Learn About Breakfast

In this episode of the I Can't Sleep Podcast, fall asleep learning about Breakfast. Mmmmmm...probably my favorite meal of the day! Yet, when you learn about the ways breakfast has come about over the years you probably....Zzzzzzz. Oh, sorry! Just thinking about it put me out. Happy sleeping!

Transcript

Welcome to the I Can't Sleep podcast,

Where I read random articles from across the web to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice.

I'm your host,

Benjamin Boster.

If you like the episode,

Please consider sharing with a friend.

Today's episode is from a Wikipedia article titled Breakfast.

Breakfast is the first meal of the day,

Usually eaten in the morning.

The word in English refers to breaking the fasting period of the previous night.

Various typical or traditional breakfast menus exist,

With food choices varying by region and traditions worldwide.

In Old English,

A regular morning meal was called morganmetta,

And the word dinner,

Which originated from Gallo-Romance des yunare,

To break one's fast,

Referred to a meal after fasting.

Around mid-13th century,

That meaning of dinner faded away,

And around 15th century,

Breakfast came into use in written English to describe a morning meal.

In ancient Egypt,

Peasants ate a daily meal,

Most likely in the morning,

Consisting of soup,

Beer,

Bread,

And onions,

Before they left for work in the fields,

Or work commanded by the pharaohs.

The traditional breakfast believed to have been cooked in ancient Egypt was phu,

Made from fava beans,

Possibly the ancestor to today's full medames,

Paladi,

Bread,

Made from emmer wheat,

And falafel,

And a mixture of fava beans with onions,

Garlic,

Parsley,

And coriander.

In Greek literature,

There are numerous mentions of ariston,

A meal taken not long after sunrise.

The Iliad notes this meal with regard to a labor-weary woodsman,

Eager for a light repast to start his day,

Preparing it even as he is aching with exhaustion.

The opening prose of the 16th book of the Odyssey mentions breakfast as the meal,

Being prepared in the morning,

Before attending to one's chores.

Eventually,

Ariston was moved to around noon,

And a new morning meal was introduced.

In the post-Homeric Classical period of Greece,

A meal called akratisma was typically consumed immediately after rising in the morning.

Akratisma consisted of barley bread dipped in wine,

Sometimes complemented by figs or olives.

They also made pancakes called taginitis,

Taginites,

Or taginias,

All words deriving from taginion,

Meaning frying pan.

The earliest attested references on taginias are in the works of the 5th century BC poets Cratonus and Magnus.

Another kind of pancake was statitis,

From statinos,

Of flour or dough of spelt,

Derived itself from stas,

Flour of spelt.

Athenius,

In his Deipnos Sophistae,

Mentions statita topped with honey,

Sesame,

And cheese.

Romans called breakfast eintaculum.

It was usually composed of everyday staples like bread,

Cheese,

Olives,

Salad,

Nuts,

Raisins,

And cold meat left over from the night before.

They also drank wine-based drinks such as mulsum,

A mixture of wine,

Honey,

And aromatic spices.

First-century Latin poet Marshall said that eintaculum was eaten at three or four in the morning,

While 16th-century scholar Claudius Salmis wrote that it was typically eaten at nine or ten a.

M.

It seems unlikely that any fixed time was truly assigned for this meal.

Roman soldiers woke up to a breakfast of palmenta sporage,

Similar to the Italian polenta,

Made from roasted spelt wheat or barley that was then pounded and cooked in a cauldron of water.

In the European Middle Ages,

Breakfast was not usually considered a necessary and important meal and was practically non-existent during the earlier medieval period.

Monarchs and their entourages would spend a lot of time around a table for meals.

Only two formal meals were eaten per day,

One at midday and one in the evening.

The exact times varied by period and region,

But this two-meal system remained consistent throughout the Middle Ages.

Breakfast in some times and places was solely granted to children,

The elderly,

The sick,

And to working men.

Anyone else did not speak of or partake in eating in the morning.

Eating breakfast meant that one was poor,

Was a low-status farmer or laborer who truly needed the energy to sustain his morning's labor,

Or was too weak to make it to the large midday dinner.

