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Title: Columbian Exchange
Author(s): Janet Long-Solís
Source: Encyclopedia of Food and Culture. Ed. Solomon H. Katz. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. p436439. From Gale Virtual Reference Library.
Document Type: Topic overview
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2003 Charles Scribner's Sons, COPYRIGHT 2006 Gale
Full Text:
Page 436
COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE
COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE. The title of this article refers to the interchange of plants and food products that took place
between America and Europe after Columbus's voyages to the New World. Although the exchange was carried out in both
directions, the article places greater emphasis upon the transfer of American plants and food products to Europe than in the
other direction. European products that brought about significant changes in New World diets include wheat; meat and meat
products such as milk, cheese and eggs; sugar; citrus fruits; onions; garlic; and certain spices such as parsley, coriander,
oregano, cinnamon, and cloves.
Among the products that arrived in Europe after the discovery of the Americas were many plants native to the New World
and unknown to Europeans. Some plants were transported intentionally, perhaps by a returning Spaniard who had become
accustomed to the exotic flavors of America; others traveled uninvited, hidden in the nooks and crannies of ships or mixed
with the ballast that Spanish ships carried on their return trips to the Old World.
Over the years, the seeds and plants were scattered throughout the nearby hills of the Mediterranean Basin by the wind,
water currents, or birds, or by humans themselves. Now, over 500 years after their introduction to the area, they form such
an integral part of the landscape that this would be unrecognizable for any Roman citizens who came in search of their
ancient environment.
New World Plants in the Old World
American plants were not well received when they arrived in Europe. Some were the object of suspicion because of their
similarity to a group of hallucinogenic plants already known and used by Europeans. Others had to undergo a genetic
transformation before they could produce in the new climate and latitudes. American plants eventually became incorporated
into the Mediterranean diet and now serve to identify it as readily as wheat, olives, and wine, traditional food plants of the
area.
Spain became the route of dispersion for the new plants in Europe, since most of them initially arrived in the port of Seville.
They extended along two distinct routes: one group was diffused toward the north of the continent, while others were found
to adapt and prosper better in the south. The southern group first arrived in Italy, which should not be surprising since Spain
controlled parts of Italy during the sixteenth century, and this facilitated the introduction of American plants to the area. The
well-established trade routes set up by the Aragonese long before the sixteenth century were important factors in the
dispersion of American products. The mild climate and loose soil that predominate in the Mediterranean helped make the
area a favorable ecological niche for the adaptation and development of the new plants.
Maize and beans, subsistence crops throughout much of the Americas, prospered well in the Mediterranean Basin. Tomatoes
and chili peppers adapted easily to the new atmosphere. Other crops that had little trouble in establishing themselves were
several varieties of squash, sweet potatoes, the nopal, or prickly pear cactus, and the agave, or century plant. The potato, a
plant that generated important changes in European social life, adapted better in the cold climates and high altitudes of
Northern Europe, because of a greater similarity to their original habitat in the Andes Mountains of Bolivia and Peru.
Some of the plants rejected upon their arrival in Europe were the tomato, potato, and chili pepper. All are members of the
Solanaceae plant family and had to confront the famous "curse of the nightshades" before being accepted in European diets.
Europeans were already familiar with some poisonous members of this group of Page 437
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plants such as mandrake, henbane, and
belladonna, hallucinogenic plants used by witches and sorcerers of the time. They recognized these three plants as members
of the same plant family by their leaves and flowers and were suspicious of them. In addition to being hallucinogenic and
poisonous, the plants were believed to cause leprosy and syphilis. Soon they acquired fame as aphrodisiacs, although it is
doubtful that this contributed to their rejection.
It was in the Mediterranean area where New World plants had their earliest acceptance. The Mediterranean Sea served as a
background for the struggle between the Ottoman Turks and the Spanish Hapsburgs in the sixteenth century. These two
empires played a dominant role in the region and were probably the most important distributors of American plants in
Mediterranean countries.
The role played by the Turks is evident in the nomenclature of American plants in the sixteenth century. Maize appeared in
European herbals with the name of Turkish grain, blé de Turquie, or turkisher korn. The chili pepper was called Turkish red
pepper and squash was known as Turkish cucumber; even the American turkey received its well-known name in English at
this time, when it was called the turkie-bird.
A Historical Comparison of Plant Introductions
The arrival of American plants in the Mediterranean during the sixteenth century can be compared to a similar occurrence
during Roman times. During the first years of the Empire, Romans followed a fairly simple diet. Their meals consisted
mainly of boiled grains such as millet, rye, and wheat, and of vegetables grown in the area. With the expansion of the
Empire, trade and commerce began to flourish, and some Roman merchants began to introduce new food products from farreaching corners of the Roman Empire. The best of the ancient world arrived at the tables of upper-class Romans. The
variety of available food products increased considerably, and the new foods soon became a necessity in the Roman diet,
giving rise to an elaborate and sophisticated cuisine.
