Abstract

Our food, how and what we eat is constantly changing. Food historians have documented the evolution of our diets (Drummond and Wilbraham, 1957; Spencer, 2002; Tannahill, 1973), suggesting that change is stimulated by many factors: political, social, economic, and ethical. These are complemented by Visser (1991: 345), who draws on examples of culinary tradition in the consumption of special, celebratory meals and day-to-day eating. Spang (2000: 2) identifies the origins of modern commercial hospitality, and the restaurant as a space of urban sociability since emerging in the late eighteenth century. Learning from the past and the experiences of others develops our understanding of society and the evolving role of gastronomy.