Regionalism
Recently I was sent a link to an article about a very interesting study done in England that identified that food taste in that country was as unique and identifiable by region as accents. The why for this was quite varied and some of it struck me as a bit of a stretch such as, “the artisan industries, such as pottery and textiles, where workers have used their hands, meant the region already had a predisposition to curry, as naan bread and poppadoms can be eaten by hand.” (Tucker, 2009) The primary thrust of it I found to be extremely true; food taste is formed by experience.
This study makes me wonder what the results would have been if the study was done in the United States. I know that in my region (Western Pennsylvania), we have a particular love of carbohydrates delivered in the form of pasta (pierohi, ravioli, spaghetti, etc.) and think that sandwiches should be a full meal affair with the sandwich filling, french fries, and cole slaw all on two slices of Italian bread. We do have a steak preparation method named for us (”Pittsburgh Rare”) and we have an increasingly diverse population that introduces different foods as they arrive and settle in. It’s really the same as anywhere else in that matter, though.
The fact is that there are not only a huge number of regional foods but local variants on the same regional food: Buffalo Wings, Garbage Plates, Philly Cheesesteak, etc. You could spend years just driving around and tasting regional delicacies without fear of serious repetition. It’s really kind of amazing to consider that even in the advent of an age where we can get pretty much anything we want over the internet, there are things in the world that we may never taste if we don’t actually go there.
Regional cuisine is something that is in the “things that I know that I don’t know” category Medievally. I can give some generalizations about national cuisine in the Low Countries based on what I’ve learned from Dutch cookbooks. I can make some generalizations about national cuisine during specific periods of time based on the same information, but to say “they ate X in this region” is not something that I am comfortable with. Because cookbooks were kind of specific to the cook and who the cook was cooking for I find it difficult to extend that information to a region. It’s far easier to look at several books and see where they match up to make a national generalization (assuming that the books were written in different areas, which most of them were) than it is to look at one or two books and say definitively that they represent the whole of a regional cuisine.
Maybe I’m too attached to the uniqueness of regionalism to be able to get out of my own box and be more willing to be specific and run the risk of being wrong. I’m not unwilling to admit that. It’s something that I need to look into, clearly.
I guess that what I should do is start making a list of what goods were shipped in and out of the various ports in the Low Countries during what time period and see what ingredients were available. Probably on the 2010 “giant project that requires help” list, though. I have enough for 2009. Really.
Regionalism is something that I look forward to having for a very long time, or at least until such time as teleportation technology advances to the point that I can send a Primanti’s Sandwich anywhere. It’s what makes each bit of the world unique within the context of people of the same nationality in the same country. It provides variety and makes it worth getting on a train or in a car or on a bus to see what someone else has that you don’t. Or better, invite someone to your area to enjoy your regional cuisine. Then you get the bonus of seeing a far away friend as well as having a nice meal.
Links:
“Why Taste is as Regional as Dialect”
http://refreshingnews9.blogspot.com/2009/06/why-taste-is-as-regional-as-dialect.html