In the 13th century,

Breakfast when eaten sometimes consisted of a piece of rye bread and a bit of cheese.

Morning meals would not include any meat and would likely include 0.

4 imperial gallons of alcohol-content beers.

Uncertain quantities of bread and ale could have been consumed in between meals.

In the 15th century,

Breakfast in Western Europe often included meat.

By this time,

Noble men were seen to indulge in breakfast,

Making it more of a common practice,

And by the early 16th century,

Recorded expenses for breakfast became customary.

Breakfast in Eastern Europe remained mostly the same as the modern day,

A continental breakfast.

The 16th century introduction of caffeinated beverages into the European diet was also an addition to breakfast.

It was believed that coffee and tea aid the body in evacuation of superfluities.

Traditionally,

The various cuisines of Africa use a combination of locally available fruits,

Cereal grains,

And vegetables,

As well as milk and meat products.

In some parts of the continent,

The traditional diet features milk,

Curd,

And whey products.

A type of porridge is most commonly eaten.

In the book The Bible Cyclopedia,

Published in 1843,

It was documented that during this time in the Arab world,

Bedouins often utilized locusts mixed with butter for breakfast,

Spreading the mixture on unleavened bread.

In the book The Bible Cyclopedia,

Published in 1843,

It was documented that Egyptians were early risers that sometimes had a first meal,

Consisting of coffee along with the smoking of a pipe,

And did not eat breakfast until noon.

At this time,

It was documented that Egyptian breakfast foods included bread,

Cheese,

Eggs,

Butter,

Curds,

Clotted cream,

And stewed beans.

In addition,

Fava beans are an established national breakfast dish.

In the Middle East region of Asia,

Iftar refers to the evening meal when Muslims break their psalm fast during the Islamic month of Ramadan.

Iftar is one of the religious observances of Ramadan and is often done as a community,

With people gathering to break their fast together.

Iftar is done right after Maghrib,

Sunset time.

During the month of Ramadan,

Muslims replace traditional breakfast with suhoor,

An Islamic term referring to the meal consumed early in the morning by Muslims before psalm during daylight hours.

The meal is eaten before Fajr,

Dawn.

In Japan,

It is common to eat miso soup and rice porridge for breakfast.

In the book The Bible Encyclopedia,

It was documented that circa 1843,

Poor Lebanese people would consume raw leeks with bread for breakfast.

The croissant appears to have originated in Vienna,

Austria in 1683.

French breakfasts are often similar to the continental breakfast.

French breakfast pastries include apple turnovers,

Brioche,

Croissant,

And pain au chocolat.

Croissants have been described as becoming a standard fair and French breakfast cuisine by 1875.

Breakfast usually consists of bread with a wide variety of cold cuts,

Cheeses,

And sweet toppings,

Such as hageslag,

Flokken,

Moerses,

Kastomte moerses,

Chocolate spread,

Treacle,

A thick dark brown sugar syrup called stroop,

Apple butter,

And peanut butter.

The word waffle derives from the Dutch word wafel,

Which itself derives from the Middle Dutch wafele,

And is likely the origin of the food as it is known today.

In the early 16th century,

Some physicians warned against eating breakfast because they said it was not healthy to eat before a prior meal was digested.

By the 1550s,

However,

There were multiple sources that claimed breakfast was an important meal.

For example,

In 1551,

Thomas Wingfield stated that breakfast was essential.

In 1589,

Thomas Cogan stated that it was unhealthy to miss breakfast in the morning.

He was one of the first to claim that it was healthy for those who were not young,

Ill,

Or elders to eat breakfast.

The full breakfast is a staple of British cuisine,

And typically consists of bacon,

Sausages,

And eggs,

Often served with a variety of side dishes and a beverage such as coffee or tea.

Prior to 1600,

Breakfast in Great Britain typically included bread,

Cold meat or fish,

And ale.

Tea,

Chocolate,

And coffee were introduced to Great Britain in the mid-1600s,

And in the 1700s coffee and chocolate were adopted as breakfast drinks by the fashionable.

