Food and history go hand in hand
What’s your favourite food? Your go-to comfort meal? The favourite meal of the day? The guilty pleasure you can’t help but grab when you see it on the shelf?
Food has a central part in every living being’s life. No matter how big or small, no matter if it’s an animal or a human, no matter whether it’s a plant or an insect. Food is what gives us energy, what sustains us and what makes us keep going forward. But it’s not just a source of energy.
Food has a reflective part to play in every culture. What kind of foods are traditionally eaten in a particular place is often reflective of the kind of history the place has had.
Take Sweden for example, a country located far up North with colder climates as a result. Being able to store meat through the lengthy winters was crucial for survival, so pickled, fermented and salted meats became traditional whether you were rich or poor. To this day, Surströmming, aka the sour herring with a very interesting smell, is famous among the Swedes and a delicacy for many tourists who visit the country. When it comes to vegetables, only those that could survive the tough climate ended up at the table. These included various root vegetables, mushrooms, and potatoes which are still a favourite in the kitchen to this day.
