GASTRONOMY

the art of selecting, preparing, serving, and enjoying fine food. Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, the celebrated French aphorist and gastronomic authority of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, called gastronomy the intelligent knowledge of whatever concerns man's nourishment. Through the ages gastronomy has proved to be a stronger cultural force among the peoples of the world than linguistic or other influences. Today, the world may be divided into definite gastronomic regions, areas where distinctive cuisines prevail and common culinary methods are practiced. Rice is the staple in most of Southeast Asia. The distinctive feature of the cooking of India and Indonesia is the generous and imaginative use of spices to lend an added zest to foods. Olive oil is the common denominator of the Mediterranean cuisines. Northern Europe and North America use a variety of cooking fats, among them butter, cream, lard, and goose and chicken fats, but the common gastronomic denominator throughout most of these lands is wheat, the basic crop. In Latin America corn (maize) is the staple and is used in a wide variety of forms. This article covers the history of gastronomy from ancient civilizations through Greece and Rome, the Middle Ages, and the Italian Renaissance; the development of the great cuisines of France and of China; and the leading regional and national cuisines of the world. the art of selecting, preparing, serving, and enjoying fine food. Prehistoric man took a major step toward the development of gastronomy with the use of fire to cook his food. Two early centres of gastronomy were Rome and China. Although the Romans were noted for the vulgarity and ostentation of their banquets, their cuisine seems to have been one of memorable sophistication. In the Orient, references are made to a fully developed gastronomy as early as the 5th century BC. Through trade, war, and cultural assimilation, this gastronomy spread to Japan, Korea, and much of Southeast Asia. The foundations of Western gastronomy were laid during the Renaissance. The marriage of Catherine de Mdicis to the future King Henry II of France occasioned an influx of sophisticated Italian culinary principles to France. Refined further during the periods of the kings Louis XIV, XV, and XVI, the French Grande Cuisine reached its apex in the works and writings of Marie-Antoine Carme, the first major codifier of French cuisine; Georges-Auguste Escoffier, who worked to simplify and refine a sometimes florid culinary style; and Prosper Montagn, who created Larousse Gastronomique (1938), the basic encyclopaedia of French gastronomy. In France and China, countries long noted for their use of a variety of foods, beef, lamb, pork, fowl of all varieties, fish and shellfish, herbs, roots, legumes, cereals, and more are staples. In the Pacific, coconut and taro form the basis of many dishes, and in Africa, peanuts (groundnuts) are widely used. Yogurt, eggplant, olives, and lamb are basic to the Middle Eastern diet. In the cooking of India and Indonesia, spices are a distinctive feature. Corn (maize) is central to the cuisine of much of Latin America. In Italy, together with pastas of all shapes and sizes, rice and polenta serve as staples in many regions. Salmon and herring are two of the more popular varieties of fish featured in the northern countries of Europe. In Japan, also, fish is widely used, as are vegetables of all types. In Germany, game and particularly sausages abound, with varieties ranging from the simple Weisswurst to elaborate preparations involving venison, boar, and wild fowl. Regardless of regional differences or interpretations, the primary consideration in the selection of ingredients is freshness. Refrigeration and transport by air have increased the variety of fresh foods available in many parts of the world. Although modern food-processing technologies (canning, freeze-drying, etc.) have made possible the use of ingredients not regionally or seasonally available, these foods are generally regarded as substitutes for fresh ingredients. The care given to the processing and cooking of the chosen ingredients is an extension of the care taken in their selection. Involved here are techniques, recipes, and menus that are frequently learned only through much practice and experience. The paper-thin slicing of raw fish for Japanese sushi and sashimi and the carving of floral-shaped garnitures for the German Sulzkoteletten (pork chops in aspic) are techniques that may take years to perfect. Similarly, the organization and preparation of a menu for a state banquet will frequently require the attention of a staff of highly trained professionals. The art of gastronomy is not limited, however, to intricate methods of preparation and cooking. Many of its expressions are well within the capabilities and budgets of many households. The paella (a rice dish served with clams, mussels, chicken, sausages, shrimp, and saffron), for which Spain is noted, and the Indonesian rijsttafel (a platter of seasoned rice surrounded by smaller dishes of various meats and condiments) are complicated but can nonetheless be prepared at home. There are other considerations involved in the preparation of food: complementarity or opposition of taste, as in the sweet and pungent dishes of the Orient; textures, as in the crispness of the pickle and onion accompanying smoked fish on a Danish smorrebrod (open-faced sandwich); colour harmony and accent, as in the white and green Italian pasta. The sense of accomplishment in melding disparate elements together into an appealing whole, the sensual enjoyment of tastes, the appreciation of harmonies and balances, and the recognition and appreciation of subtleties and nuances all enhance the pleasures of the table. Additional reading Prosper Montagn, Larousse Gastronomique, new ed. (1988; originally published in French, rev. and corrected ed., 1967), is the most authoritative contemporary encyclopaedia of food, wine, and cookery, from prehistoric stages to the modern day. It may be supplemented by Waverley Root, Food: An Authoritative and Visual History and Dictionary of the Foods of the World (1980); Jean-Franois Revel, Culture and Cuisine: A Journey Through the History of Food (1982; originally published in French, 1979); Margaret Visser, The Rituals of Dinner: The Origins, Evolution, Eccentricities, and Meaning of Table Manners (1991); and Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, A History of Food (1992; orginally published in French, 1987), a history of foodstuffs, cuisine, and the social history of eating.Early works, many of them now classics, include Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste; or, Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy, trans. by M.F.K. Fisher (1949, reissued as M.F.K. Fisher's Translation of the Physiology of Taste, 1986; originally published in French, 2 vol., 1826), a classic that set the stage for thinking about dining as an experience and a form of art and offered philosophy and aphorisms that became the foundation of modern gastronomy, in a translation by a distinguished American essayist on gastronomy; Andr L. Simon, A Concise Encyclopaedia of Gastronomy, 9 vol. (193946, reissued in 1 vol., 1981), a complete history; Urbain Dubois and mile Bernard, La Cuisine classique, 2 vol. (1856), the finest expression of the Golden Age of the French grande cuisine; Alexis Soyer, The Pantropheon (1853, reprinted 1977), a world history of food preparation with many arbitrary but important observations on gastronomy; Abraham Hayward, The Art of Dining, ed. by Charles Sayle (1899), on 18th- and 19th-century gastronomy, chefs, and related subjects; George H. Ellwanger, The Pleasures of the Table (1902, reissued 1969), a popular book with considerable original material on eating and drinking habits; and P. Morton Shand, A Book of Food (1927), a highly personal approach to gastronomy, manners, and foods throughout the world. Chinese cuisine is treated in Pearl Kong Chen, Tien Chi Chen, and Rose Y.L. Tseng, Everything You Want to Know About Chinese Cooking (1983); and K.C. Chang (ed.), Food in Chinese Culture: Anthropological and Historical Perspectives (1977). George Lang The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica