Chapter Four World History of Food Products and Bakery Products

T - ^ CHAPTER FOUR WORLD HISTORY OF FOOD PRODUCTS AND BAKERY PRODUCTS I CHAPTER FOUR WORLD HISTORY OF FOOD PRODUCTS AND BAKERY PRODUCTS Sr. Page C ontents No. No. 4.1 HISTORY OF FOOD 51 4.2 THE AGRICULTURAL AGE 51 1 1 4.3 THE INDUSTRIAL AGE 56 4.4 THE INFORMATION AGE 59 j 4.5 GRAINS OF TRUTH ABOUT WHEAT FLOUR 59 4.5.1 Types of Flour 61 4.5.2 Substituting 63 4.5.3 The Pantry: Flour Grains and Meals - All 64 about Wheat Flour 4.6 FOOD HISTORY - BREAD 65 Food historian Elizabeth David sums this 67 4.6.1 topic up most eloquently 4.7 ENGLISH BREAD AND YEAST COOKERY 69 4.7.1 About Yeast 69 4.7.2 Pitta and Naan 70 4.7.3 Lavash (Armenian Flat Bread) 72 4.7.4 The Pantry: Flour, Grains and Meals 73 49 - World History of Food and Bakery Products Sr. Page C ontents No. No. 4.7.5 FLOUR TYPES: Wheat Flour and Non-Wheat 73 Flour 4.8 TYPES OF BAKERY PRODUCTS 75 4.8.1 Bakery Products 75 1 4.8.2 Beverages 78 4.9 CONFECTIONERY 79 4.9.1 Dried or Smoked Foods 80 4.10 HISTORY AND GROWTH OF CAKES 86 50 - World Histot7 of Food and Bakery Products CHAPTER FOUR WORLD HISTORY OF FOOD AND BAKERY PRODUCTS 4.1 HISTORY OF FOOD: Food is inseparable from the history of mankind and essential to it. Without food there would be A little need for history, “without food there is no mankind”. Before human triumph over nature with artificial light and head and before the extension of the sense with radar, x-rays and photography humans were guided by the elements. When it became dark they slept, when it was light they rose and on rising they were hungry. So the first task of the day was to eat. Until about 10,000 B.C. humans were little more than a successful predators. They knew how to survive, they could fight, they made clothes and tools, they even knew how to cook, but they had no more influence on the outside world than the animals they killed and scavenged for food. Then came a revolution, humans began to grow plants and tame animals. The course of history was to change the earth and all who lived on it would feel the impact of the coming agricultural age. 4.2 THE AGRICULTURAL AGE; There is a little unequivocal evidence prior to 3000 B.C., the date of early written records. Archaeologists have dug up tools and food residues that give us an idea of the diet and work habits of our early predecessors. We can be sure, however that the pursuit of more and better foods has directed the very movement of human history. Human’s diet has led to what we are today. 5 - World History of Food and Bakery Products As humans successfully raised crops and developed livestock, trading, became a way of life. The safe and bartering of goods led to the need for mathematics. The earliest form of counting was probably done on the figures and recording was no doubt, aided by the use of rocks or smooth pebbles. The word calculus stems from the Latin root for stone and digit comes from the Latin for finger or toe. Among the earliest devices known for calculating numbers was the abacus, which dates back to 3000 B.C. The abacus has two sets or columns of beads. These beads are moved against the centre divider to indicate the numbers. The abacus does no calculation itself, but aids the brain visually in recording numbers. It is interesting to note that man has always reckoned, calculated and counted by manipulating and comparing numbers. Eni, denis, dass, cater, wean, was a rhyme used by medieval Shepard in England to count sheep, (as with modern computers, it is vast a matter of understanding the language) Every specialized field of endeavor has a lingo of its own. Even today there are different system of counting. The decimal system no doubt system probably comes from the early observation of the starts and the principal constellations. The binary system, the standard internal language of the computer, uses only two digits, 0 and 1 but because of the speed of electronic computers, is probably the most efficient means of counting available today. With agriculture providing the main impetus, the majority of the world’s population worked the land. Nearly every task had to be completed in sequence and at its proper time. Weather conditions, the natural characteristics of the plants and may other factors dictate the order of things. Farmers, found it useless, for instance, to sow wheat in June, as winter would be on them before their crop ripened. The need to establish a regular pattern 02 - World Histot7 of Food and Bakery Products and timetable led to the development of the calendar, the