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Food Culture in Venice from the Historical Perspective

  • Korean Review of French History
  • Abbr : KRFH
  • 2015, (33), pp.167~200
  • Publisher : KOREAN SOCIETY FOR FRENCH HISTORY
  • Research Area : Humanities > History

Ra Youngsoon 1

1연세대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to reconstruct the Food Culture of the People in the Republic of Venice. This ‘reconstruct’ does not simply signify research of unique dietary and eating habits of Venetian people; it intends to describe the aspect of their actual character as detailed as possible. In general, the History of Food in Europe has been principally studied in a broad geographical area, like a nation or the whole Europe. The history, which occurred in a relatively small - but clearly evident - area, was mainly excluded from the subject of research. From the perspective of Local History, this study may be an attempt to overcome it. Initially, Venice was a place where its people could get quite abundant ingredients thanks to its geographical advantages. While exchanges with the outside world gradually increased, they could have acquired more and more ingredients from abroad. That was not all, though. In terms of the way that the people prepare the ingredients ─ we call it a cuisine ─ they have accepted the influences from the outside world, after which they have created their own way techniques through the internalization of those influences. Although the historical materials are sparse, it is supposed that such style reached a fairly evident level in the 15th-16th centuries. It can be determined, on the one hand, by the fact that uncritical acceptance of the French food culture appeared in Venice in the 17th century. But also it can be inferred by the historical resources of this ─ 15th-16th centuries ─ period which show that various factors of food culture of previous times were persisted in this period. The historical significance of this study, focused on ‘thick description’ of Food Culture of the Republic of Venice from its origin to the 15th-16th centuries, is evident from what we can see and discover this internalization.

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