source: MSN Fr
author: Pierr-Henri Ortiz et Nonfiction
translation: doxa-louise
A HISTORY OF BREAKFAST
Breakfast has become that moment which introduces the day, to the point
where it sometimes symbolizes the humdrum and repetitive nature of daily
routine in fiction. A strong component of habits in the West, it yet possesses
a history tied to many secular traditions which Christian Grataloup intends to
tease out in his
Le Monde dans nos tasses, Trois siècles de petit-déjeuner.
Geohistorian, emeritus professor at the university Paris Diderot, Grataloup is a
specialist in World History and globalization, subjects wherein he has published;
GĂ©ohistoire de la mondialisation. Le temps long du monde, Faut-il penser autrement
l'histoire du monde? and
Introduction à la géohistoire. His choice of writing a history
of breakfast is no surprise because that meal is, in an exemplary manner, a manifestation
of globalization, or rather of a series of globalizations. The three drinks consumed
in the morning by Northern countries (tea, coffee, chocolate) originated in the South
and are still produced there. Before breakfast could become 'the smallest common
denominator of the culinary practices of globalization', many stages were necessary.
In other words, 'one had to construct the world'.
Three drinks, three continents
Until the invention of breakfast, the makeup of the first meal of the day was
not much different than that of the others. It is only in the 18th century that it
becomes distinct, as does the term which designates it. From then on, it is
organized around a trinity of drinks of tropical origin: coffee,tea and chocolate.
Sugar is also an important component. At that time, it is not produced locally but
extracted from sugarcane, which grows solely in other latitudes; the culture of the
sugar beet will later change this given. Fruit juices based on citrus fruit add on to
complete the list; their Asiatic origin fits in nicely with this picture. The solid aspects of
breakfast (butter, cereals) and milk are, by contrast, out of a production that is more
'local' in character.
Coffee is the most consumed and internationally appreciated of these three drinks.
'Formerly industrialized countries' are the most demanding .Coffee is still a marker of
social standing. Its history, though, is one of late domestication as it is 'a shrub of
high altitude still growing in a wild state in the Kaffa region of Southwest Ethiopia'.
The diffusion of coffee starts in the 12th century: it is roasted and powdered and first serves
as a spice. It is only in the 15th century, that it is cultivated as drink in the Muslim world,
the interdiction of alcohol aiding its acceptance. It arrives in Europe with maritime commerce
and first seduces urban populations. Although its culture is not possible on the old continent,
Dutch greenhouses make it so. Europeans export it to South America, notably the West
Indies and Brazil, making that continent the primary producer for coffee.
'Chaï' and 'té'
In contrast to coffee, the history of tea is 'multimillennial'. Until the 19th century,
tea is a Chinese drink; it is only thanks to Britain that it is diffused over the planet.
As opposed to coffee, it is consumed in its producing country as well as in Europe.
The beverage has experienced two globalizations.The first started with the Middle Ages
and is congruent with the 'Silk Road'; the second starts with the European domination of
the seas.
The two principal roots for the word in European languages thus bears witness
to its mode of diffusion:
'In the East, counties which were introduced to the beverage via terrestrial routes say 'chaĂŻ',
in the West, those introduced by maritime route through the East India company say 'té'.'
If the British are not the first to adopt it, their consumption of tea explodes in the
18th century, making them dependent on Chinese production. More so than the Opium
War, it is the cultivation of tea in the British Colonial Empire - notably in India,
a result of a rollicking industrial espionage operation by Robert Fortune -
which allows them to liberate themselves from this constraint.
African coffee, Asiatic tea... Chocolate is the American cousin of these two, a mix
of cacao and sugar. Cacao is initially consumed fully bitter by American populations; it is
only in the middle of the 15th century that it is mixed with sugar, contributing greatly to its
acceptance by Spanish colonizers. It is via the latter that it is propagated in Europe,
still a rival in the 18th century as the breakfast drink of choice, function is still holds with
children today. The success of chocolate in the long run will be in the solid state.
Beverages at the heart of globalization
The consumption of coffee and chocolate as we know it today requires a series
of relatively complex technical transformations which explain in part their respective
histories. Tea is more easily and directly drinkable. As a consequence, tea is of concern
primarily for 'commercial enterprises', while coffee and chocolate are the business of
'industrial enterprises, often themselves key actors in the agrofood sector'.
The commercialization and production of these beverages is first linked to the mastery
of the seas by European powers, to the colonization of vast territories by the latter, and the
use of slaves on plantations. Far ancestors to our multinationals, maritime companies
played an essential role in this diffusion: Dutch East India Company for Holland, East
India Company for Britain, Compagnie d'Orient for France. The production of coffee,
chocolate and sugar were only possible with the contribution of a manpower of
African slaves; boats importing these goods into Europe were slave carriers on the
forward trip. Choices made by European powers also to orient production in these
countries from varied food production to monoculture, as in the West Indies.
Finally, the diffusion of these beverages contribute to a uniformization of morning
feeding practices.In the 19th century, breakfast becomes the 'fuel to industrial
revolution'. In Great Britain, workers from the countryside discover that combination of tea,
milk and sugar which allows them to work though in factories; on the continent, it is
coffee which plays this role. Overall, 'the factory then joins the necessary couple along
with the plantation: on a global level, the agricultural South feeds the industrious North'.
Resistance and reconfiguration
Is the historical development of breakfast soon over? Certainly, its diffusion
was never linear or complete. Moreover, the actual constitution of breakfast
varies and is quite often a marker of the cultural identity of a country: from
the 'Full English Breakfast' to the coffee and croissant of France, including the
Spanish hot chocolate and churros, it can take many forms. In the South, as in Africa
or with American Indians, it is possible to speak of instances of resistance, because local
forms of the morning meal subsist.
In the West, the lack of interest of many adolescents for breakfast and the increasing
importance accorded to (Sunday) brunch are perhaps forerunners of its decline.
More broadly, the 'growing tendency ... to want to eat local products' in the North
risks disrupting quite a bit a food practice based on the consumption of tropical products.
Yet this movement is also parallel to that in favor of equitable commerce at the world
level, for which coffee is one of the lead products as is chocolate. Thus, 'the tension
between citizens sensitive to world questions and citizens who foremost think locally
has become today the major structuring element within Western Democracies. This
conflict between scales of things won't spare breakfast'.
Rethinking the world
With
Le Monde dans nos tasses, Christian Grataloup has thus produced a historical essay at
once accessible and intelligent. Written in clear language, with a minimum of notes, the
books comes with many bibliographical references and a beautiful set of illustrations.
Grataloup reminds us that what is in our cups and small plates are witnesses to the
construction of our world. What we often take for granted and coming out of a national
tradition remains more often than not the result of cross breedings, sometimes surprising.
Thus, in a near topic, the pepper, essential to Indian cuisine, comes from South
America and had to await the coming of the Portuguese to find its way to the subcontinent.
Grataloup offers us much to reflect on and discuss at a time when a certain identity-based
inflexibility finds its way to our plates and where environmental considerations beckon us
to look more closely at the source and conditions of production of what we eat.