Tea eventually became more popular than chocolate as a breakfast drink.

North America The first groups known to have produced maple syrup and maple sugar were indigenous peoples living in the northeastern part of the United States.

According to aboriginal oral traditions,

As well as archaeological evidence,

Maple tree sap was being processed into syrup long before Europeans arrived in the region.

Canada While it has been a source of controversy where the lumberjack breakfast came from,

The most cited source is that the lumberjack breakfast was first served in a Vancouver hotel in 1870.

The breakfast consisted of eggs,

Assorted fried pork strips,

And flapjacks.

It is said by Anita Stewart that the tradition of hearty cooking developed because of men needing the energy for manual labor.

Mexico A typical Aztec breakfast often included corn porridge with honey and chilies.

Chilaquiles are a staple breakfast dish that dates back to the time of the Aztecs.

They consist of tortilla chips,

Locally known as totopos,

Slathered in salsa,

And usually come with a side of refried beans.

Depending on the region or person,

They may be eaten with fried or scrambled eggs,

Pulled chicken,

Or even with a little bit of salt and pepper.

Eggs are also a staple in Mexican breakfast.

Scrambled and fried eggs are usually eaten with tortillas,

Salsa,

And beans.

Local varieties include huevos rancheros and huevos con tortilla,

Which are scrambled eggs fried alongside pieces of corn tortillas.

Breakfast cereals are also common in Mexico,

Mainly due to American influence.

Health concerns have arisen regarding the nutritional quality of processed breakfast cereal.

It is estimated that Mexican preschoolers consume 7% of their total energy intake from processed breakfast cereals,

And that 6% of Mexican children exclusively have ready-to-eat cereals with milk for breakfast.

United States In 1620,

Waffles were first introduced to North America by pilgrims who had lived in the Netherlands.

Later,

Pioneers consumed largely cornmeal-based breakfast and would also consume meals such as oatmeal for dinner and lunch.

Common breakfast products included corn pone,

Johnny Cakes,

Ash cakes,

Hoe cakes,

And corn dodgers.

Ash cakes consisted of cornmeal wrapped in cabbage leaves,

Cooked in the ashes of a campfire,

While corn pone is baked,

Corn dodgers are pan-fried,

And hoe cakes are similar to pancakes.

After the American Civil War,

It became fairly common in America to eat sandwiches that were made of ham and eggs.

These sandwiches were not strictly consumed in the morning.

In 1897,

The first true breakfast sandwich recipe was published in a cookbook.

Popcorn cereal was consumed by Americans in the 1800s,

Which typically consisted of popcorn with milk and a sweetener.

Cold breakfast cereal has been consumed by Americans since the late 1890s,

And during the 1920s a considerable number of new cereals were marketed.

The reason for this movement towards cold breakfast cereals was inspired by the Jacksonian era Clean Living Movement,

1830-1860.

This movement focused on a lot of lifestyle changes,

But specific to breakfast it claimed that eating bacon,

Eggs,

Pancakes,

And hot coffee was too indulgent.

The first prepared cold breakfast cereal marketed to American consumers was created by Dr.

John Harvey Kellogg,

Who introduced it in 1878 and named it Granola.

The product was prepared with baked wheat,

Oatmeal,

And cornmeal,

And was the first brand-name breakfast cereal in the United States.

Canned fruit juice became prominent as a breakfast beverage after the discovery of vitamins.

Circa 1900,

Orange juice as a breakfast beverage was a new concept.

The development of frozen orange juice concentrate began in 1915,

And in the 1930s it was produced by several companies.

Additionally,

Mass-produced tomato juice began to be marketed in the mid-1920s and became a popular breakfast drink a few years after.

While breakfast is commonly referred to as the most important meal of the day,

Some contest the positive implications of its most important status.

Some epidemiological research indicates that having breakfast high in rapidly available carbohydrates increases the risk of metabolic syndrome.

Memory was found to be adversely affected in subjects of a study who had not eaten their breakfast.

Intelligence was not affected.

Children aged within 8 and 11 years were found to have different brainwave EEG activity states,

Causative to breakfast consumption.

