1.
Cuisine of the Western United States
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The Western United States has its own cuisine, distinct in various ways from that of the rest of the country. Those states west of Texas, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska would be considered part of area, as would, in some cases. The locavore movement is increasingly influential, as is the concept of sustainability, the influence of the Native American cultures of each area, but especially in the Northwest and in Navajo country, is important in the cuisine picture of the Western United States. The bounty of the land and those things the hunter-gatherers and fisherpeople found in abundance are major influences, hunting is still important in the West, and wild game is part of the cuisine. Rocky Mountain oysters are certainly a part of Western regional food served up for the delight of squeamish tourists, a growing wine industry is of great importance along the West Coast and increasingly important inland and to the north, not only in California. Along the coast, seafood is important, the evolution of California Cuisine and the influence of Alice Waters are major factors in what could be called regional cuisine of the West. The slow food and local food movements are parts of this phenomenon, the influence of the Pacific Rim is huge along the coast, and fusion cuisine, along with interesting Asian-influenced and Mexican-influenced drinks, has become extremely popular. Near Mexico, the influence of country is important in food. The food of other Latin American countries can also be found and is increasingly an influence, throughout the West in areas where sheep ranching/sheep herding is important restaurants featuring Basque cuisine can be found. They are usually family-style, featuring large tables where diners sit with other parties, California Cuisine is heavily influenced by Mexican, Asian, and Mediterranean Cuisine. Californian cuisine tends to reflect the somewhat lighter and more health conscious mindset of the state, chicken, turkey, and soy are more prevalent in Californian dishes than beef or pork
2.
Baguette
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A baguette is a long, thin loaf of French bread that is commonly made from basic lean dough. It is distinguishable by its length and crisp crust, a baguette has a diameter of about 5 or 6 centimetres and a usual length of about 65 centimetres, although a baguette can be up to a metre long. The word baguette was not used to refer to a type of bread until 1920, the word, derived from the Italian bacchetta, simply means wand, baton or stick, as in baguette magique, baguettes chinoises, or baguette de direction. Though the baguette today is considered one of the symbols of French culture viewed from abroad. Long, if wide, loaves had been made since the time of King Louis XIV, long thin ones since the mid-eighteenth century, loaves of bread six feet long that look like crowbars. Housemaids were hurrying homewards with their purchases for various Gallic breakfasts, and the sticks of bread. A less direct link can be made however with deck ovens, deck/steam ovens are a combination of a gas-fired traditional oven and a brick oven, a thick deck of stone or firebrick heated by natural gas instead of wood. Deck ovens use steam injection, through various methods, to create the proper baguette, the oven is typically heated to well over 200 °C. The steam allows the crust to expand before setting, thus creating a lighter, airier loaf and it also melts the dextrose on the breads surface, giving a slightly glazed effect. The rest of the account remains to be verified, but the use of the word for a thin bread does appear to be a twentieth century innovation. The baguette de tradition française is made from flour, water, yeast. It does not contain additives, but it may contain up to 2% broad bean flour, up to 0. 5% soya flour, baguettes are closely connected to France, though they are made around the world. In France, not all long loaves are baguettes, for example, a short, almost rugby ball shaped loaf is a bâtard, or a loaf in English, its origin is variously explained. Another tubular shaped loaf is known as a flûte, also known in the United States as a parisienne, flûtes closely resemble baguettes and weigh more or less than these, depending on the region. A thinner loaf is called a ficelle, a short baguette is sometimes known as a baton, or even referred to using the English translation French stick. None of these are defined, either legally or, for instance, in major dictionaries. French breads are made in forms such as a miche, which is a large pan loaf, and a boule, literally ball in French. Sandwich-sized loaves are sometimes known as demi-baguettes or tiers, in France a baguette must weigh 250 grams, a batard 500 grams and a ficelle 100 grams
3.
Pasta
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Pasta is a staple food of traditional Italian cuisine, with the first reference dating to 1154 in Sicily. It can also be made with flour from other cereals or grains, pastas may be divided into two broad categories, dried and fresh. Most dried pasta is produced via an extrusion process although it can be produced in most homes. Both dried and fresh pasta come in a number of shapes and varieties, in Italy the names of specific pasta shapes or types often vary with locale. For example, the form cavatelli is known by 28 different names depending on region, common forms of pasta include long shapes, short shapes, tubes, flat shapes and sheets, miniature soup shapes, filled or stuffed and specialty or decorative shapes. As a category in Italian cuisine, both fresh and dried pastas are classically used in one of three kinds of prepared dishes, as pasta asciutta cooked pasta is plated and served with a complementary sauce or condiment. A second classification of pasta dishes is pasta in brodo in which the pasta is part of a soup-type dish, a third category is pasta al forno in which the pasta incorporated into a dish that is subsequently baked. Pasta is generally a dish, but comes in many varieties due to its versatility. Some pasta dishes are served as a first course in Italy because the portion sizes are small, Pasta is also prepared in light lunches, such as salads or large portion sizes for dinner. It can be prepared by hand or food processor and served hot or cold, Pasta sauces vary in taste, color and texture. When choosing which type of pasta and sauce to serve together, simple sauces like pesto are ideal for long and thin strands of pasta while tomato sauce combines well with thicker pastas. Thicker and chunkier sauces have the ability to cling onto the holes and cuts of short, tubular. The extra sauce left on the plate after all of the pasta is eaten is often mopped up with a piece of bread. First attested in English in 1874, the word comes from Italian pasta, in turn from Latin pasta dough, pastry cake. In the 1st century AD writings of Horace, lagana were fine sheets of fried dough and were an everyday foodstuff, an early 5th century cookbook describes a dish called lagana that consisted of layers of dough with meat stuffing, a possible ancestor of modern-day lasagna. The first concrete information concerning pasta products in Italy dates from the 13th or 14th century, historians have noted several lexical milestones relevant to pasta, none of which changes these basic characteristics. For example, the works of the 2nd century AD Greek physician Galen mention itrion, homogeneous compounds made of flour, the Jerusalem Talmud records that itrium, a kind of boiled dough, was common in Palestine from the 3rd to 5th centuries AD. A dictionary compiled by the 9th century Arab physician and lexicographer Isho bar Ali defines itriyya and its ever-flowing streams propel a number of mills
4.
Cuisine
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A cuisine is a style of cooking characterized by distinctive ingredients, techniques and dishes, and usually associated with a specific culture or geographic region. A cuisine is influenced by the ingredients that are available locally or through trade. Religious food laws, such as Hindu, Islamic and Jewish dietary laws, regional food preparation traditions, customs and ingredients often combine to create dishes unique to a particular region. Some factors that have an influence on a regions cuisine include the areas climate, for example a Tropical diet may be based more on fruits and vegetables, while a polar diet might rely more on meat and fish. The areas climate in large measure determines the native foods that are available, in addition, climate influences food preservation. For example, foods preserved for winter consumption by smoking, curing, the trade among different countries also largely affects a regions cuisine. Dating back to the ancient spice trade, seasonings such as cinnamon, cassia, cardamom, ginger, cinnamon and cassia found their way to the Middle East at least 4,000 years ago. Certain foods and food preparations are required or proscribed by the religiousness or sumptuary laws, such as Islamic dietary laws, Cuisine dates back to the Antiquity. Rome was known for its cuisine, wealthy families would dine in the Triclinium on a variety of dishes, their diet consisted of eggs, cheese, bread, meat, cuisines evolve continually, and new cuisines are created by innovation and cultural interaction. Molecular gastronomy, is a style of cooking which takes advantage of many technical innovations from the scientific disciplines. The term was coined in 1988 by late Oxford physicist Nicholas Kurti and it is also named as multi sensory cooking, modernist cuisine, culinary physics, and experimental cuisine by some chefs. Besides, international trade brings new foodstuffs including ingredients to existing cuisines, a global cuisine is a cuisine that is practiced around the world, and can be categorized according to the common use of major foodstuffs, including grains, produce and cooking fats. Regional cuisines may vary based upon food availability and trade, cooking traditions and practices, for example, in Central and South America, corn, both fresh and dried, is a staple food. In northern Europe, wheat, rye, and fats of animal origin predominate, while in southern Europe olive oil is ubiquitous and rice is more prevalent. In Italy the cuisine of the north, featuring butter and rice, stands in contrast to that of the south, with its wheat pasta, china likewise can be divided into rice regions and noodle & bread regions. Throughout the Middle East and Mediterranean there is a common thread marking the use of lamb, olive oil, lemons, peppers, the vegetarianism practiced in much of India has made pulses such as chickpeas and lentils as significant as wheat or rice. From India to Indonesia the use of spices is characteristic, coconuts, african cuisines 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 a preponderance of milk, curd, in much of tropical Africa, however, cows milk is rare and cannot be produced locally
5.
Europe
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Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
6.
Western world
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The Western world or the West is a term usually referring to different nations, depending on the context, most often including at least part of Europe. There are many accepted definitions about what they all have in common, the Western world is also known as the Occident. The concept of the Western part of the earth has its roots in Greco-Roman civilization in Europe, before the Cold War era, the traditional Western viewpoint identified Western Civilization with the Western Christian countries and culture. Its political usage was changed by the antagonism during the Cold War in the mid-to-late 20th Century. The term originally had a literal geographic meaning, Western culture was influenced by many older great civilizations of the ancient Near East, such as Phoenicia, Minoan Crete, Sumer, Babylonia, and also Ancient Egypt. It originated in the Mediterranean basin and its vicinity, Greece, over time, their associated empires grew first to the east and west to include the rest of Mediterranean and Black Sea coastal areas, conquering and absorbing. Later, they expanded to the north of the Mediterranean Sea to include Western, Central, numerous times, this expansion was accompanied by Christian missionaries, who attempted to proselytize Christianity. There is debate among some as to whether Latin America is in a category of its own, specifically, Western culture may imply, a Biblical Christian cultural influence in spiritual thinking, customs and either ethic or moral traditions, around the Post-Classical Era and after. European cultural influences concerning artistic, musical, folkloric, ethic and oral traditions, the concept of Western culture is generally linked to the classical definition of the Western world. In this definition, Western culture is the set of literary, scientific, political, artistic, much of this set of traditions and knowledge is collected in the Western canon. The term has come to apply to countries whose history is marked by European immigration or settlement, such as the Americas, and Oceania. The geopolitical divisions in Europe that created a concept of East and West originated in the Roman Empire, Roman Catholic Western and Central Europe, as such, maintained a distinct identity particularly as it began to redevelop during the Renaissance. Even following the Protestant Reformation, Protestant Europe continued to see itself as more tied to Roman Catholic Europe than other parts of the civilized world. Use of the term West as a cultural and geopolitical term developed over the course of the Age of Exploration as Europe spread its culture to other parts of the world. Additionally, closer contacts between the West and Asia and other parts of the world in recent times have continued to cloud the use, herodotus considered the Persian Wars of the early 5th century BC a conflict of Europa versus Asia. The terms West and East were not used by any Greek author to describe that conflict, the Great Schism and the Fourth Crusade confirmed this deviation. The Renaissance in the West emerged partly from currents within the Roman Empire, Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a city-state founded on the Italian Peninsula about the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. In its 12-century existence, Roman civilization shifted from a monarchy, to a republic, nonetheless, despite its great legacy, a number of factors led to the eventual decline of the Roman Empire
7.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
8.
