Week 1 Reflection

The past week’s readings explore the effects of the Columbian Exchange and how it transformed the Mediterranean, specifically Italy. We used food to measure the transformation and slow process of assimilation in Italy. We used Italian literature, such as cookbooks, herbal books, novels, and poetry, to give us a better understanding of how the New World products eventually became a staple in Italian cuisines and everyday life.  Much of the work we read started after Columbus’s expedition in the 17^th century until the predominance of New World crops in the 19^th century.

In The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas, Nathan Nunn discusses the devastating effects of the Columbian exchange, which was the transmittance of diseases between Old and New World. Nunn also expands on the food trade that occurred between the two worlds. Lastly, he illustrates the adverse consequences of the exchange that affected Africa and Asia. Food is definitely one of the biggest driving forces of the Columbian exchange since the population in Europe continued to grow, but the amount of land to harvest crops was insufficient. Comparing the size of Italy and the United States, I have a better understanding of why crops were imported into the Old World. Furthermore, Italy’s Mediterranean climate doesn’t allow certain crops to be grown year round, which limits the amount of food available to the people.

After New World crops were introduced into the Old World, several crops changed European societies and their food habits. David Gentilcore’s A History of the Tomato in Italy illustrates the gradual evolution and acceptance of tomato in Italy. Tomatoes were deemed to hinder digestion by Galenic ideologies, but Renaissance physicians shifted from that view and concluded that tomatoes’ acidity had medicinal uses. It is hard to believe that such a plant that was once considered unhealthy is now a staple of Italy’s society. From my experience of eating at various ristorante in Florence, Rome, and Venice, the menus have several pages dedicated to the different dishes of pasta and tomatoes. In grocery stores, there are large sections of the aisle that sells tomatoes in paste and sauce next to the pastas. This cultural adoption of tomatoes as a national food is similar to how rice is associated with Asian cultures and corn with South and Central Americans.

This past week we read a few excerpts from Giacomo Castelvetro’s The Fruit, Herbs, and Vegetables of Italy, which includes a dedication to his newfound benefactor, Lucy, Countess of Bedford. He introduces the herbs, fruits, and plants that were eaten in Italy as new cuisines to the English diet. Castelvetro insists that artichoke, a plant that is unwelcomed by the English, should be given a chance and writes how artichoke can be cooked and eaten. Through Castelvetro’s work, I learned that Italians were fast to incorporate the New World crops into their cuisines. From his work, I can see that other European societies were reluctant to accept some of the crops imported from the New World. However, these fruits and vegetables are found in every food market in Europe, which doesn’t differ from the grocery stores and restaurants of the United States. 

The last work we read is the picturesque work of Matilde Serao in What They Eat. In her work, she illustrates the amount of food the poor of Naples are able to receive due to leftovers given by restaurants and the poor-man’s food sold on the streets. Serao in vivid detail writes how a one soldo can earn someone a pizza, chestnuts, corn, scapece, and spiritos. Furthermore, she talks about how there’s more and more food available if the consumer is able to dish out a few more soldi. The availability of food to the poor is reflective of the modern society since any food items are affordable by any socio-economic class. We have a global abundance and even a surplus of food that sadly goes to waste since there’s just too much for the average person to eat. The start of globalization, which started with the Columbian exchange, has caused the world to have better nutrition and live longer lives. However, there are still those in society who are left with little to eat since they have no means of buying food. The theory that everyone in the world can have a healthy diet is hindered by the need to capitalize from food. It will be a long time from now where society can truly mimic the classical ways where the poor can buy a decent meal for one soldo.