Periodization of World Food History (the Problem Statement)

Abstract

The article is the first to propose a periodization of the world history of food. The chronological framework covers the period from the emergence of “Homo sapiens” to the present day. Periodization is based not only on the changes in the process of production and preparation of food, but also on a whole complex of phenomena related to food: the order of eating and serving food, taste preferences, cultural and social traditions, place in the historical context and interaction of cultures, national characters and issues of self-identification. This kind of systematization of the “gastronomic” history of mankind allows us to fit it into the general context of world history, to show the place and role of food and food traditions in the history of mankind. The article highlights the following periods, which do not always coincide with the general periodization of history. 1. The primitive period. The emergence and establishment of traditions of cooking and eating (40,000 BC — 10,000 BC) 2. The emergence and establishment of agriculture. The emergence of the first civilizations (10,000 BC — 1,000 BC) 3. Antiquity. Division of peoples based on food (1,000 BC — 5th century) 4. The period of formation of the food systems of the world. 5th century — turn of the 19th — 20th centuries. 5. The period of food globalization. Modern times. The turn of the 19th — 20th centuries. — present time.

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