Indigenous peoples
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Groups are usually described as indigenous when they maintain traditions or other aspects of an early culture that is associated with a given region. Not all indigenous peoples share such characteristics, Indigenous societies are found in every inhabited climate zone and continent of the world. Estimates put the population of indigenous peoples from 220 million to 350 million. The adjective indigenous is derived from the Latin word indigena, which is based on the root gen- to be born with a form of the prefix in in. Any given people, ethnic group or community may be described as indigenous in reference to some particular region or location that they see as their tribal land claim. Other terms used to refer to indigenous populations are aboriginal, native, original, james Anaya, former Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, has defined indigenous peoples as living descendants of pre-invasion inhabitants of lands now dominated by others. They are culturally distinct groups that find themselves engulfed by other settler societies born of forces of empire, throughout history, different states designate the groups within their boundaries that are recognized as indigenous peoples according to international or national legislation by different terms. Their ability to influence and participate in the policies that may exercise jurisdiction over their traditional lands. The presence of external laws, claims and cultural mores either potentially or actually act to constrain the practices and observances of an indigenous society. These constraints can be observed even when the society is regulated largely by its own tradition. They may be imposed, or arise as unintended consequence of trans-cultural interaction. They may have an effect, even where countered by other external influences. This definition has some limitations, because the definition applies mainly to pre-colonial populations, the primary impetus in considering indigenous identity comes from the post-colonial movements and considering the historical impacts on populations by the European imperialism. Greek sources of the Classical period acknowledge the existence of indigenous people. These peoples inhabited lands surrounding the Aegean Sea before the subsequent migrations of the Hellenic ancestors claimed by these authors, the disposition and precise identity of this former group is elusive, and sources such as Homer, Hesiod and Herodotus give varying, partially mythological accounts. However, it is clear that cultures existed whose indigenous characteristics were distinguished by the subsequent Hellenic cultures, greco-Roman society flourished between 250 BC and 480 AD and commanded successive waves of conquests that gripped more than half of the globe. The rapid and extensive spread of the various European powers from the early 15th century onwards had an impact upon many of the indigenous cultures with whom they came into contact. The Canary Islands had an indigenous population called the Guanches whose origin is still the subject of discussion among historians, the United Nations estimates that there are over 370 million indigenous people living in over 70 countries worldwide
9.
Australasia
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Australasia, a region of Oceania, comprises Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. Charles de Brosses coined the term in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes and he derived it from the Latin for south of Asia and differentiated the area from Polynesia and the southeast Pacific. The bulk of Australasia sits on the Indo-Australian Plate, together with India, physiographically, Australasia includes New Zealand, Australia, and Melanesia, New Guinea and neighbouring islands north and east of Australia in the Pacific Ocean. The designation is applied to all the lands and islands of the Pacific Ocean lying between the equator and latitude 47° south. Most of Australasia lies on the portion of the Indo-Australian Plate, flanked by the Indian Ocean to the west. Sometimes the term encompasses the island of New Guinea. Many organisations whose names include the prefix Australasian Society of, limit their scope of operation to just Australia and New Zealand. In the past, Australasia has been used as a name for combined Australia/New Zealand sporting teams, examples include tennis between 1905 and 1915, when New Zealand and Australia combined to compete in the Davis Cup international tournament, and at the Olympic Games of 1908 and 1912. From an ecological perspective the Australasia ecozone forms a region with a common geologic and evolutionary history. In this context, Australasia is limited to Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, New Caledonia, the Wallace Line marks the biological divide from the Indomalaya ecozone of tropical Asia – Borneo and Bali lie on the western, Asian side. These three land masses have been separated from other continents, and from one another, for millions of years, all of Australasia shares the Antarctic flora, although the northern, tropical islands also share many plants with Southeast Asia. Mainland Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania are separated from one another by shallow continental shelves and they share a similar fauna which includes marsupial and monotreme mammals and ratite birds. Eucalypts are the predominant trees in much of Australia and New Guinea, New Zealand has no extant native land mammals aside from bats, but also had ratite birds, including the kiwi and the extinct moa. Media related to Australasia at Wikimedia Commons
10.
Americas
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The Americas, also collectively called America, encompass the totality of the continents of North America and South America. Together they make up most of the land in Earths western hemisphere, along with their associated islands, they cover 8% of Earths total surface area and 28. 4% of its land area. The topography is dominated by the American Cordillera, a chain of mountains that runs the length of the west coast. The flatter eastern side of the Americas is dominated by river basins, such as the Amazon, St. Lawrence River / Great Lakes basin, Mississippi. Humans first settled the Americas from Asia between 42,000 and 17,000 years ago, a second migration of Na-Dene speakers followed later from Asia. The subsequent migration of the Inuit into the neoarctic around 3500 BCE completed what is regarded as the settlement by the indigenous peoples of the Americas. The first known European settlement in the Americas was by the Norse explorer Leif Ericson, however, the colonization never became permanent and was later abandoned. The voyages of Christopher Columbus from 1492 to 1502 resulted in permanent contact with European powers, diseases introduced from Europe and Africa devastated the indigenous peoples, and the European powers colonized the Americas. Mass emigration from Europe, including numbers of indentured servants. Decolonization of the Americas began with the American Revolution in 1776, the population is over 1 billion, with over 65% of them living in one of the three most populous countries. As of the beginning of the 2010s, the most populous urban agglomerations are Mexico City, New York, Sao Paulo, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, all of them megacities. The name America was first recorded in 1507 in the Cosmographiae Introductio, apparently written by Matthias Ringmann and it first applied to both North and South America by Gerardus Mercator in 1538. Amerigen means land of Amerigo and derives from Amerigo and gen, America accorded with the feminine names of Asia, Africa, and Europa. When conceived as a continent, the form is generally the continent of America in the singular. However, without a context, singular America in English commonly refers to the United States of America. In some countries of the world, America is considered a continent encompassing the North America and South America subcontinents, the first inhabitants migrated into the Americas from Asia. Habitation sites are known in Alaska and the Yukon from at least 20,000 years ago, beyond that, the specifics of the Paleo-Indian migration to and throughout the Americas, including the dates and routes traveled, are subject to ongoing research and discussion. Widespread habitation of the Americas occurred during the glacial maximum
11.
Southern Africa
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Southern Africa is the southernmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics, and including several countries. The term southern Africa or Southern Africa, generally includes Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, from a political perspective the region is said to be unipolar with South Africa as a first regional power. It is not used in political, economic or human geography contexts because this definition cuts Mozambique in two, the Southern African Development Community was established in 1980 to facilitate co-operation in the region. Comoros, Madagascar, Malawi, Mayotte, Mauritius, Mozambique, Réunion, Seychelles, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania, though more commonly reckoned in Central and Eastern Africa, respectively, are occasionally included in Southern Africa as they are SADC members. The terrain of Southern Africa is varied, ranging from forest, the region has both low-lying coastal areas, and mountains. While colonialism has left its mark on the development over the course of history, today poverty, corruption, the pursuit of economic and political stability is an important part of the regions goals, as demonstrated by the SADC. In terms of strength, South Africa is by far the dominant power of the region. South Africas GDP alone is many times greater than the GDPs of all countries in the region. Southern Africa has a diversity of ecoregions including grassland, bushveld, karoo, savannah. It has complex Plateaus that create massive mountain structures along the South African border, there are numerous environmental issues in Southern Africa, including air pollution and desertification. Southern Africa is home to cultures and people. It was once populated by San, Khoikhoi and Pygmies in widely dispersed concentrations, the process of colonization and settling resulted in a significant population of European and Asian descent in many southern African countries. These factors vary from country to country, for example, the Democratic Republic of Congo has favourable climatic and physical conditions, but performs far below its capacity in food provision due to political instability and poor governance. The Republic of South Africa is a food producer and exporter in the region. However this data might not fully capture the reality of a region with high urban populations, urban food security has been noted as an emerging area of development concern in the region, with recent data showing high levels of food insecurity amongst low-income households. In South Africa for example, while over 50% experience hunger, there is only limited data on the other Southern African countries. History of Southern Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Southern Africa
12.
Oceania
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Oceania, also known as Oceanica, is a region centred on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. The term is used more specifically to denote a continent comprising Australia. The term was coined as Océanie circa 1812 by geographer Conrad Malte-Brun, the word Océanie is a French word derived from the Latin word oceanus, and this from the Greek word ὠκεανός, ocean. Natives and inhabitants of this region are called Oceanians or Oceanicans, as an ecozone, Oceania includes all of Micronesia, Fiji, and all of Polynesia except New Zealand. New Zealand, along with New Guinea and nearby islands, part of the Philippine islands, Australia, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, in geopolitical terms, however, New Zealand, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia are almost always considered part of Oceania. Australia and Papua New Guinea are usually considered part of Oceania along with the Maluku Islands, puncak Jaya in Papua is often considered the highest peak in Oceania. Oceania was originally conceived as the lands of the Pacific Ocean and it comprised four regions, Polynesia, Micronesia, Malaysia, and Melanesia. The area extends to Sumatra in the west, the Bonin Islands in the northwest, the Hawaiian Islands in the northeast, Rapa Nui and Sala y Gómez Island in the east, and Macquarie Island in the south. Not included are the Pacific islands of Taiwan, the Ryukyu Islands and the Japanese archipelago, all on the margins of Asia, and the Aleutian Islands of North America. The islands at the extremes of Oceania are Bonin, a politically integral part of Japan, Hawaii, a state of the United States. There is also a geographic definition that excludes land on the Sunda Plate. Biogeographically, Oceania is used as a synonym for either the Australasian ecozone or the Pacific ecozone, Oceania is one of eight terrestrial ecozones, which constitute the major ecological regions of the planet. The Oceania ecozone includes all of Micronesia, Fiji, and all of Polynesia except New Zealand, New Zealand, New Guinea, Melanesia apart from Fiji, and Australia constitute the separate Australasian ecozone. The Malay Archipelago is part of the Indomalaya ecozone, related to these concepts are Near Oceania, that part of western Island Melanesia which has been inhabited for tens of millennia, and Remote Oceania which is more recently settled. The term is used to denote a continent comprising Australia. New Zealand forms the corner of the Polynesian Triangle. Its indigenous Māori constitute one of the cultures of Polynesia. It is also, however, considered part of Australasia, the history of Oceania in the medieval period was synonymous with the history of the indigenous peoples of Australasia, Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia
13.
