“Cooking and eating in a foreign country may be the surest, and truest way to it’s soul” – unknown.
Food food glorious food. Some of us travel to the corners of the earth in order to try every known delicacy every country has to offer. I’ve personally been to over 65 countries and I can tell you, the main thing I wanted to experience in each and every one was the food!
A cuisine is a style of cooking characterized by distinctive ingredients, techniques, and dishes, and usually associated with a specific culture or geographic region. Regional food preparation, traditions, customs, and ingredients often combine to create dishes unique to a particular region.
A global cuisine is a cuisine that is practiced around the world. To become a global cuisine, a local, regional, or national cuisine must spread around the world, its food served worldwide. There have been significant improvements and advances during the last century in food preservation, storage, shipping and production, and today many countries, cities and regions have access to the ingredients and tools necessary to make regional and global cuisines at home.
The area’s climate, in large measure, determines the native foods that are available. In addition, climate influences food preservation. For example, foods preserved by salting, smoking, curing, and pickling are still critical to a cuisine’s dishes, even today.
The trade among different countries also largely affects a region’s cuisine. Dating back to the ancient spice trade, seasonings such as cinnamon, cassia, cardamon, ginger, and turmeric were important items of commerce in the earliest evolution of trade. Cinnamon and cassia found their way to the Middle East from Asia around 4,000 years ago. Tomatoes made their way to Italy from Mexico via the Spanish 16th century conquistadors. Also, certain foods and food preparations are dictated by the religious laws, such as Islamic dietary laws and Jewish dietary laws.
