Teaching food history: tonight’s class
Tonight’s food history class was really fascinating. I have students who have a lot of background knowledge in their own areas of interest and who love sharing it. It makes classes interactive and fun. It also means that I come out of each week with just a little more knowledge, which is a good thing.
The theme for the night was “The Age of Exploration.” I explained that I didn’t think there was one, but that exploration and conquest and invasion and trading posts were really important for understanding some of the dynamics in food history, and that “The Age of Exploration” was a cool tag to hang these concepts on.
We talked about understanding the difference between the first time a foodstuff hits a population group and the actual acceptance of the foodstuff by the wider population. We looked at a lot of different sources to find out just what sorts of food might have been taken up in different countries and what foods could have been but were not and we established a sequence of things that probably had to be in place for a major new ingredient to be introduced into a particular culture. I brought along an iced tea from the Philippines to illustrate the sequence.
We talked a lot about North American plants and South American plants and Australian and the English diet. I managed to say ‘mangel-wurzel’ at least once.
During half time, we ate a cheese dish based on Cato’s work and my favourite Medieval brie tarts, both cooked by students. The schedule of who is bringing what food is beginning to look impressive. The class excursion is almost organised. And, to add joy to contentment, next week I get to teach food in the Middle Ages.
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