East Asia
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East Asia is the eastern subregion of the Asian continent, which can be defined in either geographical or ethno-cultural terms. Geographically and geopolitically, it includes China, Taiwan, Mongolia, Korea and Japan, it covers about 12,000,000 km2, or about 28% of the Asian continent, the East Asian people comprise more than 1.5 billion people. About 38% of the population of Asia and 22%, or over one fifth, the overall population density of the region is 133 inhabitants per square kilometre, about three times the world average of 45/km2. Historically, societies in East Asia have been part of the Chinese cultural sphere, major religions include Buddhism, Confucianism or Neo-Confucianism, Taoism, Chinese folk religion in China and Taiwan, Shinto in Japan, Korean shamanism in Korea. Shamanism is also prevalent among Mongolians and other populations of northern East Asia. The Chinese calendar is the root from which many other East Asian calendars are derived, Chinese Dynasties dominated the region in matters of culture, trade, and exploration as well as militarily for a very long time. There are records of tributes sent overseas from the kingdoms of Korea. There were also considerable levels of cultural and religious exchange between the Chinese and other regional Dynasties and Kingdoms, as connections began to strengthen with the Western world, Chinas power began to diminish. Around the same time, Japan solidified itself as a nation state, throughout World War II, Korea, Taiwan, much of eastern China, Hong Kong, and Vietnam all fell under Japanese control. Culturally, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam are commonly seen as being encompassed by cultural East Asia, there are mixed debates around the world whether these countries or regions should be considered in East Asia or not. Vietnam Siberia in Russia Sovereignty issues exist over some territories in the South China Sea, however, in this context, the term Far East is often more appropriate which covers ASEAN countries and the countries in East Asia. However, being a Eurocentric term, Far East describes the geographical position in relation to Europe rather than its location within Asia. Alternatively, the term Asia Pacific Region is often used in describing East Asia and this usage, which is seen in economic and diplomatic discussions, is at odds with the historical meanings of both East Asia and Northeast Asia. The Council on Foreign Relations defines Northeast Asia as Japan and Korea, the military and economic superpower of China became the largest economy in the world in 2014, surpassing the United States of America. Currently in East Asia, trading systems are open, and zero or low duties on imports of consumer and capital goods etc. have considerably helped stimulate cost-efficiency. Free and flexible labor and other markets are important factors making for high levels of business-economic performance. East Asian populations have demonstrated highly positive work ethics, there are relatively large and fast-growing markets for consumer goods and services of all kinds. The culture of East Asia has been influenced by the civilisation of China, East Asia, as well as Vietnam, share a Confucian ethical philosophy, Buddhism, political and legal structures, and historically a common writing system
14.
Asian cuisine
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Asian cuisine includes several major regional cuisines, East Asian, Southeast Asian, South Asian, Central Asian, and Middle Eastern. A cuisine is a style of cooking practices and traditions. Asia, being the largest and most populous continent, is home to many cultures, ingredients common to many cultures in the East and Southeast regions of the continent include rice, ginger, garlic, sesame seeds, chilies, dried onions, soy, and tofu. Stir frying, steaming, and deep frying are common cooking methods, while rice is common to most Asian cuisines, different varieties are popular in the various regions. Basmati rice is popular in the subcontinent, Jasmine rice is found across the southeast, while long-grain rice is popular in China and short-grain in Japan. Curry is a dish in southern, western and southeastern Asia. Curry dishes with origins in India and other South Asian countries usually have a base while Southeastern and Eastern curries generally use coconut milk as their foundation. East Asian cuisine includes Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, considering this is the most populated region of the world, it has many regional cuisines. Examples of staple foods include rice, noodles, mung beans, soy beans, seafood, mutton, bok choy, and tea. Ingredients in the region contrast with the ones in the Eastern Asian cuisines, substituting fish sauces for soy sauce, cooking methods include a balance of stir-frying, boiling and steaming. South Asian cuisine, also known as Desi cuisine, includes the cuisines from the Indian subcontinent, foods in this area of the world are flavoured with various types of chili, black pepper, cloves, and other strong herbs and spices along with the flavoured butter and ghee. Turmeric and cumin are used to make curries. Common meats include lamb, goat, fish and chicken, beef is less common than in Western cuisines because cattle have a special place in Hinduism but it is highly popular in South India, especially among Christians and Muslims. Prohibitions against beef extend to the meat of buffalo and yaks to some extent, pork is considered a taboo food item by all Muslims and is avoided by most Hindus. Most Central Asian nations have similar cuisines to each other as well as their neighbors, taking many features of the cuisines of Western and Eastern Asia. A dish known as plov, or osh, for example, is a variation of pilaf. However, many of the countries use horse meat and mutton as the most common meats. This is owing to Mongolian cuisine, in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, cuisine has evolved to meet the needs of a nomad lifestyle
15.
Continental Europe
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Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe, or, by Europeans, simply the Continent, is the continuous continent of Europe, excluding surrounding islands. This historical core of Carolingian Europe was consciously invoked in the 1950s as the historical basis for the prospective European integration. In both Great Britain and Ireland, the Continent is widely and generally used to refer to the mainland of Europe, an apocryphal British newspaper headline supposedly once read, Fog in Channel, Continent Cut Off. It has also claimed that this was a regular weather forecast in Britain in the 1930s. In addition, the word Europe itself is regularly used to mean Europe excluding the islands of Great Britain, Iceland. The term mainland Europe is also sometimes used, derivatively, the adjective continental refers to the social practices or fashion of continental Europe. Examples include breakfast, topless sunbathing and, historically, long-range driving often known as Grand Touring. Differences include electrical plugs, time zones for the most part, the use of traffic, and for the United Kingdom, currency. Britain is physically connected to continental Europe through the undersea Channel Tunnel and this route is popular with refugees and migrants seeking to enter the UK. Especially in Germanic studies, continental refers to the European continent excluding the Scandinavian peninsula, Britain, Ireland, and Iceland. The reason for this is that although the Scandinavian peninsula is attached to continental Europe, kontinenten is a vernacular Swedish expression that refers to the area excluding Sweden, Norway, and Finland but including Denmark and the rest of continental Europe. In Norway, similarly, one speaks about Kontinentet as an entity, usually referring to Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Benelux countries. Today, the Scandinavian peninsula is accessible by train and road with several bridge/tunnel structures connecting the Danish peninsula of Jutland to Scania in Sweden. The Continent may sometimes refer to the part of Italy, the continental part of Spain, the continental part of France. The term is used from the perspective of the residents of each country to describe the continental portion of their country or the continent as a whole. Continental philosophy Geopolitical divisions of Europe Geographical midpoint of Europe Mainland Western Europe Hajnal line
16.
Steak
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A steak is a meat generally sliced perpendicular to the muscle fibers, potentially including a bone. When the word steak is used without qualification, it refers to a beefsteak. In a larger sense, there are also fish steaks, ground meat steaks, pork steak, Steaks are usually grilled, but they can be pan-fried, or broiled. Steak is often grilled in an attempt to replicate the flavor of steak cooked over the coals of an open fire. Steak can also be cooked in sauce, such as in steak and kidney pie, or minced and formed into patties, for some meats, such as pork, lamb and mutton, chevon and veal, these cuts are often referred to as chops. Some cured meat, such as gammon, is served as steak. Grilled Portobello mushroom may be called mushroom steak, and similarly for other vegetarian dishes, the word steak originates from the mid-15th century Scandinavian word steik, or stickna in the Middle English dialect, along with the Old Norse word steikja. An early written usage of the word comes from a 15th-century cookbook. Livestock for meat to be used as steak cuts may be raised on a farm or ranch, the meat from various wild game may also be used for steak cuts. Countries with enough land for grazing animals, in particular cattle, have a history of production. Such countries include Argentina, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, the United States, in Asian countries, such as China and South Korea, steak is traditionally sliced and stir-fried and served in smaller amounts as part of a mixed dish. In Argentina, beef represents a portion of the countrys export market. A total of 11.8 million animals were slaughtered in 2010, the country has one of the largest consumptions of beef per capita worldwide, and much of it is barbecued steak. Beef steak consumption is described as part of the Argentine national identity, in 2010, there were 244,000 cattle producers in Argentina. In Argentina, a steakhouse is referred to as a parrilla, portion sizes of steak dishes in Argentine restaurants tend to be large, with steaks weighing over 454 grams being commonplace. Asado is a dish that often includes steak and is also the standard word for barbecue in Argentina. Asado is considered a dish of the country. The Irish agricultural beef market is a contributor to the economy of Ireland, a significant amount of Irish beef is exported to other countries, with over 50% of exported beef going to the United Kingdom
17.
Cutlet
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Then pork cutlets began to appear. More recently, in American cuisine a cutlet is more famously made using chicken, the cutlet is usually coated with flour, egg and bread crumbs, then fried in a pan with some oil. Cutlets are used in several different meals, Australians eat lamb cutlets battered with egg yolk and breadcrumbs. Chicken cutlets are also popular, but known as chicken schnitzel. Both lamb cutlets and chicken schnitzel are a staple of Australian childrens cuisine, amongst most Australians of Italian descent, the term schnitzel is replaced by the term cutlet. Cutlets amongst this population are usually veal or chicken, in British cuisine a cutlet is usually unbreaded and can also be called a chop. If referring to beef, more than one together would be generally called a rib of beef or a rib joint, whilst lamb ribs are called a rack. Lamb racks can also be tied into a circular shape before cooking, with the ribs on the outside, giving a crown shape, in Hong Kong the cutlet was introduced during the period of British colonial occupation along with other cooking influences. It is seen as sai chaan or Western cuisine, veal, pork and chicken are battered and deep fried for lunch. Seafood such as shrimp or scallop that is battered or breaded and it is usually served alongside rice or spaghetti noodles. In Indian cuisine, a cutlet specifically refers to cooked meat stuffing that is fried with a batter/covering, the meat itself is cooked with spices - onion, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, coriander, green chillies, lemon and salt. This is then dipped in an egg mix and then in breadcrumbs, the vegetarian version has no meat in it, instead the filling is a combination of mashed potatoes, onion, green chillies, spices and salt, cooked for a bit together. This version is popular with the vegetarian Indian population. An example is the Aloo Tikki, in Iran, kotlet consists of a mixture of ground beef, mashed potatoes, eggs, onions, spices and bread crumbs fried in a pan and is very popular. The use of the cutlet is quite widespread in Italian cuisine in different variations. The most famous variant is the Milanese cutlet, a veal cutlet covered in bread crumbs and it should not be mistaken for the Wiener schnitzel, because its a different cut of meat, the Milanese cutlet cut includes the bone, whereas the Wienerschnitzel doesnt. It is disputed whether the cotoletta alla milanese originated the Wienerschnitzel, the cutlet was introduced to Japan during the Meiji period, in a Western cuisine restaurant in the fashionable Ginza district of Tokyo. The Japanese pronunciation of cutlet is katsuretsu, in Japanese cuisine, katsuretsu or shorter katsu is actually the name for a Japanese version of the Wiener schnitzel, a breaded cutlet
18.