Non-breakfasting children were observed to have higher activity of upper and lower theta wave,

Alpha wave,

And delta wave,

Which indicated a causative relationship of breakfast consumption to memory function in the subjects.

A review of 47 studies associating breakfast to 1.

Nutrition,

2.

Body weight,

And 3.

Academic performance found amongst those who had eaten breakfast.

1.

Better nutrition profiles.

Many studies found less weight.

2.

Irrespective of greater caloric consumption per day,

Although a number did not find this correlation.

3.

Studies suggested a possible link to better academic performance in the breakfast eating groups.

The influence of breakfast on managing body weight is unclear.

Present professional opinion is largely in favor of eating breakfast,

But skipping breakfast might be better than eating unhealthy foods.

Food history is an interdisciplinary field that examines the history and the cultural,

Economic,

Environmental,

And sociological impacts of food and human nutrition.

It is considered distinct from the more traditional field of culinary history,

Which focuses on the origin and recreation of specific recipes.

The first journal in the field,

Petits Propos Culinaris,

Was launched in 1979,

And the first conference on the subject was the 1981 Oxford Food Symposium.

Early human nutrition was largely determined by the availability and palatability,

Tastiness of foods.

Humans evolved as omnivorous hunter-gatherers,

Though our diet has varied significantly depending on location and climate.

The diet in the tropics tended to depend more heavily on plant foods,

While the diet at higher altitudes tended more towards animal products.

Analyses of postcranial and cranial remains of humans and animals from the Neolithic,

Along with detailed bone modification studies,

Have shown that cannibalism also occurred among prehistoric humans.

Agriculture development at different times in different places,

Starting about 11,

500 years ago,

Provided some cultures with a more abundant supply of grains,

Such as wheat,

Rice,

Maize,

And potatoes.

This made possible dough for staples such as bread,

Pasta,

And tortillas.

The domestication of animals provided some cultures with milk and dairy products.

In 2020,

Archaeological research discovered a frescoed thermopolium,

A fast food counter,

In an exceptional state of preservation from 79 CE AD in Pompeii,

Including 2,

000-year-old foods available in some of the deep terracotta jars.

During Classical Antiquity,

Diets consisted of simple,

Fresh,

Or preserved whole foods that were either locally grown or transported from neighboring areas during times of crisis.

In Western Europe,

Medieval cuisine,

5th to 15th century,

Did not change rapidly.

Cereals remained the most important staple during the early Middle Ages.

Barley,

Oats,

And rye were eaten by the poor.

Standard foods included bread,

Porridge,

And gruel.

Fava beans and vegetables were important supplements to the cereal-based diet of the lower orders.

Meat was expensive and prestigious.

Game was common only on the tables of landowners.

The most prevalent butcher's meats were pork,

Chicken,

And other domestic fowl.

Beef,

Which required greater investment in land,

Was less common.

Cod and herring were mainstays among the northern populations.

Dried,

Cooked,

Or salted,

They made their way far inland.

But a wide variety of other saltwater and freshwater fish was also eaten.

The meals people ate were controlled by the seasons,

Geography,

And religious restrictions.

For most people,

Food supply was limited to what the nearby lands and seas could provide.

Peasants made do with what they could,

Primarily cooking over an open fire,

In a cauldron,

Or on a spit.

Their ovens were typically outside of the home and made on top of clay or turf.

Poor families primarily consumed grains and vegetables in the form of stew,

Soup,

Or pottage,

And anything grown on their own small plots of land.

They were unable to afford spices,

And it was a crime for them to hunt deer,

Boar,

Or rabbits.

Their staples included rye or barley bread,

Stews,

Local dairy products,

Cheaper meats like beef,

Pork,

Or lamb,

Fish,

If there was access to fresh water,

Vegetables and herbs grown at home,

Fruit from local trees and bushes,

Nuts,

And honey.

The upper class and nobility had better food and diet than the lower classes,

But food was eaten in small portions.

Meals were laid out with many different colors and flavors,

A very different experience from those in the lower class.

