History of European food

[jdanel]

Europe has a great diversity of food reflecting its linguistico-cultural mosaic. In this age of globalisation we are brought to eat food from more and more countries. But what did our ancestors eat ? When and where were each dish invented ? The purpose of this article is to answer some of these questions. Many dishes are so old, often dating back to ancient times, that their origin is unclear.


Famous sauces

- Mustard : most likely developed by the Romans.
- Béchamel sauce : first mentioned by by François Pierre La Varenne in 1651.
- Mayonnaise : invented by a French chef in in 1756.
- Bearnaise : likely first made by the chef Collinet in 1836 near Paris.
- Worcestershire Sauce : invented in 1835.

Famous dishes and snacks

- Roast beef : Already known of the Romans (military food).
- Lasagna : probably first cooked in England in the 14th century.
- Chicken Kiev : invented by French chef Nicolas François Appert in the mid 18th century.
- Bouchée à la reine (individual vol-au-vent) : named after King Louis XV of France's wife, Marie Leczinska. Invented in France in the mid 18th century.
- Bouillabaisse : term first appearing in Marseilles in the 1830's.
- Hot-dog : probably invented in Germany in the mid 19th century.
- Pizza : invented by Raffaele Esposito in Naples in 1890.
- Croque-monsieur : first served in a Parisian café in 1910.

Famous deserts or sweets

- waffle : invented in Medieval Times (13th century), probably in France.
- choux (pastry) : invented by Popelini in Italy in 1540.
- (modern) ice cream : invented in the 17th century in Italy.
- Tarte Tatin : invented (by accident) in France in 1889.

What?

Are you saying that mayonnaise wasn't invented by the chef for the brother of Hannibal in the Balearic Islands?

Seriously, dude?

 

[jdanel]

I was looking into recipes for Spanish food from the middle ages and before. Most of what I found were variations of "cook some things in a frying pan and then pour whipped eggs over it and let it cook, then add a sauce, enjoy"

Primitive omelets, sort of.

The sauce was either a fish sauce, or something resembling worcestershire sauce.

 

[Carlitos]

^^
The most probable origin of mayonnaise is that the recipe was brought back to France from the town of Mah?n in Menorca (Spain), after Armand de Vignerot du Plessis's victory over the British at the city's port in 1756. According to this version, the sauce was originally known as "salsa mahonesa" in Spanish and "maonesa" in Catalan (as it is still known in Menorca), later becoming mayonnaise as it was popularized by the French.

http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayonnaise

 

[Carlitos]

The salad or potato salad (also known as Salad Olivier) is a Russian dish. It is a kind of potato salad or a salad with vegetables and tuna all mixed in plenty of mayonnaise. In many European countries, this dish is very popular, as has been included in their national cuisines, as in the case of Spain or Portugal.

Despite the popularity of salad in Spain and the Southern Cone, one can say that its origin is actually Russian (Салат Оливье) since it was invented in 1860 by Lucien Olivier, the restaurant chef Hermitage (Эрмитаж) one of the most popular restaurants in Moscow that would soon make this dish her hallmark.

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensalada_rusa

 

[eyah]

Wow! A great information about European food, sounds very yummy and really different to Asian food, I wanna taste the specialty of European food, can someone tell me what is the specialty of European foods? thanks :grin:


Singapore Restaurants List

 

[iapetoc]

What?

Are you saying that mayonnaise wasn't invented by the chef for the brother of Hannibal in the Balearic Islands?

Seriously, dude?

Yes I know that too,
Mayonaise was invented by Machon -Mayo brother of Hannibal

he was forced to feed soldiers and the only left was olive oil, vinegar and eggs,

but not in Balearides outside Rome I know,

 

[Reinaert]

Hmmm...
I don't believe all the stories.

Who invented what?

Some things just pop up at lots of places and periods in time.

For instance... Worcestershire Sauce.. Hmmm..
The British copied a sauce from India, and the Indians got it from.... the Romans..

Another thing is, it's not that hard to understand that combining the standard flavors salty, sweet, bitter, sour and whatever herbs to make a well balanced and fine tasting dish.

BTW In the middle ages European food was kind of sour according to our taste.
They used lots of onions, cabbage, cooked with vinegar to make it softer.

I think the French Boeuf Bourguignon gives you an idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beef_bourguignon

 

[Farstar]

Many dishes which are assigned to France (and less to Italy), they clearly existed before, in many other places. A typical example is "mayonnaise", which in fact has its origin in Maó (Menorca), in Catalan "maonesa", which is a derivation from the Catalan "all-i-oli". But there are examples of the same or similar product much earlier, in Greece and in Egypt.

https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maionesa

In general, many products which are "known" to be French, they are in fact Mediterranean, having existed for a long time before in the anonymous homes of many Mediterraneans. French (and Italians) just appropriated them without proper referencing.

 

[elenekaterrr]

Thanx for the history of europian dishes - I like the Europian cuisine very much

 

[ratchet_fan]

I believe deviled eggs and sauerkraut are of Roman origin too. Cheesecake is supposedly Greek.

European food is great. Another country with underrated cuisine is the Czech Republic. I love their bread dumplings, potato dumplings, roasted duck and rich sauces.

Another place where Europe dominates is alcohol, cheeses, desserts and sausages. No other region of the wold even comes close to the variety in those foods.