Wine
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Wine is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented grapes. These grapes are generally Vitis vinifera, or a hybrid with Vitis labrusca or Vitis rupestris, grapes are fermented without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, water, or other nutrients. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol, different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts produce different styles of wine. These variations result from the interactions between the biochemical development of the grape, the reactions involved in fermentation, the terroir. Many countries enact legal appellations intended to define styles and qualities of wine and these typically restrict the geographical origin and permitted varieties of grapes, as well as other aspects of wine production. There are also made from fermenting other fruits or cereals. Wines made from other than grapes include rice wine and various fruit wines such as those made from plums or cherries. Some well known examples are hard cider from apples, perry from pears, pomegranate wine, Wine has been produced for thousands of years. The earliest known traces of wine from Georgia in Eurasia where 8000-year-old wine jars were found and in Iran with 7, the earliest known winery is the 6, 100-year-old Areni-1 winery Armenia. Wine reached the Balkans by 4500 BC and was consumed and celebrated in ancient Greece, Thrace, throughout history, wine has been consumed for its intoxicating effects, which are evident after the normal serving size of five ounces. Wine has long played an important role in religion, the earliest chemically attested grape wine was discovered at Hajji Firuz in the northwestern Zagros Mountains dating back to 5400 BC. The earliest evidence of a fermented drink was found in Georgia, where wine residue inside ceramic jars dates from 6000 BC. The earliest evidence of a production facility is the Areni-1 winery in Armenia and is at least 6100 years old, presumably. A2003 report by archaeologists indicates a possibility that grapes were mixed with rice to produce mixed fermented beverages in China in the years of the seventh millennium BC. Pottery jars from the Neolithic site of Jiahu, Henan, contained traces of tartaric acid, however, other fruits indigenous to the region, such as hawthorn, cannot be ruled out. The spread of wine culture westwards was most probably due to the Phoenicians who spread outward from a base of city-states along the Lebanese, Syrian, the wines of Byblos were exported to Egypt during the Old Kingdom and then throughout the Mediterranean. Evidence includes two Phoenician shipwrecks from 750 BC discovered by Robert Ballard, whose cargo of wine was still intact. As the first great traders in wine, the Phoenicians seem to have protected it from oxidation with a layer of oil, followed by a seal of pinewood and resin
19.
Nouvelle cuisine
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Nouvelle cuisine is an approach to cooking and food presentation in French cuisine. In contrast to cuisine classique, a form of haute cuisine, nouvelle cuisine is characterized by lighter, more delicate dishes. The term nouvelle cuisine has been used several times in the history of French cuisine, in the 1730s and 1740s, several French writers emphasized their break with tradition, calling their cooking modern or new. Vincent La Chapelles published his Cuisinier moderne in 1733–1735, the first volumes of Menons Nouveau traité de la cuisine came out in 1739. And it was in 1742 that Menon introduced the term nouvelle cuisine as the title of the volume of his Nouveau traité. François Marin worked in the same tradition, in the 1880s and 1890s, the cooking of Georges Auguste Escoffier was sometimes described with the term. Paul Bocuse claimed that Gault first used the term to food prepared by Bocuse. The style Gault and Millau wrote about was a reaction to the French cuisine classique placed into orthodoxy by Escoffier, calling for greater simplicity and elegance in creating dishes, nouvelle cuisine is not cuisine minceur, which was created by Michel Guérard as spa food. Gault and Millau discovered the formula contained in ten characteristics of new style of cooking. The ten characteristics identified were, A rejection of excessive complication in cooking, cooking times for most fish, seafood, game birds, veal, green vegetables and pâtés were greatly reduced in an attempt to preserve the natural flavors. Steaming was an important trend from this characteristic, the cuisine was made with the freshest possible ingredients. Large menus were abandoned in favor of shorter menus, strong marinades for meat and game ceased to be used. They stopped using heavy sauces such as espagnole and béchamel in favor of seasoning their dishes with fresh herbs, high-quality butter, lemon juice and they used regional dishes for inspiration instead of cuisine classique dishes. New techniques were embraced and modern equipment was used, Bocuse even used microwave ovens. The chefs paid close attention to the needs of their guests through their dishes. The chefs were extremely inventive and created new combinations and pairings, there is a standing debate as to whether nouvelle cuisine has been abandoned. Much of what it stood for—particularly its preference for lightly presented, the Cambridge Companion to Modern French Culture. Cambridge, The Cambridge University Press,2003, all Manners of Food, eating and taste in England and France from the Middle Ages to the present
20.
Cheese
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Cheese is a food derived from milk that is produced in a wide range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, during production, the milk is usually acidified, and adding the enzyme rennet causes coagulation. The solids are separated and pressed into final form, Some cheeses have molds on the rind, the outer layer, or throughout. Most cheeses melt at cooking temperature, hundreds of types of cheese from various countries are produced. Their styles, textures and flavors depend on the origin of the milk, whether they have been pasteurized, the content, the bacteria and mold, the processing. Herbs, spices, or wood smoke may be used as flavoring agents, the yellow to red color of many cheeses, such as Red Leicester, is produced by adding annatto. Other ingredients may be added to some cheeses, such as pepper, garlic. For a few cheeses, the milk is curdled by adding acids such as vinegar or lemon juice, most cheeses are acidified to a lesser degree by bacteria, which turn milk sugars into lactic acid, then the addition of rennet completes the curdling. Vegetarian alternatives to rennet are available, most are produced by fermentation of the fungus Mucor miehei, cheesemakers near a dairy region may benefit from fresher, lower-priced milk, and lower shipping costs. Cheese is valued for its portability, long life, and high content of fat, protein, calcium, generally speaking, hard cheeses, such as parmesan last longer than soft cheeses, such as Brie or goats milk cheese. The long storage life of some cheeses, especially when encased in a protective rind, There is some debate as to the best way to store cheese, but some experts say that wrapping it in cheese paper provides optimal results. Cheese paper is coated in a plastic on the inside. A specialist seller of cheese is known as a cheesemonger. Becoming an expert in this field requires some formal education and years of tasting and hands-on experience, the cheesemonger is responsible for all aspects of the cheese inventory, selecting the cheese menu, purchasing, receiving, storage, and ripening. The word cheese comes from Latin caseus, from which the modern word casein is also derived, the earliest source is from the proto-Indo-European root *kwat-, which means to ferment, become sour. The word cheese comes from chese and cīese or cēse, the Online Etymological Dictionary states that cheese comes from Old English cyse, cese. from West Germanic *kasjus, from Latin caseus cheese. The Online Etymological Dictionary states that the word is of. unknown origin, perhaps from a PIE root *kwat- to ferment, Old Norse ostr, Danish ost, Swedish ost are related to Latin ius broth, sauce, juice. When the Romans began to make hard cheeses for their legionaries supplies and it is from this word that the French fromage, proper Italian formaggio, Catalan formatge, Breton fourmaj, and Provençal furmo are derived
21.
Fermented milk products
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The fermentation process increases the shelf-life of the product, while enhancing the taste and improving the digestibility of milk. There is evidence that fermented milk products have produced since around 10,000 BC. A range of different Lactobacilli strains has been grown in laboratories allowing for a range of cultured milk products with different tastes. Many different types of cultured milk products can be found around the world, * Streptococcus lactis has been renamed to Lactococcus lactis subsp
22.
Wheat
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Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region but now cultivated worldwide. In 2016, world production of wheat was 749 million tonnes, making it the second most-produced cereal after maize, since 1960, world production of wheat and other grain crops has tripled and is expected to grow further through the middle of the 21st Century. This grain is grown on land area than any other commercial food. World trade in wheat is greater than for all other crops combined, globally, wheat is the leading source of vegetal protein in human food, having a protein content of about 13%, which is relatively high compared to other major cereals and staple foods. The archaeological record suggests that wheat was first cultivated in the regions of the Fertile Crescent around 9600 BCE. In a small part of the population, gluten – the major part of wheat protein – can trigger coeliac disease, non-coeliac gluten sensitivity, gluten ataxia. Cultivation and repeated harvesting and sowing of the grains of wild grasses led to the creation of domestic strains, in domesticated wheat, grains are larger, and the seeds remain attached to the ear by a toughened rachis during harvesting. In wild strains, a more fragile rachis allows the ear to easily shatter, as the traits that improve wheat as a food source also involve the loss of the plants natural seed dispersal mechanisms, highly domesticated strains of wheat cannot survive in the wild. Cultivation of wheat began to spread beyond the Fertile Crescent after about 8000 BCE, jared Diamond traces the spread of cultivated emmer wheat starting in the Fertile Crescent sometime before 8800 BCE. Archaeological analysis of wild emmer indicates that it was first cultivated in the southern Levant with finds dating back as far as 9600 BCE, Genetic analysis of wild einkorn wheat suggests that it was first grown in the Karacadag Mountains in southeastern Turkey. Dated archeological remains of wheat in settlement sites near this region, including those at Abu Hureyra in Syria. With the anomalous exception of two grains from Iraq ed-Dubb, the earliest carbon-14 date for einkorn wheat remains at Abu Hureyra is 7800 to 7500 years BCE. Remains of harvested emmer from several sites near the Karacadag Range have been dated to between 8600 and 8400 BCE, that is, in the Neolithic period and these remains were dated by Willem van Zeist and his assistant Johanna Bakker-Heeres to 8800 BCE. They also concluded that the settlers of Tell Aswad did not develop this form of emmer themselves, the cultivation of emmer reached Greece, Cyprus and India by 6500 BCE, Egypt shortly after 6000 BCE, and Germany and Spain by 5000 BCE. The early Egyptians were developers of bread and the use of the oven, by 3000 BCE, wheat had reached the British Isles and Scandinavia. A millennium later it reached China, the oldest evidence for hexaploid wheat has been confirmed through DNA analysis of wheat seeds, dating to around 6400-6200 BCE, recovered from Çatalhöyük. The first identifiable bread wheat with sufficient gluten for yeasted breads has been identified using DNA analysis in samples from a dating to approximately 1350 BCE at Assiros in Macedonia. From Asia, wheat continued to spread throughout Europe, in the British Isles, wheat straw was used for roofing in the Bronze Age, and was in common use until the late 19th century
23.
