The Availability of Food and its Impact on Italian Culture: The Role of The Columbian Exchange

Historically, as connections between countries grow, the swapping of cultural foods and dishes increases as well. No longer is it hard to find specific foods or spices in countries that are not the origin country. Globalization creates accessibility making an Italian culture that no longer just includes the food of the season or dishes that are solely Italian. To understand how important accessibility is to Italy, the history of Italian culture, food availability and the culture of food exchange will be illustrated. The Columbian Exchange will be discussed as the first food globalization to impact the world and Italy. Globalization's effects today in Italy are also apparent through the food culture and the new technologies that help produce food. Through the discussion of these topics, the importance of food accessibility to the food culture of Italy will be shown. With the increase of accessibility of foods through technology in both production and purchasing of food, globalization creates an evolved Italian food culture.

The History of Italian Food Culture and Availability

When the territory of Italy was not a formal country, the people living there had a nomadic style of finding food. With women often looking for plants or fruits and men hunting, the food culture was based on what they could find. While this was true for many countries, it has left Italian food culture with a style of eating and cooking that is focused on making do with what one has or can find. Globalization was not a factor at this point leading to the food availability focusing on seasonal options. So, if an ingredient did not come out of harvest successfully, or the people could not find it they would have to change and adapt to fit the new options. 

The territory of Italy includes a history of influence from other countries. With Italy not becoming a formal country until 1861, the land was conquered and reconquered by multiple nationalities and groups, leaving behind a food culture that continues to be unique. The Greeks developed into a civilization in the 8th century B.C.E. and came to the Italian territory. Creating a foundation for the Mediterranean area, the Greeks used foods that came from agriculture with little nomadic foods like the Italians. Because of this, the Greeks left Italy with new techniques for growing olives, grapes, cabbage and onions ultimately increasing the yields of products. This is the first glance at technologies improving food availability in Italy and the use of food knowledge from another culture.

While the Roman empire was expanding, German soldiers were often used by landowners as a form of protection. In the first and second century C.E., the Germans impacted Italian food culture through various entities. Germans used a seminomadic herding habit that also brought different foods to Italy. These foods included rye, barley, butter, lard, and wild berries. After the Germans and the Greeks were no longer present in Italy, the Islam expansion happened. This expansion brought new forms of agriculture to Italy. In the 9th century, Muslim expansion came and left Italy with, “Agricultural output was increased by the introduction of new techniques and crops”. This included sugar, eggplant, melons but most importantly citrus fruits. These foods expanded all over Italy, becoming popular new products. Without help from these groups, food availability would not have been the same in the territory that is now Italy. Through the territory of Italy’s history, it is apparent how important other countries have been in increasing the technology of food production and changing Italian food culture.

Availability Impacts on Past Culture

While these new foods discussed early were available to the wealthy, the low-class people did not have access to all of them. Peasants often worked on shared land where they received half of the product. Although the peasants trade foods and made the most of what they had, they were simply on a tighter budget and had less access to ingredients. With access to fewer ingredients, the dishes the peasants created show how accessibility to ingredients is important in Italian food culture. Deemed peasant cooking, it focuses on using what is available to make a meal. If a certain ingredient is not available, or they have run out of something, the recipe changes to fit that.

Always changing and evolving, this type of cooking shows how the availability of certain food can completely change a dish or an item. Focusing on the flavor rather than the recipe and ingredients, dishes were just as tasty as upper-class dishes. The availability of ingredients has increased but the simplicity and evolution of peasant cooking dishes remain the same today. Peasant cooking remains popular today, with many Italians loving the simplicity of the food combined with how flavorful it is. With Italian people looking to other food cultures, and life becoming speed up the time it takes for a peasant cooking dish is often not there. This change has to do with the new lifestyles of Italians and the increase of globalization.

Defining Globalization

Globalization can be defined as “the process of growing integration of economics and societies around the world” While countries have different levels of integration, most first world countries are globalized. Increased trades and market openness have impacted countries greatly leading to a more connected society and countries working closer together. With the internet and the changing world, globalization has impacted the foods countries consume as well.

Out of globalization comes the term, diet convergence, or the idea that diets no longer consist of just one culture's foods. Based on the changing availability of food, diet convergence is created by cultural foods eaten by people of other cultures. Diet convergence entails not only eating it once in a while but becoming a culture food that is eaten often. While diet convergence affects developing countries more significantly, it has also led to new expectations from developed countries when it comes to their diets.

Developed countries expect to have access to other cultural food restaurants and have the ingredients available to them in a store. Diet convergence creates diet evolution or the response to the new foods that countries have access to that they haven’t had before. Diet evolution is happening and has happened throughout all of Italian history as discussed previously. But diet evolution has been moving at a quicker pace with globalization being so easy. Globalization of food has left many marks on Italian food culture and continues to today. 

