approx 40 minutes. Return apricots to saucepan, cook further 5 minutes or so. Pour into warm jars.

Ants are a problem here, because they LOVE apricot jam, so the final step is to cover with a good layer of melted paraffin.

food history, Barbara Santich, interview, The original Mediterranean cuisine, Middle Ages