It was not until the sixteenth century and the arrival of New World plants that this phenomenon was repeated in history.
Plant specialists calculate that seventy-eight new plants, including fruit trees, vegetables, and spices, arrived in Italy during
the centuries of the Roman Empire, while 127 arrived from America during just the first century following the discovery of
the New World.
Factors Determining the Acceptance of Plants
Some plants were easily accepted in the Mediterranean diet due to their similarity to other plants already known in the area.
This was the case for the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) that showed a similarity with the fava bean (Vicia faba),
known since Roman times and diffused throughout the area by Romans during their conquests.
The maize plant does not resemble other grains, although its preparation in the form of ground flour in breads and gruels
gave it a certain similarity to them. Maize flour was combined with other ground cereals and used in the preparation of rustic
breads, favored by the poor. It also came to substitute for millet in the preparation of Italian polenta, an ancient Roman dish
that had been a mainstay of the poor for centuries.
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While the foods of the New World radically changed the diet of the Old, so too did many Old World foods become staples
of Native American diets. Here, a Kuna Indian woman is preparing to plant rice. She is holding the young seedlings in her
hands. This picture was taken among the Kuna people at Comorcas de San Blas, Panama, in 1996. © DANNY
LEHMAN/CORBIS.
The squash bore a resemblance to other cucurbits known to the Romans, although they belonged to other plant species. It
received the name of calabash and a false identity as zucco from Syria. From this comes its present-day name, zucchini.
The chili pepper and the tomato arrived as new and strange plants, and people were suspicious of them. The fact that
Europeans did not know how to prepare them and that they bore no resemblance to foods already in their diets made their
acceptance more difficult. Chili peppers were too hot for the European palate, and they found the tomato difficult to prepare.
It was too acrid to eat in its green stage, but when it ripened, it appeared to be spoiled, and when cooked, it disintegrated.
Finally, they adopted the Aztec technique of grinding it into a purée. The tomato that arrived in the Mediterranean in the
sixteenth century was not the bright red, smooth, juicy fruit we know today, but rather a pale fruit with an acid flavor and
unpleasant smell. The first illustrations in herbals show a small, ridged, hard fruit that does not look very appetizing. It was
the caring hands of Italian gardeners that improved the American tomato and turned it into the vivid, plump, thin-skinned
fruit we appreciate today. They also modified the chili pepper, turning it into a large fruit without the characteristic heat of
the Mexican pepper. When transformed into a green pepper, it could be eaten as a vegetable, stuffed with meat or cheese,
and it has found an important place in Mediterranean salads. Sweet potatoes and the prickly pear cactus adapted and grew
wherever the climate and soil permitted them.
The Turks introduced American plants into the Balkans during their sixteenth century invasions of the region. Today the
Hungarian chili pepper, called paprika, is one of the predominant flavors in Balkan cooking. Maize, squash, and tomatoes
also play an important role in the cuisine.
American Plants Incorporated into the European Diet
American plants arrived in Europe during the sixteenth century, but did not play a significant role in the European diet for
two-hundred years. They became incorporated into the eighteenth-century diet, not as exotic or innovative dishes, but rather
as additional ingredients in traditional foods already known and eaten by the masses. Cooks began adding maize and
potatoes to popular soups and stews. American beans became a substitute for Roman fava beans in Spanish fabada (a bean
stew from Asturias); white beans came to be used in cassoulet (a dish of southern France, made with beans and pork), as
well as in Tuscan bean dishes. Sicilians discovered that tomato sauces were a good complement to pasta and pizzas and
provided more color and flavor than the traditional butter or olive oil dressings. Peperonata, made with sautéed red and
green peppers, occupies a place in all Mediterranean cuisines. The tomato and the chili pepper became a common ingredient
in Greek dishes such as moussaka, made with lamb and eggplant, and in Hungarian dishes like chicken paprika or goulash.
Andalusian gazpacho, an ancient bread soup, possibly of Roman origin, suddenly took on a new presentation with tomatoes
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and green peppers. Valencian paella (a dish of rice, chicken, and seafood) and bacalao (a codfish casserole) soon included
foods from America in their preparation. Innovative cooks created new dishes such as the tortilla española, a Spanish
omelet cooked with potatoes, and "pa amb tomàquet," thick Catalan bread slices smeared with tomatoes and olive oil. The
Muslim tradition of filling vegetables with meat and sauce soon found new receptacles in American vegetables such as
green peppers, tomatoes, and squash. Over the years, they learned to make Moroccan couscous with tomatoes, served with
harissa sauce, made with mashed chili peppers, salt, and garlic.