First Food Globalization: Columbian Exchange

Starting in the 15th century, new products started to come into all of Europe and Italy. Now referred to as the Columbian Exchange, this process changed the food culture of Italy forever. Deemed the Old World, Italy saw an influx of a variety of foods when the Columbian Exchange occurred. These foods included potatoes, sweet potatoes, maize, cacao, tomatoes, and chili peppers. While not all of these foods became extremely popular, most of them added to the food culture of Italy. The Columbian Exchange shows the first ways globalization, not just countries conquering the territory, changed Italian food culture. Let’s look at some of the ways the new foods have left their marks.

The most important dishes or the dishes deemed most Italian are spaghetti a pomadra, pizza, and bruschetta. All of these dishes include a New World food that was not available before the Columbian Exchange: the tomato. The tomato, in the beginning, created its own dishes. Later it was realized that when paired with other ingredients or added to a dish, it created a wonderful taste. This made it so popular once it arrived in Italy and continues to be popular today. Without the Columbian exchange or the globalization of that period, the tomato might not have been so prominent in Italian food culture as it is today. 

The potato did not become popular when it was first brought from the New World, creating suspicion from the Italian people. Not being fully taken into cooking until some two hundred years later, the potato had a different experience. The potato did not become a part of Italian food until the government had peasants cook with it because of famine. The potato is now popular today in Italy because of dumplings. The potato shows a different course food can take when brought from a different country.

Globalization Today in Italy

While a such deep and vast process as the Columbian Exchange won’t probably happen again, cultural foods and food items continue to be brought into Italy. Whether it’s through specialty grocery stores or on the internet, it’s not very hard to find all types of cultural foods in Italy. Even regular grocery stores have an increase of food that would not be deemed part of the Italian food culture. Because of the changing availability and Italian people eating food that is not as customary, the food culture landscape is changing.

Certain food cultures have left a larger mark than others, but the availability of food cultures is seemingly endless in Italy. While some restaurants stick to Italian cuisine, some have taken the path of incorporating foods that would not be considered Italian. This could be simple dishes but can also include items such as a burger. There is also an increase in restaurants focused on specific cultural foods. For example, in Florence, a person can find a Greek restaurant, a Sushi restaurant and a Spanish restaurant in the same areas. These restaurants are a result of an increase of globalization leading to other food cultures to come to Italy. 

While tourism plays a part in the foods that are available in restaurants and grocery stores, it is most importantly the people who live there that affect it. Italians would never have access to these products or dishes without the growing demand for these products. An increase in cultural dishes and products shows the effects of globalization on Italian food culture.

Availability with Technology

Technology has had an increasing effect on the food culture and availability of foods to Italians. From technologies as simple as new farming techniques in the 9th century to new tractors and farming equipment today, technology continues to affect the availability of food. As demand has increased for food, Italy has had to keep up with production. Because of this, new technologies and processes around food have increased.

Historically, new means of food production has been brought to Italy by other countries or people. This continues to happen today as the demand for food continues to increase. Looking at agriculture, increasing the yield of food is the most important when it comes to accessibility. Local agriculture is often the driving force in food availability, but there is also an increase in bringing food from different countries. When Italy cannot produce a food product, it is imported from another country.

The internet also increased the accessibility of foods and spices. Online markets make for increased accessibility to foods or spices that before could not be accessed. These online sites can be specific to a certain product but also include Amazon. Access to food via the internet is a growing area but is a way to access foods that might not be available in the local grocery or store. While Italians don't consistently by food products through the internet, it is an important way for them to get the foods they desire. Italians are also traveling more with the increase of globalization and technology. This causes Italians to bring back the desire for food or spices from other countries. All of these leads to the demand and popularity of new products in Italian food culture.

Uncertainty of Food Future

Globalization has continued to affect the availability of food in Italy. Throughout the history of the territory, globalization and new techniques have continued to shape the accessibility of food products and the culture surrounding food. Food importation continues to happen in Italy, reliance on other countries for food supplies could be detrimental if something occurred to the country. But what about the future of food availability? For Italy, there has been an increase in farming that focuses on sustainability. This farming has increased in popularity with the hope that food availability can be consistent and keep up with demands. The push for sustainable farming continues to grow.

The history of Italian food culture through cultural foods being brought from other cultures as early as the 8th century B.C.E, shows how Italian food culture is always changing and adapting. Through technologies from the Germans and new ingredients from the Muslim Expansion, Italian food culture has always had foods from other cultures. The Columbian Exchange also left a changed Italian food culture that includes foods from the New World. As globalization continues to grow, so does the diet evolution of the Italian people. While cultural foods and peasant cooking continue to be popular, changes to the Italian food culture continue to happen and will continue in the future.

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