History of Food: An Identity

History of Food: An Identity

Translated, inspired and adapted to Indonesia context from the book

“histoire naturelle et morale de la nourriture”

Since the beginning of time, eating is instinctive. Creatures realize that they will satisfy their hunger by using their part of their body to eat what they think is edible for them. Smelling is the basic way to help the creatures to decide what is and what is not. Creatures with vision will use their eyes to see the shape, the color, and other fact that it could possibly think of and store those data in to their brain.

Eating, a coordinated complex movement to decide what food to be eaten and the reflex to put it in into the mouth. Eating is the process from where the appetite arises, to the chain sensations in the brain when that appetite satisfied. Pre-dated of all language, human find their way to express this process that everyone can understand. Since million years ago, baby express their arising appetite in a cry. People smacking their lips when they’re satisfied, accompanied by a sigh and probably a burp. The process: the stimulus of hunger, the excitement of gathering food and the satisfaction of appetite. It had been and it will always been that way since the beginning of time. Eating is complex indeed but instinctive to all creatures.

Eating is a way satisfying visceral pleasure. All of the senses that a human possibly have, is satisfied by the experience of eating. The smell of the food that attract humans senses in the first place, the shape and the color of the food that eyes can see, the textures of the food—smoothness, roughness, moistness-- when they touch it, the sound of the crunchiness in the ears when they took their bite, and the ultimate taste in the mouth and smack your satisfied lips after it. The fulfillment and satisfying of the whole senses of humans from this eating experience, in my opinion, can only be matched by having sex. Pure visceral pleasure.

Eating entered a broader dimension when the human arise. Eating evolved from the purely visceral pleasure became an intellectual process when the large volume of human brain took part. They have the ability to process large amount of data. Certain items turned out to taste better than others and certain items give more pleasures. These pleasures was enjoyed and remembered. The creature wanted to experience it again. That unforgettable sensation stimulated curiosity and courage, provoked it to make further experiments.

In pursuit of the experience, human developed skills in order to acquire more and more satisfying food. Methods are developed which would help to evolve toward civilization: weapons, tools, industry and social organization.

Organized civilization brought with it the idea of cookery: the intentional preparation of foods in the traditional manner of a particular social or ethnic group. Foods influenced by traditions and religions.

Traditions derived both from local factors of climate, soil and fauna. That is why food in the Yogyakarta region is sweet compared to the north shore java food which is saltier and rich in seafood cuisine.

From religious taboos conveying idea of hygiene. The Islam have their Haram food, the jew have their Kosher food (wich is similar to Haram food only broader), people in Bali don’t eat beef and so on. Or safeguarding the social structure, ancient Chilouk people in the time before they accustomed to fire, give the top/surface of the food to their male while the women ate the bottom part to ensure that the male get enough energy to protect them from the beast.

“Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are”. Food become social factor, sometimes it demonstrates social identity.

While traditional recipes or festive rituals relate to certain group characteristics (regional, national or religious), they also arise from a group’s general preference. Certain region famous for it’s rice (Cianjur), garlic (brebes), eggs, fish, etc. Taste of the local preference.

It took the exploration, colonization and pollution to change these preferences. Invaders always brought their dietary customs with them, a sentimental way of importing a part of soil from their native land. Conquered peoples, once they lose their own identity along with their desire to resist the invaders, end up these new dietary standards, just as they accept new religious norms. Dietary adaptation is imposed on the entire population, from top to bottom of the social scale, as it evolves towards reflecting the image of the conquerors.

Diet, the way we eat, from that point of view is a social signal. That is why some of us still regard cheese, beef, bread and other thing as a food of their own class. And the like of Tempe and ketela (cassava) are foods of the lower classes. 350 years of Dutch colonization made us think that way. The food of the strongest is the superior food. Going native in diet regarded as inferior or degrading. An intellectual snobbery.

As the process still running, they consciously create a whole new category of food in the colonize region what they called exotic foods. This exotic food then can be exported to colonist’s home country, where they become so common that in their original home is eventually forgotten. Such has been the fate of the tomato, turkey, potato and the cassava.

People do forget that in the time of famine, the native plant is the best well adapted to the local climate. And for thousand of years, the digestion of the local people adapt to those local plants too.

What you eat is what you are. Please eat what the nature provides you.