Smaller portion sizes developed around this time due to various cultural influences,

And these large table-long meals were essentially picked at by the nobility.

Foods were highly spiced,

And many of these were expensively imported,

Often from outside Europe.

The Middle Ages diet of the upper class and nobility included manchet bread,

A variety of meats like venison,

Pork,

And lamb,

Fish,

And shellfish,

Spices,

Cheese,

Fruits,

And a limited number of vegetables.

Among people of all social classes,

Spices were common,

With lower class people enjoying more local and homemade grown spices,

While the wealthier enjoyed imported spices from other continents.

As time went by and living standards improved,

Even lower class people,

Particularly those in urban centers,

Became able to enjoy the taste of foreign spices like pepper,

Nutmeg,

And cinnamon.

As food consumption was controlled by geography and availability,

It was also governed by the Church.

Many fasts occurred throughout the year,

And the longest was that of Lent,

The late winter weeks preceding Easter.

There were designated days in which people could not eat meat or fish,

But this did not affect the poor very much because of their already lacking food options.

The Church also influenced people to have feasts throughout the year,

Including on Christmas and for lesser holidays.

The noble and upper classes participated in these extravagant feasts as they often followed a fasting period.

The Portuguese and Spanish empires opened up sea trade routes that linked food exchange across the world.

Under Philip II,

Catholic cuisine elements inadvertently helped transform the cuisine of the Americas,

Buddhists,

Hindus,

And Islamic cuisines of the southeastern Asian region.

In Goa,

The Portuguese were encouraged by the crown to marry local women following their conversion.

This integration led to mixed cuisine between Portugal and western India.

The Portuguese brought round raised loaves using wheat shipped from northern India,

As well as pickled pork.

The pork was pickled in wine or vinegar with garlic,

Tied to Portuguese cuisine that later became vindaloo.

Grain and livestock have long been the most important agricultural products in France and England.

After 1700,

Innovative farmers experimented with new techniques to increase yield and looked into new products such as hops,

Oilseed rape,

Artificial grasses,

Vegetables,

Fruit,

Dairy foods,

Commercial poultry,

Rabbits,

And freshwater fish.

Sugar began as an upper-class luxury product,

But by 1700 Caribbean sugar plantations worked by African slaves had expanded production,

And it was much more widely available.

By 1800,

Sugar was a staple of working-class diets.

For them,

It symbolized increasing economy freedom of working-class diets.

For them,

It symbolized increasing economy freedom and status.

Laborers in western Europe in the 18th century ate bread and gruel,

Often in a soup with greens and lentils,

A little bacon,

And occasionally potato or a bit of cheese.

They washed it down with beer,

Water usually was too contaminated,

And a sip of milk.

Three quarters of the food was derived from plants.

Mead was much more attractive but very expensive.

By 1870,

The West European diet was at about 16 kilograms per person per year of mead,

Rising to 50 kilograms by 1914 and 77 kilograms in 2010.

Milk and cheese were seldom in the diet.

Even in the early 20th century,

They were still uncommon in Mediterranean diets.

In the immigrant neighborhoods of fast-growing American industrial cities,

Housewives purchased ready-made food through street peddlers,

Hucksters,

Pushcarts,

And small shops operated from private homes.

This opened the way for the rapid entry of entirely new items such as pizza,

Spaghetti with meatballs,

Bagels,

Bogeys,

Pretzels,

And pierogies into American eating habits,

And firmly established fast food in the American culinary experience.

In the first half of the 20th century,

There were two world wars,

Which in many places resulted in rationing and hunger.

Sometimes the starvation of the civilian populations was used as a powerful new weapon.

World War I and after.

In Germany during World War I,

The rationing system in urban areas virtually collapsed,

With people eating animal fodder to survive the turnip winter.

Conditions in Vienna worsened as the army got priority in the food supply.

In allied countries,

Mead was diverted first to the soldiers,

Then to urgent civilian needs in Italy,

Britain,

France,

And Greece.

Mead production was stretched to the limit in the United States,

Australia,

New Zealand,

Canada,

And Argentina,

With oceanic shipping closely controlled by the British.

