How will the people of a future communist society eat? What will they eat? How will it be distributed? How has capitalism restrained the culinary arts?
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Definitely not the gastronomic decadent cuisines prepared by bourgeois chefs for the exploiting class, that's for sure, but rather the food consumed by the proletariat.
A socialist society on its way to communism may have to give up some of its liberties in culinary arts, but it's purely a pragmatic decision, not an intentional one, I'd argue that global capital has led to the destruction of culinary arts in other countries through corporate imperialism using westernization (McDonald's, KFC, stuff like that).
soylent
More cooking for ones self, less pre-prepared instant things, I'd think.
that can entail quick and cheap shit, fancy shit with endless tedious prep, or anything in between really.
there definitely wouldnt be fucking sugar added to absolutely everything like right now.
This is quite literally the reason I can't stand the idea of being communal. I enjoy delicious, expensive food far too much.
I always find it amusing that all the bad things that would supposedly come with communism have been developed by capitalism, including the flavorless, colorless nutrient paste.
All the culinary arts you cry over were invented for royalty. Proles ate brown bread made with shitty grains they foraged from the countryside and could include toxins and pease pottage with ale that was more like soupy alcoholic porridge than anything we assume is modern or filtered.
people didnt drink alcoholic beer except on celebrations historically, in europe.
The beer they drank normally was small beer, very calorically rich unfiltered stuff not fermented enough to be significantly alcoholic. more alcoholic than modern nonalcoholic beer but it wouldnt get you very drunk.
making it ensured the water they made it with got cleaned(when they didnt realize they could just boil it), and everyone liked it.
under socialism people would make whatever they felt like cooking for themselves with the ingredients available to them, though, just like they still can now.
Small beer was an invention of the early modern period. There wasn't a distinction in the Middle Ages (the Wikipedia article on this subject quotes a bonappetit article. do not cite it).
Wrong. Even the strong ABVs in modern beers are not good enough to preempt the growth of pathogens. You need closer to 60-70% ABV to kill most bacteria. With viruses, you need closer to 90% ABV. The fermentation process of the medieval period did not include chemical disinfectants for controlling bacteria and it did not include boiling the wort which served as another source of pathogen control, resulting in a substance that fouled quickly and could not be stored for long periods of time. Hops were used initially not for their flavor, but because it prevented the beer from fouling as quickly.
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leslefts.blogspot.com
Moreover this is based on a fundamental fallacy people (and Wikipedia) misconstrues with pre-modern people: that they understood germ theory, and the application of distilled beverages to germ theory. This is a post-Pasteur thought bubble, and it is not accurate as to how medieval peoples perceived and understood freshness in water. Also, they did in fact know how to "boil water to make it clean". This comes from Hippocrates writing in 300BC. Stop believing in myths about these people.
And they consumed unfiltered water regularly through the annals. Rainfed cisterns were common as per the Roman period. They did not understand pathogens and believed disease was spread by the air interacting with imbalances within the humors, therefore water that was "clean" was more or less clean enough for them. Other prospective sources of drinking included diverting nearby streams like the Great Conduit of 1237 in London.
Medieval brewers were perfectly capable enough at controlling yeasts to produce reasonable ABVs (for beer, we have plenty of 'strong' recipes) but the end result was nothing like modern beer in texture or flavor and there was considerable variety in both between brewers. Boiling the wort was not innovated until the early modern period and this impacted significantly the fermentation and longevity process. Medieval beers were made to be fermented and drunk quickly, hence why I mentioned the soupy texture. Such a quick fermentation coupled with lack of proper filtration to remove the unfermented barley grist produces a far thicker texture to beers than anything modern. It's also quite a bit healthier, which is the real reason why medieval peoples drank beer so much: it's rich in B vitamins that were not in common supply to the peasant diet.
Beer, bread, and cheese coupled with peas pottage and fresh vegetables supply all the macronutrients a medieval worker needs to survive. It is not a coincidence these foodstuffs would be the ones to pass down culturally through to modern times.
Drinking water is attested numerous times through the annals and we even have period guides as to how Medieval peoples determined what sources of water were good for drinking ``and how to balance water with your humors``.
that still implies 'strong' wasnt the default like it is today, doesnt it
thank you for that post though.