POTATO
In the Andes Mountains of South America
indigenous people, including the ancient Incas, survived on potatoes for the
past 7,000 years. After the Spanish conquistadores arrived in South America in
1531, their sailors recognized the potato’s nutritional value and adopted it as
a food source for long voyages. By 1600 farmers in Spain were planting crops of
potatoes and by 1800 the potato had become one of the most important foods in
Europe due to its combination of essential vitamins, minerals and fiber and its
easy adaptation to different climates. The potato was so productive and easy to
grow in rocky soil that the people of Ireland developed an exclusive dependence
on potatoes as a primary food source. The lack of alternative foods led to the
Irish Potato famine when a potato blight began in 1845. This
precipitated a mass emigration to the United States where current Americans
consume more potatoes than any other vegetable, mostly in the form of French
fries.
1.
Which people survived on the potato for the past 7000 years?
2.
Why did the potato become one of the most important foods in Europe?
3. Why
did people of Ireland develop an exclusive dependence on potatoes as a primary
food source?
SUGAR
Sugar cane, though native to Polynesia, was first
refined into sugar in India in about 700 BC. It made its way west for the next
couple thousand years and finally, in the Middle Ages, to Europe, which had
previously relied on honey for sweetener. Sugar is unnecessary to the human
diet, and even becomes harmful in excess and addictive, but was prized for its
medicinal use in making herbal concoctions more palatable. In 1400 it was still
a very expensive commodity due to small production, and Europeans were just
beginning to learn to grow sugar cane outside of the tropics. The Spanish had
planted sugar cane in the Canary Islands, where Columbus acquired it for his
second trip to the Americas in 1493. Sugar cultivation is very labor-intensive
and the Spaniards set about enslaving the native inhabitants of Hispaniola to
grow and process sugar for growing markets in Europe. In 1516 the first
shipment of sugar arrived in Europe which fueled demand for sugar, especially
among the British, as a sweetener for tea, coffee, and chocolate.
Meanwhile the enslaved indigenous labor force in the Caribbean was dying off
due to the introduction of “Old” World disease so sugar producers turned to
Africa to supply labor. These producers cleared large swaths of land with
slash-and-burn techniques, to great ecological detriment, to build plantations
which depended on slavery to produce an adequate supply of sugar to satisfy the
demand of the European upper classes. Some 12 million Africans were transported
to the Americas as slaves between 1450 and 1800 as part of the triangular trade
system. Demand for sugar remains high all over the globe, and causes tooth
decay, digestive disease, and addictive dependence.
1. What effect did sugar cane have on the native
inhabitants of Hispaniola?
2. Why did sugar producers in the Caribbean turn
to Africa to supply labor?
3. Why
did sugar producers in the New World clear large swaths of land with
slash-and-burn techniques?
CORN
Corn, or as the indigenous Americans called it,
maize, is native to the area around present day Mexico City. It was first
cultivated 7,000 years ago and rapidly spread from Mexico throughout the
Americas to become a staple of the Mayan, Aztec and Incan civilizations. These
people relied heavily on corn for a primary source of energy and prepared it by
boiling the ears or grinding the kernels into meal which helped preserve it
through the winter. The Spaniards who arrived in the Caribbean saw corn growing
everywhere but had never seen it before, since it was unknown in Europe, Asia,
or Africa. Columbus introduced corn to Europe where it spread widely and then
on to Turkey, Africa and Asia. Many Europeans did not develop a taste for the
grain but they used it to feed livestock which increased the availability of
protein sources throughout the continent. Corn continues to play a vital role
in the Americas and it reigns supreme in the Midwestern U.S. where 40% of the
world’s corn is grown. Most of our corn is not eaten but fed to livestock and
used to make a variety of products, including explosives, paint, and gasoline
additives. Plus, cornstarch processed into syrup (high-fructose corn syrup) has
surpassed sugar as a sweetener and can be found in soda and almost every
processed food.
1. Which American civilizations made corn their
staple crop? How did they utilize corn?
2. How did corn spread to Europe, Africa, and
Asia?
3. How did Europeans increase the availability
of protein sources throughout the continent?
4. Explain how corn continues to play a vital
role in the Americas.
COFFEE
This shrub with red berries that can only grow in
tropical climates originated on the mountainsides of Ethiopia under rainforest
canopy, although it’s now more commonly associated with Central America and the
South Pacific isles. The demand for coffee began as a medicinal drink
(prescribed at various times as an enema, aphrodisiac, nerve calmer and
life-extender) for the elite but soon became a working-man’s pickme-up. In the
1870s industrialization of roasting technology and railroads facilitated the
global spread of coffee consumption, though it has always been more popular in
the West, as peoples in the East generally maintain a preference for tea.
Coffee is the second most widely exported legal commodity (second only to
petroleum) and Americans consume more coffee than any other nation. Over 20
million people in the world produce coffee, over fifty percent of them small,
family farmers who mostly live in poverty, subject to the whim of constantly
fluctuating commodity markets or large plantation owners who clearcut
rainforest. For example, coffee production in the hands of society’s elite has
lead to the continued subjugation of Mayan Indians in Guatemala. Now consumers can buy coffee that has been
certified as ‘fair trade’ which means farmers are paid a fair market price for
their coffee and thereby ensured a sustainable future.
1. Where did coffee originate? Where is it more
commonly associated with today?
2. What facilitated the global spread of coffee
consumption?
3. How has coffee affected small family farmers
who produce coffee? How are they able to
ensure a sustainable future today?
TOMATO
The Aztecs deserve the credit for introducing the
world to the tomato, not the Italians as many people assume. The Spanish first
encountered this fruit during their conquest of Mexico in 1519. The Aztecs
ground tomatoes with chilis to make salsa to accompany a wide array of dishes.
Though the Spanish in Mexico enjoyed tomatoes, many Europeans considered them
poisonous upon arrival because they belong to the same family as the deadly
nightshade. It wasn’t until the early 1800s that the poisonous myth was
debunked and the tomato was adopted in Europe, particularly Italy, for its
versatility in sauces and soups. Today the tomato is one of the most popular
fruits or vegetables across the globe, and the U.S. is the largest commercial
producer of tomatoes in the world. Americans consume 12 million tons of
tomatoes annually, both fresh and, most often, in processed foods like ketchup.
1. Which people get credit for introducing the
world to the tomato? How did they eat tomatoes?
2. Why did it take the Europeans until the 1800s
to adopt the tomato in Europe?
3. What effect has the tomato had on the United
States and the world?
No comments:
Post a Comment