Food shortages were severe in Russian cities,

Leading to protests that escalated and helped topple the Tsar in February 1917.

In the first year of peace after the war ended in 1918,

Most of Eastern and Central Europe suffered severe food shortages.

The American Relief Administration,

A.

R.

A.

,

Was set up under the American wartime food czar,

Herbert Hoover,

And was charged with providing emergency food rations across Central and Eastern Europe.

The A.

R.

A.

Fed millions,

Including the inhabitants of Germany and the Soviet Union.

After U.

S.

Government funding for the A.

R.

A.

Expired in the summer of 1919,

The A.

R.

A.

Became a private organization,

Raising millions of dollars from private donors.

Under the auspices of the A.

R.

A.

,

The European Children's Fund fed millions of starving children.

The 1920s saw the introduction of new foodstuffs,

Especially fruit transported from around the globe.

After the World War,

Many new products became available to the typical household,

With branded foods advertised for their convenience.

Now,

Instead of an experienced cook spending hours on difficult custards and puddings,

The housewife could purchase instant foods in jars or powders that could be quickly mixed.

Wealthier households now had ice boxes or electric refrigerators,

Which made for better storage and the convenience of buying in larger quantities.

World War II and After During World War II,

Nazi Germany tried to feed its population by seizing food supplies from occupied countries and deliberately cutting off food supplies to Jews,

Poles,

Russians,

And the Dutch.

Rationing in the United Kingdom was associated with an improvement in public health,

As everyone was guaranteed the basics.

As a result,

The population of the United Kingdom As part of the Marshall Plan in 1948-1950,

The United States provided technological expertise in financing for high-productivity large-scale agribusiness operations in post-war Europe.

Poultry was a favorite choice,

With the rapid expansion in production,

A sharp fall in prices,

And widespread acceptance of the many ways to serve chicken.

The Green Revolution in the 1950s and 1960s was a technological breakthrough in plant productivity that increased agricultural production worldwide,

Particularly in the developing world.

Research began in the 1930s,

And dramatic improvements in output became important in the late 1960s.

The initiatives resulted in the adoption of new technologies,

Including new high-yielding varieties of cereals,

Especially dwarf wheats and rices,

In association with chemical fertilizers and agrochemicals,

And with controlled water supply,

Usually involving irrigation and new methods of cultivation,

Including mechanization.

All of these together were seen as a package of practices to supersede traditional technology and to be adopted as a whole.

The potato was the first domesticated in the region of modern-day southern Peru and extreme northwestern Bolivia.

It has since spread around the world and become a staple crop in many countries.

Some believe that the introduction of the potato was responsible for a quarter or more of the growth of old world population and urbanization between 1700 and 1900.

Following the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire,

The Spanish introduced the potato to Europe in the second half of the 16th century as part of the Columbian Exchange.

The staple was subsequently transported by European mariners to territories and ports throughout the world.

The potato was slow to be adopted by distrustful European farmers,

But soon enough it became an important food staple and field crop that played a major role in the 19th century European population boom.

However,

Lack of genetic diversity,

Due to the very limited number of varieties initially introduced,

Left the crop vulnerable to disease.

There are few mentions of potato being cultivated in India in the travel accounts of Mr.

Edward Terry and Mr.

Fire during the 17th century.

Potato is said to be introduced in India by Portuguese in early 17th century.

The Portuguese called it batata.

Indians later adopted a different word for potato.

They called it aloo.

This name came up under British rule.

In 1845,

A plant disease known as late blight,

Caused by the fungus-like homycete phytophthora infestans,

Spread rapidly through the poorer communities of Western Ireland as well as parts of the Scottish Islands,

Resulting in the crop failures that led to the Great Irish Famine.

Currently,

China is the largest potato-producing country,

Followed by India as of 2017,

FAUSTAT,

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United States.

Rice comes from the seasonal plant Eryza sativa and has been cultivated since about 6,

000 BCE.

The principal rice-producing countries are in East and South Asia.

The origin place of rice has always been a hot point of debate between India and China,

As both countries started cultivating it around the same time period,

Says numerous history books and records.

