Seeking taste, seeking archaeology

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When it comes to food, taste stimulates our senses! The food culture of ancient people can be learned by studying the raw material evidence they left behind. But, even if the tongue knows the taste, how to consume the taste that is expensive for the words 'Nalabagam', 'Hand fragrance'? So how do we know how food was enjoyed and tasted long ago? And ancient cuisines were adapted by each culture to suit their circumstances.

Let us take the familiar Tamil culture. "Food is land and water," says Puranasuru. Based on topography, the variety of crops grown in each region, livestock, temperature, and other types of food also expand according to the situation. However, the Tamil has also identified a cooking method based on delicious and medicinal ingredients.
Naladiyar's lines "Arusuvaiyundi udsadillal utta rasikai udari udapum" conveys the tradition of Tamils' arusvai food.

Archeology is not only about ancient bones, bats, and WhatsApp Number List projectile points, but also about examining the environments in which such artifacts are found. Apart from the lost material, the older fragments also consumed the layers of earth they were deposited on, the soil composition, etc. Clues help archaeologists shape the story of who once made pots, hunting spots or scavenged animal hides at the site. It is suspended in layers created by time and space. This is what gives it meaning. But there is no fossil record of taste.

When it comes to ancient foods, archaeologists can easily collect key ingredients based on butchered bones and plant remains found in cooking areas. But every cook, and diner, knows that just keeping the basic ingredients alone can't make a dish taste appealing or unique. A dish's flavor is defined not only by the spices, herbs and culinary crafts available in a place, but also by some individual ingredients. For example, the Tamils ​​added fenugreek to add flavor to a variety of ingredients.

Certain flavors have come to distinguish cuisines from different cultures, such as yumami in Japan and herbes de Provence in southern France. In the 1970s, cookbook author Elizabeth Rosin named this phenomenon the 'flavor theory'.

"Although chefs have debated taste for centuries, there is no search for it in archaeology," says Professor Christine Hasdorf of UCL Berkeley. Also, he says, we need to explore tastes as well, since “different cultures have inherited not only cuisines, but tastes as well.”

Presumably, past cultures have long maintained a theory of taste. Unearthing the ancient flavors is not so easy. Seasoning and preparation methods are occasionally likely to get in the way of bones and botanicals. But scholars like Hausdorff have been devising ways to search for ancient tastes through archaeology. This new research method seeks to reveal interest and cultural relationships in cooking. And today's society creates an opportunity to enjoy the tastes of the past.



Ancient food habits
A decade ago, Hausdorff organized a Bronze Age party for archaeologists working in the Italian countryside. As excavations recovered cow bones and grains, his list included beef and oats. He also added wild purslane, an herb that had been used by the local people for generations, to the dishes Hausdorff prepared. This was helped by a villager woman who knew the plants very well. The weed, which is rich in vitamin C, helps create a unique flavor, says Hausdorff.

The woman believes that purslane has been used in the Mediterranean region for thousands of years. "In the past, people would have experimented with everything that grew in their area," he says. He also thinks that the sourness and healthiness of these may have passed the test and entered the regional cuisine.