tbf the global south where the euros looted spices from is where they were endemic, and many vegg and spices still can’t be grown in europe, making them more expensive. it’s true that in recent decades it’s definitely gotten more affordable, but it’s really only been since the end of ww2. 2-3 generations isn’t long enough to develop a very rich culinary tradition
Europe has lots of its own spices and historically made very heavy use of them, particularly things that can just be grown in gardens or foraged from the woods. It’s more that the traditional culinary knowledge was gradually annihilated over the past two hundred years or so (for a variety of reasons including urbanization) and now even something like “growing a few plants to season food with” is a niche thing that only enthusiasts who are passionate about cooking do instead of just the expected normal thing for most of the population to do.
I’d probably attribute the death blow to war rationing, fast food slop, and frozen ready made food, and it’s probably down to cheap fat and sugar meaning the cheapest way to mass produce ready made slop was making it bland but greasy and overly sweet. But that’s also mimicking historical signs of wealth in European cooking, where rich people just stuffed their faces with the fattiest foods dripping with expensive sugars because those were all expensive luxuries, while the European poor were left seasoning stews with domestically grown herbs, garlic, and onions. There’s probably an interesting investigation to be made of how culinary trends went with industrialization in periphery countries and what was preserved or lost there vs what was preserved or lost in European countries, but I don’t have any knowledge in that area. Maybe later industrialization went faster and preserved more existing culinary culture, while slow industrialization annihilated it as large swathes of the population were removed from domestic sources of spices and there were no good replacements available?
because of inequality! if we count royal treats as a culinary tradition unto itself then europe & britain do have a centuries-long relationship to spices, but most people didn’t get to eat that, so the lower class tradition is more related to what grows locally, even specific to that country. britain isn’t even that far from where olives grow but they don’t use them close to as much as medditerreans
affordability and accessibility are absolutely meshed with tradition. most people are not formally trained in cooking or gardening, so tradition is what folk’s expectations and imaginations are moderated by.
i wouldn’t know anything outside of anglo-french cooking were it not sought out extracurricular or passed down from someone else that broke out of it
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tbf the global south where the euros looted spices from is where they were endemic, and many vegg and spices still can’t be grown in europe, making them more expensive. it’s true that in recent decades it’s definitely gotten more affordable, but it’s really only been since the end of ww2. 2-3 generations isn’t long enough to develop a very rich culinary tradition
Europe has lots of its own spices and historically made very heavy use of them, particularly things that can just be grown in gardens or foraged from the woods. It’s more that the traditional culinary knowledge was gradually annihilated over the past two hundred years or so (for a variety of reasons including urbanization) and now even something like “growing a few plants to season food with” is a niche thing that only enthusiasts who are passionate about cooking do instead of just the expected normal thing for most of the population to do.
I’d probably attribute the death blow to war rationing, fast food slop, and frozen ready made food, and it’s probably down to cheap fat and sugar meaning the cheapest way to mass produce ready made slop was making it bland but greasy and overly sweet. But that’s also mimicking historical signs of wealth in European cooking, where rich people just stuffed their faces with the fattiest foods dripping with expensive sugars because those were all expensive luxuries, while the European poor were left seasoning stews with domestically grown herbs, garlic, and onions. There’s probably an interesting investigation to be made of how culinary trends went with industrialization in periphery countries and what was preserved or lost there vs what was preserved or lost in European countries, but I don’t have any knowledge in that area. Maybe later industrialization went faster and preserved more existing culinary culture, while slow industrialization annihilated it as large swathes of the population were removed from domestic sources of spices and there were no good replacements available?
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because of inequality! if we count royal treats as a culinary tradition unto itself then europe & britain do have a centuries-long relationship to spices, but most people didn’t get to eat that, so the lower class tradition is more related to what grows locally, even specific to that country. britain isn’t even that far from where olives grow but they don’t use them close to as much as medditerreans
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affordability and accessibility are absolutely meshed with tradition. most people are not formally trained in cooking or gardening, so tradition is what folk’s expectations and imaginations are moderated by.
i wouldn’t know anything outside of anglo-french cooking were it not sought out extracurricular or passed down from someone else that broke out of it
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I nean, nowadays it’s mixed anyway. I’m trying japanese cheesecake today.
Also true for fish. And sausage.
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