The average amount of rice cultivated every year ranges between 800 billion and 950 billion pounds.

Muslims brought rice to Sicily in the 9th century.

After the 15th century,

Rice spread throughout Italy and then France,

Later spreading to all the continents during the age of European exploration.

As a cereal grain,

Today it is the most widely consumed staple of food worldwide.

Currently,

India is the leading rice-producing country according to FAUSTAT,

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Sugar originated from India by taking sugarcane plant through some chemical and mechanical processes.

The word sugar is derived from a Sanskrit word,

Sakara.

Previously,

People used to chew the juice out of sugarcane to enjoy the sweetness of the plants.

Later,

Indians found the technique to crystallize the sweet liquid.

This technique then spread towards the neighboring countries of India.

The Spanish and Portuguese empires provided sugar to Europe by the late 17th century from the New World plantations.

Brazil became the dominant sugar producer.

Sugar was expensive during Middle Ages.

Due to the increase of sugar cultivation,

Obtaining sugar became easier and more affordable.

Thus,

Europeans could now enjoy Islamic-inspired confectionery goods that were previously costly to produce.

The Jesuits were leading producers of chocolate,

Obtaining it from the Amazon jungle and Guatemala,

And shipping it across the world to Southeast Asia,

Spain,

And Italy.

They introduced Mesoamerican techniques to Europe for processing and preparing chocolate.

Fermented cacao beans had to be ground on heated grindstones to prevent producing oily chocolate,

A process that was foreign to many Europeans.

As a beverage,

Chocolate remained largely within the Catholic world.

As a beverage,

Chocolate remained largely within the Catholic world,

As it was not considered a food of the Church,

And thus could be enjoyed during fasting.

Brazil is currently the largest producer of sugar,

Followed by India,

Which is also the largest consumer of sugar.

The three most widespread religions,

Christianity,

Buddhism,

And Islam,

Developed their own distinct recipes,

Cultures,

And practices around food.

All three follow two main principles around food,

A theory of the culinary cosmos and the principle of hierarchy.

There is a third principle that involves sacrifice.

Over the years,

Religious and societal views on killing living things for religious purposes have changed,

And it is no longer considered a major principle.

Jews have eaten many different types of food that were no different than the cuisine of their Gentile neighbors.

However,

Jewish cuisine is influenced by Jewish dietary laws,

Kashrut,

Along with other religious requirements.

For example,

Creating a fire was forbidden on Shabbat,

Which led to inspiration for slow-cooked Sabbath stews.

Sephardic Jews were expelled from Iberia in 1492 and migrated to North Africa and the Ottoman lands,

Blending Iberian cuisine with local cuisine.

Many foods considered Jewish in the United States,

Such as bagels,

Nishes,

And borscht,

Are Eastern European Ashkenazi dishes.

Gentiles also ate the above foods widely throughout Eastern Europe as well.

The Jesuits' influence on cuisine differed from country to country.

They sold maize and cassava to plantations in Angola that would later grant provisions to slave traders.

They exported sugar and cacao from the Americas to Europe,

And in southern parts of the Americas,

They dried leaves of the local monte plant that would compete with coffee,

Tea,

And chocolate as the favorite hot beverage in Europe.

Despite monte's popularity and competition against chocolate,

The Jesuits were the leading producers and promoters of chocolate.

Using indigenous labor in Guatemala,

They shipped it across the world to Southeast Asia,

Spain,

And Italy.

Chocolate's popularity was also in part to the theological consensus that because it was not considered a food,

It could be eaten while fasting.

It was thought to have lust-reducing effects applicable to many nuns and monks at the time.

The Jesuits introduced several foods and cooking techniques to Japan—deep-frying tempura,

Cakes and confectionery,

Kasutera,

Confetti,

As well as the bread still called by the Iberian name pan.

Reviews

Another masterpiece: soothing and boring yet interesting and engaging. Just the right combo to get me off to sleep at night, and get me that much closer to breakfast 🥞

Thank you! Who knew the origin of breakfast could be so….not sure what the word is! 😂😂