Starch
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Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants as an energy store and it is the most common carbohydrate in human diets and is contained in large amounts in staple foods such as potatoes, wheat, maize, rice, and cassava. Pure starch is a white, tasteless and odorless powder that is insoluble in water or alcohol. It consists of two types of molecules, the linear and helical amylose and the branched amylopectin, depending on the plant, starch generally contains 20 to 25% amylose and 75 to 80% amylopectin by weight. Glycogen, the store of animals, is a more branched version of amylopectin. In industry, starch is converted into sugars, for example by malting and it is processed to produce many of the sugars used in processed foods. Dissolving starch in water gives wheatpaste, which can be used as a thickening, stiffening or gluing agent. The biggest industrial non-food use of starch is as an adhesive in the papermaking process, starch can be applied to parts of some garments before ironing, to stiffen them. The word starch is from a Germanic root with the strong, stiff. Amylum for starch is from the Greek αμυλον, amylon which means not ground at a mill, the root amyl is used in biochemistry for several compounds related to starch. Starch grains from the rhizomes of Typha as flour have been identified from grinding stones in Europe dating back to 30,000 years ago, starch grains from sorghum were found on grind stones in caves in Ngalue, Mozambique dating up to 100,000 years ago. Pure extracted wheat starch paste was used in Ancient Egypt possibly to glue papyrus, the extraction of starch is first described in the Natural History of Pliny the Elder around AD 77–79. Romans used it also in cosmetic creams, to powder the hair, persians and Indians used it to make dishes similar to gothumai wheat halva. Rice starch as surface treatment of paper has been used in production in China. In addition to starchy plants consumed directly,66 million tonnes of starch were being produced per year world-wide by 2008. In the EU this was around 8.5 million tonnes, with around 40% being used for applications and 60% for food uses. Most green plants use starch as their energy store, an exception is the family Asteraceae, where starch is replaced by the fructan inulin. In photosynthesis, plants use light energy to produce glucose from carbon dioxide, the glucose is used to make cellulose fibers, the structural component of the plant, or is stored in the form of starch granules, in amyloplasts
24.
Dumpling
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Dumpling is a broad classification for a dish that consists of small pieces of dough, often wrapped around a filling. The dough can be based on bread, flour, or potatoes and they may be cooked by boiling, frying, simmering, or steaming. Dumplings can be savoury or sweet and can be eaten by themselves, with gravy or sauce, banku and kenkey fit the definition of a dumpling in that they are starchy balls of dough that are steamed. They are formed from fermented cornmeal dough, banku are boiled while kenkey are partly boiled then finished by steaming in banana leaves. Fufu may be described as a dumpling although in actual sense, fufu is made by pounding boiled cassava or yam in a wooden mortar with a wooden pestle. Plantain or cocoyam may be added, there are several other versions of fufu in Africa and the Caribbean. There have been versions of fufu which will fit better into the definition of dumplings. These are mostly common outside Africa where they originate and it is made by steaming cassava and plantain/cocoyam flour into thick starchy balls. Tihlo—prepared from roasted barley flour—originated in the Tigray region of Ethiopia and is now popular in Amhara as well. Souskluitjies are dumplings found in South Africa and they are a steamed sweet dumpling, sometimes made with plain flour and sometimes with the addition of dried fruits or other flavors. They are often served with a syrup flavored with cinnamon or a custard sauce, South Africa has another kind of dumpling known as melkkos. These dumplings are formed by putting milk, one teaspoon at a time, the flour clings to the milk and forms dumplings, which are then boiled in a mixture of milk and butter. They are served hot and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, several types of dumplings are popular in the United States. Dumplings can be made with eggs, milk, baking powder or even yeast, or just from flour, rolled dumplings are rolled thin and cut into small pieces for cooking, while dropped dumplings are formed into small balls. Chicken and dumplings is a comfort food in the Midwestern and Southern U. S. where dumplings are often used as part of the regionally popular Burgoo stew. The baked dumpling is popular in American cuisine and these sweet dumplings are made by wrapping fruit, frequently a whole tart apple, in pastry, then baking until the pastry is browned and the filling is tender. As an alternative to simply baking them, these dumplings are surrounded by a sauce in the baking dish. Popular flavours for apple dumplings include brown sugar, caramel, or cinnamon sauces, boiled dumplings are made from flour to form a dough
25.
Pastry
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Pastry is a dough of flour, water and shortening that may be savoury or sweetened. Sweetened pastries are often described as bakers confectionery, the word pastries suggests many kinds of baked products made from ingredients such as flour, sugar, milk, butter, shortening, baking powder, and eggs. Small tarts and other baked products are called pastries. The French word pâtisserie is also used in English for the same foods, common pastry dishes include pies, tarts, quiches and pasties. Pastry can also refer to the dough, from which such baked products are made. Pastry dough is rolled out thinly and used as a base for baked products, pastry is differentiated from bread by having a higher fat content, which contributes to a flaky or crumbly texture. A good pastry is light and airy and fatty, but firm enough to support the weight of the filling, when making a shortcrust pastry, care must be taken to blend the fat and flour thoroughly before adding any liquid. This ensures that the granules are adequately coated with fat. On the other hand, overmixing results in long gluten strands that toughen the pastry, Shortcrust pastry Shortcrust pastry is the simplest and most common pastry. It is made with flour, fat, butter, salt and this is used mainly in tarts. It is also the pastry that is used most often in making a quiche, the process of making pastry includes mixing of the fat and flour, adding water, and rolling out the paste. A related type is the sweetened sweetcrust pastry, also known as pâte sucrée, in which sugar, Flaky pastry Flaky pastry is a simple pastry that expands when cooked due to the number of layers. It bakes into a crisp, buttery pastry, the puff is obtained by the shard-like layers of fat, most often butter or shortening, creating layers which expand in the heat of the oven when baked. Puff pastry Puff pastry has many layers that cause it to expand or puff when baked, Puff pastry is made using flour, butter, salt, and water. The pastry rises up due to the water and fats expanding as they turn into steam upon heating, Puff pastries come out of the oven light, flaky, and tender. Choux pastry Choux pastry is a very light pastry that is filled with cream. Unlike other types of pastry, choux is in closer to a dough before being cooked which gives it the ability to be piped into various shapes such as the éclair. Its name originates from the French choux, meaning cabbage, owing to its rough cabbage-like shape after cooking, Choux begins as a mixture of milk or water and butter which are heated together until the butter melts, to which flour is added to form a dough
26.
Potato
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The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial nightshade Solanum tuberosum. The word potato may refer either to the plant itself or to the edible tuber, in the Andes, where the species is indigenous, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species. Potatoes were introduced to Europe in the half of the 16th century by the Spanish. It is the worlds fourth-largest food crop, following maize, wheat, the green leaves and green skins of tubers exposed to the light are toxic. Wild potato species can be throughout the Americas from the United States to southern Chile. Following centuries of breeding, there are now over a thousand different types of potatoes. However, the importance of the potato is variable and changing rapidly. As of 2007 China led the world in production, and nearly a third of the worlds potatoes were harvested in China. The English word potato comes from Spanish patata, the Spanish Royal Academy says the Spanish word is a compound of the Taíno batata and the Quechua papa. The 16th-century English herbalist John Gerard used the terms bastard potatoes and Virginia potatoes for this species, potatoes are occasionally referred to as Irish potatoes or white potatoes in the United States, to distinguish them from sweet potatoes. The name spud for a small potato comes from the digging of soil prior to the planting of potatoes, the word spud traces back to the 16th century. It subsequently transferred over to a variety of digging tools, around 1845, the name transferred to the tuber itself. It was Mario Peis 1949 The Story of Language that can be blamed for the false origin. Pei writes, the potato, for its part, was in disrepute some centuries ago, some Englishmen who did not fancy potatoes formed a Society for the Prevention of Unwholesome Diet. The initials of the words in this title gave rise to spud. Like most other pre-20th century acronymic origins, this is false, Potato plants are herbaceous perennials that grow about 60 cm high, depending on variety, with the leaves dying back after flowering, fruiting and tuber formation. They bear white, pink, red, blue, or purple flowers with yellow stamens, in general, the tubers of varieties with white flowers have white skins, while those of varieties with colored flowers tend to have pinkish skins. Potatoes are mostly cross-pollinated by insects such as bumblebees, which carry pollen from other potato plants, tubers form in response to decreasing day length, although this tendency has been minimized in commercial varieties
27.
European colonization of the Americas
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European colonization of the Americas began as early as the 10th–11th century, when West Norse sailors explored and briefly settled limited areas on the shores of present-day Canada. These Norsemen were Vikings who had discovered and settled Greenland, then sailed up the Arctic region of North America alongside Greenland, according to Icelandic Sagas, violent conflicts with the indigenous population ultimately made the Norse abandon those settlements. Running aground on the part of Hispaniola on December 5,1492, which the Taino people had inhabited since the 7th century. European conquest, large-scale exploration, colonization and industrial development soon followed, Columbus first two voyages reached the Bahamas and various Caribbean islands, including Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and Cuba. In 1497, sailing from Bristol on behalf of England, John Cabot landed on the North American coast, other powers such as France also founded colonies in the Americas, in eastern North America, a number of Caribbean islands, and small coastal parts of South America. Portugal colonized Brazil, tried colonizing the coasts of present-day Canada, the Age of Exploration was the beginning of territorial expansion for several European countries. Eventually, the entire Western Hemisphere came under the control of European governments, leading to profound changes to its landscape, population. In the 19th century alone over 50 million people left Europe for the Americas, Norse journeys to Greenland and Canada are supported by historical and archaeological evidence. It was named a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1978, Early explorations and conquests were made by the Spanish and the Portuguese immediately following their own final reconquest of Iberia in 1492. Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés took over the Aztec Kingdom and Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca Empire, over this same timeframe, Portugal claimed lands in North America and colonized much of eastern South America, naming it Santa Cruz and Brazil. Other European nations soon disputed the terms of the Treaty of Tordesillas, England and France attempted to plant colonies in the Americas in the 16th century, but these failed. England and France succeeded in establishing permanent colonies in the following century, in the 18th century, Denmark–Norway revived its former colonies in Greenland, while the Russian Empire gained a foothold in Alaska. Denmark-Norway would later make claims in the Caribbean, starting in the 1600s. As more nations gained an interest in the colonization of the Americas, colonists often faced the threat of attacks from neighboring colonies, as well as from indigenous tribes and pirates. He was followed by other such as John Cabot, who was sponsored by England. Pedro Álvares Cabral reached Brazil and claimed it for Portugal, amerigo Vespucci, working for Portugal in voyages from 1497 to 1513, established that Columbus had reached a new set of continents. Cartographers still use a Latinized version of his first name, America, in 1513, Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama and led the first European expedition to see the Pacific Ocean from the west coast of the New World. In an action with enduring historical import, Balboa claimed the Pacific Ocean and it was 1517 before another expedition, from Cuba, visited Central America, landing on the coast of Yucatán in search of slaves
28.