Inspiration coming from the visible fixed cycles man saw around him in the solar day, the solar year and the lunar month. The lunar month was the basis of many early calendars. The system became confused, though with one man’s Tuesday often-another man’s Friday. The Romans under Julius Caesar tackled the problem. They instituted the Julian calendar in 46 B.C. based on the solar rotation. Many farm laborers. However, still referred to the Zodiacal calendar with individual months considered as part of the agricultural year. Starting with the spring equinox around March 21®*. The importance early farmers attached to the movement of the sun, moon and planets is evident in the great meg^iiilhjc site dotted all over the Western ■ -I*. ■ Europe and North Africa. Recent research ghd discoveries indicate that one of the principle functions of monuments sucfi as Stonehenge in England was to compute the yearly movements as celestial bodies. There is much evidence to support the theory that even the Pyramids of Egypt were constructed with a dual purpose. Besides being the burial places for the pharaohs, the pyramids were gigantic, megalithic computers. Before reading, writing and arithmetic were taken, for granted, field workers used may forms of recording their labour. Among them was the tally system. A landowner would contract with a worker to labour for say 5 days. The employer and worker would agree on the number of days to be worked and they would split a stick. The two identical halves would be side by side with a notch cut for each day worked. When five notches lay side by side on both sticks the tally was complete. The man received his pay. 02 - World History of Food and Bakery Products In case of a group of men working such as 10 men clearing the field, the owner would split a piece of wood into 10 strips, each man would receive a piece. The tallies were strung together, with each man identifying his own piece. They were kept in safe place, like filed accounts by the tallyman. At Sundown, the men would assemble. The owner or tallyman would score a line across the sticks - If a man missed a day, it would be impossible to fake the score - hence the expression to keep score. It was in the year 569 A.D. that Rome sent a deputation to her trading partner Greece. The intention was to study art, letters and mathematics. When the returned their city, well versed in classical learning, they also brought with them some of the finest Mageiros (chefs) Athens had to offer. The Mageiros used techniques, recipes and style of cooking hitherto unknown to Roman nobles. Rome had been built on the trade of salt-hence the world salary; the Greeks exported oil, wine and cheese and taught the Romans to cook with these commodities in the process. With the arrival of Greek imports, the menu of the noblemen of Rome became more refined. The Mageiros were never short of new materials, for the roman legions were still returning home from conquests all over the known world. They would lay before Caesar the foods of the empire. Oysters from Britain, Pomegranates from Libya, ham from Gaul, pickles from Spain and much more Rome however was to decay and fall, and the dark ages would cover Europe, leaving the Arab scientists and astrologers to keep the classics alive. The renaissance saw the revival of arts and letters in Europe. Italian scientists renewed an interest in mathematics, and pope Gregory introduced the - World History of Food and Bakery Products Gregorian calendar. With the focus on geographical discoveries, many scientists of the day devoted their spare time to establishing an absolutely unalterable standard of length, among other things. Italy, by the middle of the sixteenth century, led the world. Art Science and cooking had reached refinement, it was the golden age. Italy was to be known as the founder and custodian of European culture, and the curator of its Cuisine. The steady culinary growth that culminated with the Renaissance produced what is often called the mother cuisine. At the light of the Renaissance, great scientists expounded theories and facts that would shake, if not change the world. Copernicus theorized that the earth goes around the sun. Galileo began to explain how things happen. His approach was a treat from the Aristotelian principle of why thing happen. In the year 1533 Henry the third of France married Catherine de Medici of the famous Florentine family. The court of Catherine was the finest in Renaissance Italy. When she married Henry, she returned to France with her entire brigade.

Load more