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The exchange of food plants from the New World to the Old moved in several directions. One was trans-Atlantic, the other
was trans-Pacific. In these market baskets at Neiafu, Vava'U Island, Tonga Islands, New World manioc (center) is sold side
by side with mangoes, fruits that came to the islands by way of Asia. © WOLFGANG KAEHLER/CORBIS.
Conclusion
After an uncertain beginning upon their arrival in Europe, American plants revolutionized European diets as they slowly
began replacing traditional ingredients and became staples in the basic diets of the area. They provided a more nutritional
diet and helped put an end to the chronic famines that had affected Europe since the Middle Ages. Two New World plants,
maize and potatoes, are considered among the four most important subsistence plants of the world and are believed to have
played a role in the population explosion that began in the middle of the eighteenth century.
Maize quickly became a mainstay in the Venetian and Roman diets. It was easy to grow and so productive that many
country people began living on a diet made up almost exclusively of maize products. Maize contains an incomplete protein
and lacks trytophan, a precursor of niacin, which helps the body synthesize vitamins. Without this amino acid, the body
cannot absorb vitamins and thus produces a nutritional deficiency called pellagra, which affects the digestive and nervous
systems as well as the skin. In extreme cases, it can be fatal. No Mediterranean country was saved from this terrible disease.
It was not abolished completely in Italy until after the Second World War, when the diet and living conditions improved in
that country. Potatoes were accepted in the diet in places like seventeenth-century Ireland, where the people were
undergoing a severe food crisis; two centuries later, they were the cause of Ireland's "great hunger" of the nineteenth century
when the loss of the potato crop in consecutive years left people with nothing to eat.
See also Caribbean ; Central America ; Diaspora ; Iberian Peninsula ; Inca Empire ; Maize ; Mexico and Central
America, Pre-Columbian ; South America .
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Braudel, Fernand. The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. 2 vols. Translated from the
French by Siân Reynolds. New York: Harper and Row, 1972.
Casanova, Rosa, and Marcos Bellingeri. Alimentos, remedios, vicios y placeres. México: Instituto Nacional de Antropología
e Historia, 1988.
Elliott, James H. Spain and Its World, 1500–1700. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989.
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Fernández Pérez, Joaquin, and Ignacio González Tascón, eds. La agricultura viajera. Barcelona, Spain: Lunwerg Editores,
S. A., 1991.
Hobhouse, Henry. Seeds of Change: Five Plants That Transformed Mankind. New York: Harper and Row, 1987.
Viola, Herman J., and Carolyn Margolis, eds. Seeds of Change: A Quincentennial Commemoration. Washington and
London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991.
Janet Long-Solís
Source Citation (MLA 7th Edition)
Long-Solís, Janet. "Columbian Exchange." Encyclopedia of Food and Culture. Ed. Solomon H. Katz. Vol. 1. New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. 436-439. Gale Power Search. Web. 25 Sept. 2014.
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View other articles linked to these index terms:
Page locators that refer to this article are not hyper-linked.
agave,
arrival in Europe,
1: 436
beans
arrival in Europe,
1: 436
1: 437
cassava (manioc),
introduction to Tonga Islands,
1: 439
chili peppers,
arrival in Europe,
1: 436-437
1: 438
Columbian exchange,
1: 436-439
2: 2
map,
1: 437
Europe.
American plants putting an end to chronic famines,
1: 439
Habsburgs
role in dissemination of New World plants,
1: 437
maize,
arrival in Europe,
1: 436
1: 437
replacing millet in Italy,
1: 437
role in population explosion in 18th century,
1: 439
mangoes,
introduction to Tonga Islands,
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1: 439
New World
European products brought to,
1: 436
nopales
prickly pear cactus (nopal) arrival in Europe,
1: 436
Pacific Ocean societies,
exchange of foods across,
1: 439
pellagra,
1: 439
1: 440
1: 532
2: 175
2: 176
2: 426-427
2: 427
2: 553-554
3: 495
3: 498
potatoes,
arrival in Europe,
1: 436-437
role in population explosion in eighteenth century,
1: 439
rice,
introduction to New World,
1: 324
1: 438
Rome and the Roman Empire,
introduction of new foods in Empire,
1: 437
3: 480
Solanaceae,
1: 375-377
1: 436-437
Solanaceae,
1: 375-377
1: 436-437
Spain,
route of dispersion of New World plants in Europe,
1: 436
squash,
arrival in Europe,
1: 436
sweet potatoes,
arrival in Europe,
1: 436
tomatoes,
arrival in Europe,
1: 436-437
1: 438
transformation of plant in Italy,
1: 438
Turkey.
role in dissemination of New World plants,
1: 437
zucchini,
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etymology,
1: 438
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