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Book Review Kiple, Kenneth, A Movable Feast: Ten Millennia of Food Globalization A condensation of the two-volume The Cambridge World History of Food, Kiple’s skillful editing makes one want to read the full works, provided, of course, one can access the lengthier treatment or the pocket book to afford it. Such formidable undertakings are part of a continuous reordering of what constitutes and is considered valid elements of human history to be approved, supported and funded by academia. These two admirable volumes proceed under the rubric of social history as it came to be defined, particularly in the English-language world, following World War II. The most accessible spin-off of this trend can be seen in the frequently tantalizing treatments seen on public television specials and on certain cable channels, mixing sights, occupations with witnessing lucky subjects viewing and tasting a culture’s historic and culinary delights. Consider some of the chapter headings as tantalizing evidence. The Introduction is titled: From Foraging to Farming followed by “Last Hunters, First Farmers” as the subject title for Chapter I, followed by Chapter II’s enumeration of what constituted “Building The Barnyard,” ranging from Old Dog Tray to Goosey Gander, evoking every grammar school association in this country-raised writer. Of particular relevance to Asia are the Camel, Water Buffalo, Yak with the scratching and waddling fowl not far behind. Grains capable of harvest are discussed in Chapters III and IV, “Promiscuous Plants of the Northern Fertile Crescent” and “Peripatetic Plants of Eastern Asia;” it sounds like the role differences between Astarte and The Queen Mother of the West, doesn’t it? Wheat, Barley, Rye and Legumes come under the former, while China’s Chief Comestibles covers Rice, Millet and Cereal Imports, Culinary Competition, Vegetables and Fruits, Agricultural Revolution, Soybean, Beverages and Fish. The entry under camel informs us that its origin was North America along with the horse but became extinct, some time after migrating to Asia, leaving behind its relatives, the llama and alpaca. The beast is a browser, able to eat vegetation other mammals cannot, and the text suggests that it may have almost domesticated itself. Association with humans filled two needs: access to water and protection from wolves. The comments on chickens remind the reader how wide spread the practice of cock fighting has been in Asia. Emerging as a Southeast Asian jungle fowl, its use for sacrifice was initially primary, along with its entrails for divination, leaving the flesh to be consumed by scavenging birds and animals. The eggs and flesh only gradually became important, and it moved west via India and the Fertile Crescent as well as the Asian landmass to arrive in Europe about 3000 BCE. I didn’t know that there are two species of water buffalo, swamp and river. Originally from the northwest sub-continent, the swamp variety became common to Southeast and Northeast Asia, well adapted to rice production. The current earliest evidence of its use in rice growing has been found in Thailand, dating back about three millennia. The river variety is the species prized for its milk, higher in fat content than the cow, and known to inhabit the region from India to Egypt and the Balkans. In discussing “South Asian Aliments”, Kiple concentrates on the Indus River civilizations and their river-borne exchange via “dhows” which carried agriculture and trade to Mesopotamia, Egypt and Crete. I can’t exactly understand how “dhows” got overland; perhaps the two volume work expands on this apparent contradiction with geography. The mango, so beloved in Indian textile design, arrived in India via its native habitat in Southeast Asia, where its imagery appears in the Ramayana more frequently than any other fruit. Imports included limes and lemons also from Southeast Asia while the text states that oranges arrived from China. The text indicates that China’s legendary emperor Shen Nung ordered five plants for food and medicinal value around 2700 BCE: barley, millet, wheat, rice. The fifth is the soy bean. All five are regarded as not only principal, but sacred crops. Soy among them is the most widely consumed plant in the world and is the only one yielding a whole protein. After this initial enumeration, the text begins to concentrate on the evolution of Western agriculture, diet and practices, moving through the time line with which we have been indoctrinated, returning to Asia only as explorers and entrepreneurs turned to the mysterious East for fame and gain. Through out there are accurate and charming black and white illustrations near the subject under discussion. When I was growing up, my sister had an anthropological volume with a series of articles. One such I remember vividly, if inaccurately, concerned the American getting up in the morning, proceeding through his daily preparation for work, including coffee. Virtually at each stage of the process, some part of his routine as well as his breakfast was identified with its origin, including coffee (from Arabia). The essay ended with the platitude that “he thanked God that he was an American.” Kiple’s compilation in this one volume evokes our culinary sources cogently. |