Maize
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Maize, also known as corn, is a large grain plant first domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The six major types of corn are dent corn, flint corn, pod corn, popcorn, flour corn, the leafy stalk of the plant produces separate pollen and ovuliferous inflorescences or ears, which are fruits, yielding kernels or seeds. Maize kernels are used in cooking as a starch. Most historians believe maize was domesticated in the Tehuacan Valley of Mexico, recent research modified this view somewhat, scholars now indicate the adjacent Balsas River Valley of south-central Mexico as the center of domestication. The Olmec and Mayans cultivated maize in numerous varieties throughout Mesoamerica, cooked and its believed that beginning about 2500 BC, the crop spread through much of the Americas. The region developed a network based on surplus and varieties of maize crops. Nevertheless, recent data indicates that the spread of maize took place even earlier, according to Piperno, A large corpus of data indicates that it was dispersed into lower Central America by 7600 BP and had moved into the inter-Andean valleys of Colombia between 7000 and 6000 BP. Since then, even earlier dates have been published, the study also demonstrated that the oldest surviving maize types are those of the Mexican highlands. Later, maize spread from this region over the Americas along two major paths and this is consistent with a model based on the archaeological record suggesting that maize diversified in the highlands of Mexico before spreading to the lowlands. Before they were domesticated, maize plants only grew small,25 millimetres long corn cobs, Maize is the most widely grown grain crop throughout the Americas, with 361 million metric tons grown in the United States in 2014. Approximately 40% of the crop—130 million tons—is used for corn ethanol, genetically modified maize made up 85% of the maize planted in the United States in 2009. After the arrival of Europeans in 1492, Spanish settlers consumed maize and explorers and traders carried it back to Europe, Spanish settlers far preferred wheat bread to maize, cassava, or potatoes. Maize flour could not be substituted for wheat for bread, since in Christian belief only wheat could undergo transubstantiation. At another level, Spaniards worried that by eating indigenous foods, which they did not consider nutritious, that not only would they weaken, despite these worries, Spaniards did consume maize and archeological evidence from Florida sites indicate they cultivated it as well. Maize spread to the rest of the world because of its ability to grow in diverse climates and it was cultivated in Spain just a few decades after Columbuss voyages and then spread to Italy, West Africa and elsewhere. The word maize derives from the Spanish form of the indigenous Taíno word for the plant and it is known by other names around the world. The word corn outside North America, Australia, and New Zealand refers to any cereal crop, in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, corn primarily means maize, this usage started as a shortening of Indian corn. Indian corn primarily means maize, but can more specifically to multicolored flint corn used for decoration
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Polenta
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Polenta is a dish of boiled cornmeal that was historically made from other grains. It may be served as a hot porridge, or it may be allowed to cool and solidify into a loaf that can be baked, fried, the dish is associated with Northern and Central Italy. Polenta has a creamy texture due to the gelatinization of starch in the grain, however, its consistency may not be completely homogeneous if a coarse grind or hard grain such as flint corn is used. The variety of cereal used is usually yellow maize, but buckwheat, white maize, coarse grinds make a firm, coarse polenta, finer grinds make a creamy, soft polenta. Polenta is a staple of Northern Italian cuisine and its consumption is associated with lower classes. As it is today, polenta derives from earlier forms of grain mush (known as puls or pulmentum in Latin that were commonly eaten since Roman times. Before the introduction of corn from America in the 16th century, polenta was made from ingredients like farro, chestnut flour, millet, spelt. Historically, polenta was served as a peasant food in North America, in the 1940s and 1950s, polenta was often eaten with salted anchovy or herring, sometimes topped with sauces. Latin polenta covered any hulled and crushed grain, especially barley-meal, and is derived from the Latin pollen for fine flour, polenta is typically simmered in a water-based liquid with other ingredients. Later, once the polenta is done, ingredients can also be added and it is often cooked in a large copper pot, known as a paiolo in Italian. Boiled polenta may be eaten as is, or it may be allowed to set, leftovers can be used the same way. Cooked polenta can be shaped into balls, patties, or sticks, polenta takes a long time to cook, simmering in four to five times its volume of watery liquid for about 45 minutes with near-constant stirring, necessary for even gelatinization of the starch. Some alternative cooking techniques have been invented to speed up the process, quick-cooking polenta is widely used and is prepared in just a few minutes, it is considered inferior to polenta made from unprocessed cornmeal and is best eaten after being baked or fried. In his book Heat, Bill Buford talks about his experiences as a cook in Mario Batalis Italian restaurant Babbo. If you dont have to stir it all the time, you can cook it for hours—what does it matter, cooks Illustrated magazine has described a method using a microwave oven that reduces cooking time to 12 minutes and requires only a single stirring. In March 2010, it presented a stovetop, near-stir-less method that uses a pinch of baking soda, kyle Phillips suggested making it in a polenta maker or in a slow cooker. In the Trieste area of northeastern Italy, it is either with cuttlefish and tomato broth, with sausage. Polenta can also be prepared with mushrooms, rapini, or other vegetables or meats
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Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
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Balkans
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The Balkan Peninsula, or the Balkans, is a peninsula and a cultural area in Eastern and Southeastern Europe with various and disputed borders. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch from the Serbia-Bulgaria border to the Black Sea, the highest point of the Balkans is Mount Musala 2,925 metres in the Rila mountain range. In Turkish, Balkan means a chain of wooded mountains, the name is still preserved in Central Asia with the Balkan Daglary and the Balkan Province of Turkmenistan. A less popular hypothesis regarding its etymology is that it derived from the Persian Balā-Khāna, from Antiquity through the Middle Ages, the Balkan Mountains had been called by the local Thracian name Haemus. According to Greek mythology, the Thracian king Haemus was turned into a mountain by Zeus as a punishment, a reverse name scheme has also been suggested. D. Dechev considers that Haemus is derived from a Thracian word *saimon, a third possibility is that Haemus derives from the Greek word haema meaning blood. The myth relates to a fight between Zeus and the monster/titan Typhon, Zeus injured Typhon with a thunder bolt and Typhons blood fell on the mountains, from which they got their name. The earliest mention of the name appears in an early 14th-century Arab map, the Ottomans first mention it in a document dated from 1565. There has been no other documented usage of the word to refer to the region before that, there is also a claim about an earlier Bulgar Turkic origin of the word popular in Bulgaria, however it is only an unscholarly assertion. The word was used by the Ottomans in Rumelia in its meaning of mountain, as in Kod̲j̲a-Balkan, Čatal-Balkan, and Ungurus-Balkani̊. The concept of the Balkans was created by the German geographer August Zeune in 1808, during the 1820s, Balkan became the preferred although not yet exclusive term alongside Haemus among British travelers. Among Russian travelers not so burdened by classical toponymy, Balkan was the preferred term, zeunes goal was to have a geographical parallel term to the Italic and Iberian Peninsula, and seemingly nothing more. The gradually acquired political connotations are newer and, to a large extent, after the dissolution of Yugoslavia beginning in June 1991, the term Balkans again received a negative meaning, especially in Croatia and Slovenia, even in casual usage. A European Union initiative of 1999 is called the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, and its northern boundary is often given as the Danube, Sava and Kupa Rivers. The Balkan Peninsula has an area of about 470,000 km2. It is more or less identical to the known as Southeastern Europe. As of 1920 until World War II, Italy included Istria, the current territory of Italy includes only the small area around Trieste inside the Balkan Peninsula. However, the regions of Trieste and Istria are not usually considered part of the Balkans by Italian geographers, the Western Balkans is a neologism coined to describe the countries of ex-Yugoslavia and Albania
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Pizza
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Pizza is a yeasted flatbread generally topped with tomato sauce and cheese and baked in an oven. It is commonly topped with a selection of meats, vegetables, the term was first recorded in the 10th century, in a Latin manuscript from Gaeta in Central Italy. The modern pizza was invented in Naples, Italy, and the dish and its variants have become popular. In 2009, upon Italys request, Neapolitan pizza was safeguarded in the European Union as a Traditional Speciality Guaranteed dish, the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana is a non-profit organization founded in 1984 with headquarters in Naples. It promotes and protects the true Neapolitan pizza, Pizza is sold fresh or frozen, either whole or in portions, and is a common fast food item in Europe and North America. Various types of ovens are used to them and many varieties exist. Several similar dishes are prepared from ingredients used in pizza preparation, such as calzone. Suggested etymologies include, Byzantine Greek and Late Latin pitta > pizza, modern Greek pitta bread and the Apulia and Calabrian pitta, a round flat bread baked in the oven at high temperature sometimes with toppings. The word pitta can in turn be traced to either Ancient Greek πικτή, fermented pastry, the Lombardic word bizzo or pizzo meaning mouthful, which was brought to Italy in the middle of the 6th century AD by the invading Lombards. Foods similar to pizza have been made since the neolithic age, Records of people adding other ingredients to bread to make it more flavorful can be found throughout ancient history. An early reference to a pizza-like food occurs in the Aeneid, in Book VII, Aeneas and his men are served a meal that includes round cakes topped with cooked vegetables. When they eat the bread, they realize that these are the tables prophesied by Celaeno, modern pizza evolved from similar flatbread dishes in Naples, Italy in the 18th or early 19th century. Prior to that time, flatbread was often topped with ingredients such as garlic, salt, lard, cheese and it is uncertain when tomatoes were first added and there are many conflicting claims. Until about 1830, pizza was sold from open-air stands and out of pizza bakeries, of the three different pizzas he created, the Queen strongly preferred a pizza swathed in the colors of the Italian flag, red, green, and white. Supposedly, this kind of pizza was named after the Queen. Pizza was brought to the United States with Italian immigrants in the nineteenth century. The countrys first pizzeria, Lombardis, opened in 1905, following World War II, veterans returning from the Italian Campaign after being introduced to Italys native cuisine proved a ready market for pizza in particular. Since then pizza consumption has exploded in the U. S, Pizza chains such as Dominos, Pizza Hut, and Papa Johns, pizzas from take and bake pizzerias, and chilled or frozen pizzas from supermarkets make pizza readily available nationwide
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Salad
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A salad is a dish consisting of a mixture of small pieces of food, which may be mixed with a sauce or salad dressing. They are typically served cold, although some, such as south German potato salad, are served warm, salads may contain vegetables, fruits, cheese, cooked meat, eggs, grains and nuts. Garden salads use a base of leafy greens like lettuce, arugula, kale or spinach, other types include bean salad, tuna salad, fattoush, Greek salad, and Japanese sōmen salad. The sauce used to flavor a salad is commonly called a salad dressing, well-known types include ranch, Thousand Island, vinaigrette comes in many varieties, one version is a mixture of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, herbs, and seasonings. Salads may be served at any point during a meal, such as, Appetizer salads, light, side salads, to accompany the main course as a side dish. Main course salads, usually containing a portion of heartier fare, such as chicken breast, dessert salads, sweet versions containing fruit, gelatin, sweeteners or whipped cream, or just fruit, which is called a fruit salad. The word salad comes from the French salade of the meaning, from the Latin salata. In English, the word first appears as salad or sallet in the 14th century, salt is associated with salad because vegetables were seasoned with brine or salty oil-and-vinegar dressings during Roman times. The Romans and ancient Greeks ate mixed greens with dressing, in his 1699 book, Acetaria, A Discourse on Sallets, John Evelyn attempted with little success to encourage his fellow Britons to eat fresh salad greens. Mary, Queen of Scots, ate boiled celery root over greens covered with creamy mustard dressing, truffles, chervil, oil used on salads can be found in the 17th century colony of New Netherland. Curaçao Papers page 234 In a 1653 inventory in New Netherland dressing can be found, council Minutes Volume V, page 78 The United States popularized mixed greens salads in the late 19th century. Salads including layered and dressed salads were popular in Europe since Greek imperial, several other regions of the world adopted salads throughout the second half of the 20th century. From Europe and the Americas to China, Japan, and Australia, salads are sold in supermarkets, at restaurants, in the US market, restaurants will often have a Salad Bar laid out with salad-making ingredients, which the customers will use to put together their salad. Salad restaurants were earning more than $300 million in 2014, a green salad or garden salad is most often composed of leafy vegetables such as lettuce varieties, spinach, or rocket. The salad leaves may be cut or torn into bite-sized fragments and tossed together and they are often adorned with garnishes such as nuts or croutons. A wedge salad is made from a head of lettuce halved or quartered, vegetables other than greens may be used in a salad. Common raw vegetables used in a salad include cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, onions, spring onions, red onions, carrots, celery, a bound salad can be composed or tossed. They are assembled with thick sauces such as mayonnaise, one portion of a true bound salad will hold its shape when placed on a plate with an ice-cream scoop
34.
Hors d'oeuvre
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An hors doeuvre, appetizer, or starter is a small dish served before a meal. Some hors doeuvres are served cold, others hot, Hors doeuvres may be served at the dinner table as a part of the meal, or they may be served before seating. Formerly, hors doeuvres were also served between courses, typically smaller than a main dish, it is often designed to be eaten by hand. Hors doeuvre in French means outside the work—that is, not part of the set of courses in a meal. Appetizer is a synonym for hors doeuvre, starter is sometimes used to denote an hors doeuvre, sometimes to denote more substantial courses, known in Europe and North America as entrées. A small number of historians believe that the tradition may have begun in Russia. However, it may be that the custom originated in China, possibly coming through Steppes, into Russia, Scandinavia, France, the tradition may have reached Italy, Greece and the Balkan nations through Russia or Persia. Many national customs are related, including the Swedish smörgåsbord, Russian zakuska, Lebanese mezze, during the Roman Period the meal practice was to have two main courses which were supplemented before the meal with small amounts of fish, vegetables, cheeses, olives and even stuffed dormice. These would be served at the start of the known as either gustatio or promulsis. The Greeks called the appetizer course propoma, during the Middle Ages formal French meals were served with entremets between the serving of plates. These secondary dishes could be either actual food dishes, or elaborate displays, in the 14th century, recipes for entremets were mostly made with meat, fish, pork and vegetables. Along with this came elaborate silver and ceramic table displays as well as pièces montées, the entremets were placed between the other dishes within the main work of the meal. At about this time in the 17th century, smaller dishes began to be served by being placed outside the work of symmetrically placed dishes. These were known as hors doeuvre, Hors doeuvres were originally served as a canapé of small toasted bread with a savoury topping before a meal. In the French publication Les plaisirs de la table, Edouard Nignon stated that hors doeuvres originated in Asia and he went on to state that the French considered hors-doeuvres to be superfluous to a well cooked meal. Service à la française continued in Europe until the early 19th century, after the 19th century the entremet would become almost exclusively a sweet dish or dessert with the British custom of the savoury being the only remaining tradition of the savoury entremet. The style of formal dining changed drastically in the 19th century, some traditional hors doeuvres would remain on the table throughout the meal. These included olives, nuts, celery and radishes, the changing, contemporary hors doeuvres, sometimes called dainty dishes became more complicated in preparation
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Main course
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The main course is the featured or primary dish in a meal consisting of several courses. It usually follows the entrée course, in the United States and parts of Canada, it may be called entrée. The main dish is usually the heaviest, heartiest, and most complex or substantial dish on a menu, the main ingredient is usually meat, fish or another protein source. It is most often preceded by an appetizer, soup or salad, for those reasons the main course is sometimes referred to as the meat course. In formal dining, a main course can function as a sort of gastronomic apex or climax. The courses following the course then calm the palate and the stomach
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Dessert
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Dessert is a confectionery course that concludes a main meal. The course usually consists of foods and beverages, such as dessert wine or liqueurs. In some parts of the world, such as much of central and western Africa, the term dessert can apply to many confections, such as cakes, tarts, cookies, biscuits, gelatins, pastries, ice creams, pies, puddings, custards, and sweet soups. Fruit is also found in dessert courses because of its naturally occurring sweetness. Some cultures sweeten foods that are more commonly savory to create desserts, the word dessert originated from the French word desservir, meaning to clear the table. Its first known use was in 1600, in a health education manual entitled Naturall and artificial Directions for Health, in his A History of Dessert, Michael Krondl explains it refers to the fact dessert was served after the table had been cleared of other dishes. Alternatives such as sweets or afters are also used in the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth countries, including Hong Kong, sweets were fed to the gods in ancient Mesopotamia and India and other ancient civilizations. Dried fruit and honey were probably the first sweeteners used in most of the world, sugarcane was grown and refined in India before 500 BCE and was crystallized, making it easy to transport, by 500 CE. Sugar and sugarcane were traded, making available to Macedonia by 300 BCE. In South Asia, the Middle East and China, sugar has been a staple of cooking, sugarcane and sugar were little known and rare in Europe until the twelfth century or later, when the Crusades and then colonialization spread its use. Europeans began to manufacture sugar in the Middle Ages, and more sweet desserts became available, even then sugar was so expensive usually only the wealthy could indulge on special occasions. The first apple pie recipe was published in 1381, the earliest documentation of the term cupcake was in Seventy-five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats in 1828 in Eliza Leslies Receipts cookbook. The Industrial Revolution in America and Europe caused desserts to be mass-produced, processed, preserved, canned, frozen foods, including desserts, became very popular starting in the 1920s when freezing emerged. These processed foods became a part of diets in many industrialized nations. Many countries have desserts and foods distinctive to their nations or region, sweet desserts usually contain cane sugar, palm sugar, honey or some types of syrup such as molasses, maple syrup, treacle, or corn syrup. The proportions of ingredients, along with the preparation methods, play a major part in the consistency, texture. Sugars contribute moisture and tenderness to baked goods, flour or starch components serves as a protein and gives the dessert structure. Fats contribute moisture and can enable the development of layers in pastries
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Buffet
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A buffet is a system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners generally serve themselves. Buffets are offered at various places including hotels, restaurants and many social events, Buffet restaurants normally offer all-you-can-eat food for a set price. Buffets usually have some hot dishes, so the term cold buffet has been developed to describe formats lacking hot food, buffets are effective for serving large numbers of people at once, and are often seen in institutional settings, such as business conventions or large parties. Since a buffet involves diners serving themselves, it has in the past been considered a form of dining. In recent years, however, buffet meals are increasingly popular among hosts of home dinner parties, the buffet table originates from the brännvinsbord table from the middle of 16th century. This custom had its prime during the early 18th century, and was developed into the more modern buffet around the beginning of 19th century, the smörgåsbord buffet did not increase in popularity until the expansion of the railroads throughout Europe. The smörgåsbord table was originally a meal where guests gathered before dinner for a pre-dinner drink, the smörgåsbord buffet was often held in separate rooms for men and women before the dinner was served. The term buffet originally referred to the French sideboard furniture where the food was served, the word buffet became popular in the English-speaking world in the second half of the 20th century after the Swedes had popularized the smorgasbord in New York. The word is now accepted into the English language. In England such a buffet was called a court cupboard, prodigal displays of plate were probably first revived at the fashionable court of Burgundy and adopted in France. During the 18th century more subtle demonstrations of wealth were preferred, in a 1922 housekeeping book entitled How to Prepare and Serve a Meal, Lillian B. Lansdown wrote, The informal luncheon at small tables calls for service by a number of maids, there are many different ways of offering diners a selection of foods which are called buffet style meals. Some buffets are single pass only, but most buffets allow a diner to first take small samples of unfamiliar foods, to avoid misunderstandings in commercial eating establishments, the rules and charges are often posted on signs near the buffet serving tables. One form of buffet is to have a counter or table filled with plates containing fixed portions of food. The food display may either be staffed, or the customers may pick up the plates themselves. This form is most commonly seen in cafeterias, another derivative of this type of buffet occurs where patrons choose food from a buffet style layout and then pay based on what was chosen. A variation occurs in a dim sum house, where seated patrons make their selections from wheeled carts containing different plates of food which the staff circulate through the restaurant. Another variation is a conveyor belt sushi restaurant, where seated patrons select dishes from a conveyor belt carrying a variety of foods
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Cutlery
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Cutlery includes any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in the Western world. A person who makes or sells cutlery is called a cutler, the city of Sheffield in England has been famous for the production of cutlery since the 17th century and a train – the Master Cutler – running from Sheffield to London was named after the industry. Cutlery is more known as silverware or flatware in the United States. Although the term silverware is used irrespective of the composition of the utensils. The major items of cutlery in the Western world are the knife, fork, in recent times, hybrid versions of cutlery have been made combining the functionality of different eating implements, including the spork, spife, and knork or the sporf which combines all three. The word cutler derives from the Middle English word cuteler and this in turn derives from Old French coutelier which comes from coutel, the words early origins can be seen in the Latin word culter. The first documented use of the term cutler in Sheffield appeared in a 1297 tax return, a Sheffield knife was listed in the Kings possession in the Tower of London fifty years later. Several knives dating from the 14th century are on display at the Cutlers Hall in Sheffield, sterling silver is the traditional material from which good quality cutlery is made. Historically, silver had the advantage over other metals of being less chemically reactive, chemical reactions between certain foods and the cutlery metal can lead to unpleasant tastes. Gold is even less reactive than silver, but the use of gold cutlery was confined to the exceptionally wealthy, even comparatively modest households might have one or two items of silver, often silver spoons. It contained, among other items, a gravy ladle, mustard spoon. Steel was always used for more utilitarian knives, and pewter was used for some cheaper items, from the nineteenth century, electroplated nickel silver was used as a cheaper substitute for sterling silver. In 1913, the British metallurgist Harry Brearley discovered stainless steel by chance, an alternative is melchior, corrosion-resistant nickel and copper alloy, which can also sometimes contain manganese and nickle-iron. Plastic cutlery is made for use, and is frequently used outdoors for camping, excursions. Plastic cutlery is also used at fast-food or take-away outlets. Wooden disposable cutlery is available as a biodegradable alternative. Cutlery has been made in many places, in Britain, the industry became concentrated by the late 16th century in and around Birmingham and Sheffield. However, the Birmingham industry increasingly concentrated on swords, made by long cutlers, at Sheffield the trade of cutler became divided, with allied trades such as razormaker, awlbladesmith, shearsmith and forkmaker emerging and becoming distinct trades by the 18th century
