Spice in World of Cooking
Food is synonymous with particular places, and certain foods cause immediate recognition of where they come from and how they determine social behavior.
When we think “China,” we might think “dim sum,” similarly, we might think tandoori in India, bouillabaisse in France, couscous in Morocco, a bowl of pho in Vietnam, a satay in Bali, tom yum in Thailand, sushi in Japan and pasta in Italy.
Cuisine is just as much a medium for expressing culture as is art, literature, newspaper, television, architecture or urban design.
It is optimistic enough to think that this symbolism may change in the future.
Food and culture reflect out quality of life to the point where, every country posses, it seems, the sort of cuisine it deserves which is to say the sort of cuisine it is appreciate enough to want.
Until recent times, Australian cooking in general has had very little to do with spices.
In the formative years of white settlement in this country, diet and eating habits were entirely inappropriate to resource, climate and lifestyle.
Our forebears preached austerity, blandness and economical practically at the expense of indulgence and taste.
Reference books and cooking manuals used in Australia in the latter part of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century reveal that household storerooms stocked what we could call today a basic spice collection – a mere twelve or so spices, among them nutmeg, cinnamon, caraway and black pepper.
In contrast, the array we can now access and utilize is dazzling an encouraging sign of gastronomic and epicurean maturity and confidence.
Many fine chefs, cooks and writers in Australia have major contributions over the past couple of decades of changing the perception of Australian cuisine as just shrimp on the Barbie and meat pies.
Spice in World of Cooking
