The cuisines of European countries are diverse, although some common characteristics distinguish them from those of other regions.[2] Compared to traditional cooking of East Asia, meat holds a more prominent and substantial role in serving size.[3] Many dairy products are utilised in cooking.[4] There are hundreds of varieties of cheese and other fermented milk products. White wheat-flour bread has long been the prestige starch, but historically, most people ate bread, flatcakes, or porridge made from rye, spelt, barley, and oats.[5][6] Those better off would also make pasta, dumplings and pastries. The potato has become a major starch plant in the diet of Europeans and their diaspora since the European colonisation of the Americas. Maize is much less common in most European diets than it is in the Americas; however, cornmeal (polenta or mămăligă) is a major part of the cuisines of Italy, the Balkans and the Caucasus. Although flatbreads (especially those with toppings, such as pizza or tarte flambée) and rice are eaten in Europe, they are only staple foods in limited areas, particularly in Southern Europe. Salads—cold dishes with uncooked or cooked vegetables, sometimes with a dressing—are an integral part of European cuisine.
Formal European dinners are served in distinct courses. European presentation evolved from service à la française, or bringing multiple dishes to the table at once, into service à la russe, where dishes are presented sequentially. Usually, cold, hot and savoury, and sweet dishes are served strictly separately in this order, as hors d'oeuvre (appetizer) or soup, as entrée and main course, and as dessert. Dishes that are both sweet and savoury were common earlier in Ancient Roman cuisine, but are today uncommon, with sweet dishes usually being served only as dessert. A service where the guests are free to take food by themselves is termed a buffet, and is usually restricted to parties or holidays.
Historically, European cuisine has been developed in the European royal and noble courts. European nobility was usually arms-bearing and lived in separate manors in the countryside. The knife was the primary eating implement (cutlery), and eating steaks and other foods that require cutting followed its adoption. This contrasted with East Asian cuisine, where the ruling class consisted of court officials, who had their food prepared in the kitchen, ready to be eaten with chopsticks. The knife was supplanted by the spoon for soups, while the fork was introduced later in the early modern period, in or around the 16th century. Today, most dishes are intended to be eaten with cutlery and only a few finger foods can be eaten with the hands in polite company.
In medieval times, a person's diet varied depending on their social class. However, cereal grains made up a significant part of a medieval person's diet, regardless of social class. Bread was common to both classes; it was eaten for lunch by working men, and thick slices of it were used as plates called trenchers.[8] People of the noble class had access to finely ground flours for their breads and other baked goods. Noblemen were allowed to hunt for deer, boar, rabbits, birds, and other animals, giving them access to fresh meat and fish for their meals.[9] Dishes for people of these classes were often heavily spiced.[10]Spices at that time were very expensive, and the more spices used in dishes, the more wealth the person needed to purchase such ingredients. Common spices used were cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, pepper, cumin, cloves, turmeric, anise, and saffron.[11] Other ingredients used in dishes for the nobility and clergy included sugar, almonds and dried fruits like raisins.[12] These imported ingredients would have been very expensive and nearly impossible for commoners to obtain. When banquets were held, the dishes served would be spectacular, another way for the noblemen to show how rich they were. Sugar sculptures would be placed on the tables as decoration and to eat, and foods would be dyed vibrant colors with imported spices.[13]
Milan is home to the oldest restaurant in Italy and the second oldest in Europe, the Antica trattoria Bagutto, which has existed since at least 1284.[7] The diet of a commoner would have been much simpler. Strict poaching laws prevented them from hunting, and if they did hunt and were caught, they could have parts of their limbs cut off or they could be killed.[14] Much of the commoners' food would have been preserved in some way, such as through pickling or salting.[15] Breads would have been made using rye or barley, and any vegetables would likely have been grown by the commoners themselves.[16] Peasants would have likely been able to keep cows, and so would have access to milk, which then allowed them to make butter or cheese.[17] When meat was eaten, it would have been beef, pork, or lamb. Commoners also ate pottage, a thick stew of vegetables, grains, and meat.[18]
Still life with a peacock pie, 1627, by Dutch artist Pieter Claesz, showing various dishes from the 17th century including roast meat, breads, nuts, wine, apples, dried fruits, along with an elaborate meat pie decorated like a peacock. While common in the warmer climates of Southern Europe, lemons would have been a relatively new introduction to the Netherlands, requiring growing in a orangery.
The cuisine of early modern Europe during the 16th through 19th centuries consisted of a mix of dishes inherited from medieval cuisine combined with innovations that persisted in the modern era.
The discovery of the New World, the establishment of new trade routes with Asia, and increased foreign influences from sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East meant that Europeans became familiarized with many new foodstuffs. Spices that had been prohibitively expensive luxuries, such as pepper, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger,[19] soon became available to the majority of the population, and the introduction of new plants from the New World and India like maize, potato, sweet potato, chili pepper, cocoa, vanilla, tomato, coffee, and tea transformed European cuisine.
Though there was a great influx of new ideas, an increase in foreign trade, and a Scientific Revolution, preservation of foods remained traditional: drying, salting, smoking, or pickling in vinegar. Fare was naturally dependent on the season; a cookbook by Domenico Romoli called Panunto made a virtue of necessity by including a recipe for each day of the year.[20] Both doctors and chefs continued to characterize foodstuffs by their effects on the four humours: foods and beverages were considered to be heating or cooling, and moistening or drying, to the constitution.
Prosperity increased in Europe during this period, gradually reaching all classes and areas, and considerably changed the patterns of eating. Nationalism was first conceived in the early modern period, but it was not until the 19th century that the notion of a national cuisine emerged. Class differences were more important dividing lines, and it was almost always upper-class food that was described in recipe collections and cookbooks.
↑Alfio Cortonesi, "Self-sufficiency and the Market: Rural and Urban Diet in the Middle Ages", in Jean-Louis Flandrin, Massimo Montanari, Food: A Culinary History from Antiquity to the Present, 1999, ISBN0231111541, p. 268ff
↑Michel Morineau, "Growing without Knowing Why: Production, Demographics, and Diet", in Jean-Louis Flandrin, Massimo Montanari, Food: A Culinary History from Antiquity to the Present, 1999, ISBN0231111541, p. 380ff
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Ashkenazi Jewish challah
Ashkenazi Jewish teiglach
Austrian strudel
Austrian Wiener Schnitzel
Czech smažený sýr
Czech svíčková
German bratwurst
German pretzel
German Sauerbraten
Hungarian goulash
Hungarian Hortobágyi palacsinta
Liechtensteiner Rheintaler Ribelmais
Polish bagel
Polish bigos
Polish pierogi
Slovak bryndzové halušky
Slovenian ajdovi žganci
Slovenian idrijski žlikrofi
Swiss cordon bleu
Swiss fondue