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Spoon
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A spoon is a utensil consisting of a small shallow bowl, oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery, especially as part of a place setting, Spoons are also used in food preparation to measure, mix, stir and toss ingredients. Present day spoons are made from metal, wood, porcelain or plastic, preserved examples of various forms of spoons used by the ancient Egyptians include those composed of ivory, flint, slate and wood, many of them carved with religious symbols. During the Neolithic Ozieri civilization in Sardinia, ceramic ladles and spoons were already in use, in Shang Dynasty China, spoons were made of bone. Early bronze spoons in China were designed with a sharp point, the spoons of the Greeks and Romans were chiefly made of bronze and silver and the handle usually takes the form of a spike or pointed stem. There are many examples in the British Museum from which the forms of the types can be ascertained. In the early Muslim world, spoons were used for eating soup, medieval spoons for domestic use were commonly made of cow horn or wood, but brass, pewter, and latten spoons appear to have been common in about the 15th century. The full descriptions and entries relating to silver spoons in the inventories of the royal and other point to their special value. The earliest English reference appears to be in a will of 1259, in the wardrobe accounts of Edward I for the year 1300 some gold and silver spoons marked with the fleur-de-lis, the Paris mark, are mentioned. One of the most interesting medieval spoons is the coronation spoon used in the anointing of the English sovereign. The earlier English spoon-handles terminate in an acorn, plain knob or a diamond, at the end of the 16th century, the baluster and seal ending becomes common, the bowl being fig-shaped. During The Restoration, the handle becomes broad and flat, the bowl is broad and oval and the termination is cut into the shape known as the hinds foot. In the first quarter of the 18th century, the bowl becomes narrow and elliptical, with a tongue or rats tail down the back, and the handle is turned up at the end. The modern form, with the tip of the bowl narrower than the base, in Southeast Asia, spoons are the primary utensil used for eating, forks are used to push foods such as rice onto the spoon as well as their western usage for piercing the food. Spoons are also used in cooking and serving. In baking, batter is usually enough to pour or drop from a spoon. Rolled dough dropped from a spoon to a sheet can be made into rock cakes and other cookies. A spoon is similarly useful in processing jelly, sugar and syrup, a test sample of jelly taken from a boiling mass may be allowed to slip from a spoon in a sheet, in a step called sheeting
40.
Fork
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A fork, in cutlery or kitchenware, is a tool consisting of a handle with several narrow tines on one end. The usually metal utensil is used to food to the mouth or to hold ingredients in place while they are being cut by a knife. Food can be lifted either by spearing it on the tines or by holding it on top of the tines, the early history of the fork is obscure. As a kitchen and dining utensil it is believed to have originated in the Roman Empire. The personal table fork most likely originated in the Eastern Roman Empire and its use spread to what is now the Middle East during the first millennium AD and then spread into southern Europe during the second millennium. It did not become common in northern Europe until the 18th century and was not common in North America until the 19th century, the fork is a primarily Western utensil, whereas in east Asia chopsticks have been more prevalent. Today, forks are available throughout east Asia. The word fork comes from the Latin furca, meaning pitchfork, some of the earliest known uses of forks with food occurred in Ancient Egypt, where large forks were used as cooking utensils. Bone forks had been found in the site of the Bronze Age Qijia culture as well as later Chinese dynasties tombs. The Ancient Greeks used the fork as a serving utensil, the Greek name for fork is still used in some European languages, for instance in the Venetian, Greek, and Albanian languages. In the Roman Empire, bronze and silver forks were used, the use varied according to local customs, social class and the nature of food, but forks of the earlier periods were mostly used as cooking and serving utensils. The personal table fork was most likely invented in the Eastern Roman Empire, records show that by the 9th century a similar utensil known as a barjyn was in limited use in Persia within some elite circles. By the 10th century, the fork was in common use throughout the Middle East. By the 11th century, the fork had become increasingly prevalent in the Italian peninsula. At first, pasta was consumed using a wooden spike. In Italy, it became commonplace by the 14th century and was almost universally used by the merchant and upper classes by 1600. It was proper for a guest to arrive with his own fork and spoon enclosed in a box called a cadena, in Portugal, forks were first used at the time of Infanta Beatrice, Duchess of Viseu, King Manuel I of Portugals mother around 1450. However, forks were not commonly used in Southern Europe until the 16th century when they part of Italian etiquette
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Early modern period
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The early modern period of modern history follows the late Middle Ages of the post-classical era. Historians in recent decades have argued that from a worldwide standpoint, the period witnessed the exploration and colonization of the Americas and the rise of sustained contacts between previously isolated parts of the globe. The historical powers became involved in trade, as the exchange of goods, plants, animals, and food crops extended to the Old World. The Columbian Exchange greatly affected the human environment, New economies and institutions emerged, becoming more sophisticated and globally articulated over the course of the early modern period. This process began in the medieval North Italian city-states, particularly Genoa, Venice, the early modern period also included the rise of the dominance of the economic theory of mercantilism. The European colonization of the Americas, Asia, and Africa occurred during the 15th to 19th centuries, the early modern trends in various regions of the world represented a shift away from medieval modes of organization, politically and economically. Historians typically date the end of the modern period when the French Revolution of the 1790s began the modern period. Early modern themes Other In 16th century China, the Ming Dynastys economy was stimulated by trade with the Portuguese, Spanish. China became involved in a new trade of goods, plants, animals. Trade with Early Modern Europe and Japan brought in massive amounts of silver, during the last decades of the Ming the flow of silver into China was greatly diminished, thereby undermining state revenues and the entire Chinese economy. This damage to the economy was compounded by the effects on agriculture of the incipient Little Ice Age, natural calamities, crop failure, the ensuing breakdown of authority and peoples livelihoods allowed rebel leaders such as Li Zicheng to challenge Ming authority. The Ming Dynasty fell around 1644 to the Qing Dynasty, which was the last ruling dynasty of China, during its reign, the Qing Dynasty became highly integrated with Chinese culture. The Azuchi-Momoyama period saw the unification that preceded the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate. The Edo period from 1600 to 1868 characterized early modern Japan, the Tokugawa shogunate was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period gets its name from the city, Edo. The Tokugawa shogunate ruled from Edo Castle from 1603 until 1868, in 1392, General Yi Seong-gye established the Joseon Dynasty with a largely bloodless coup. Joseon experienced advances in science and culture, King Sejong the Great promulgated hangul, the Korean alphabet. The period saw various other cultural and technological advances as well as the dominance of neo-Confucianism over the entirety of Korea, during the late 16th and early 17th centuries, invasions by the neighboring Japanese and Qing Chinese nearly overran the Korean peninsula
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Finger food
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Finger food is food meant to be eaten directly using the hands, in contrast to food eaten with a knife and fork, spoon, chopsticks, or other utensils. In some cultures, food is almost always eaten with the hands, for example, in the South Asian subcontinent, food is traditionally always eaten with hands. Foods considered street foods are frequently, though not exclusively, finger foods, in the western world, finger foods are often either appetizers or entree/main course items. Other well-known foods that are eaten with the hands include burger, pizza, hot dogs, fruit. Dessert items such as cookies, pastries, ice cream in cones, or ice pops are often eaten with the hands but are not, in common parlance, in East Asia, foods like pancakes or flatbreads and street foods such as chuan are often eaten with the hands. In many western countries there are catering businesses that supply finger foods for events such as weddings, engagements, birthdays, for weddings, in particular, finger foods are becoming more popular because they are less expensive and offer more flexibility with menu choices. Finger Food, Elizabeth Wolf-Cohen ISBN 978-1-84215-507-3 The Essential Finger Food Cookbook, Wendy Stephen ISBN 978-1-57145-961-9
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Central European cuisine
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The Central European cuisine is the cuisine of Central Europe. The cuisine within each country in the region is influenced by the local climate. For example, German cuisine, Polish cuisine, Austrian and Czech cuisine show many similarities, montanari, Massimo, Il mondo in cucina. Tasting Food, Tasting Freedom, Excursions into Eating, Power, vydavateľstvo Matice slovenskej,2009, ISBN 978-80-89208-94-4 Visit Europe on Central European cuisine Foodspring. Central European cuisine Whats4eats - Europe
Austrian cuisine
Czech cuisine
German cuisine
Hungarian cuisine
Polish cuisine
Liechtensteiner cuisine
Slovak cuisine
Slovenian cuisine
Swiss cuisine
Armenian cuisine
Azerbaijani cuisine
Belarusian cuisine
Georgian cuisine
Russian cuisine
Ukrainian cuisine
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British cuisine
Danish cuisine
Estonian cuisine
Faroese cuisine
Finnish cuisine
Greenlandic cuisine
Icelandic cuisine
Irish cuisine
Latvian cuisine
Lithuanian cuisine
Norwegian cuisine
Swedish cuisine
Sami cuisine
Albanian cuisine
Bosnia and Herzegovina cuisine
Bulgarian cuisine
Croatian cuisine
Cypriot cuisine
Greek cuisine
Italian cuisine
Occitan cuisine
Macedonian cuisine
Maltese cuisine
Moldovan cuisine
Montenegrin cuisine
Portuguese cuisine
Romanian cuisine
Sammarinese cuisine
Serbian cuisine
Spanish cuisine
Turkish cuisine
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