Columbian Exchange
The Columbian Exchange refers to the exchange of diseases, ideas, food crops, and populations between the New World (the Americas) in the Western Hemisphere, and the Old World (Afro-Eurasia) in the Eastern Hemisphere, in the late 15th and following centuries.[1] The term was coined by Alfred W. Crosby, an American historian at the University of Texas at Austin. His 1972 book The Columbian Exchange, and subsequent volumes within the same decade cemented the term in the popular imagination.[2]
Within the context of Asturian gastronomy, the Columbian Exchange stands out as the largest event in the history of eating. The impact it has had is nothing less than seismic.
Notable "new world" food stuffs entered Asturian cooking in the three centuries following the Columbus expeditions. Corn, tomato, potato, many beans (green, navy, lima) - all of these staple Asturian ingredients were not available prior to the Exchange.[3]
- ↑ Nunn, Nathan, and Nancy Qian. “The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas.” The Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 24, no. 2, 2010, pp. 163–88. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.24.2.163.
- ↑ Crosby, Alfred W. The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492. 30th anniversary ed, Praeger, 2003.
- ↑ Civitello, Linda. Cuisine and Culture: A History of Food and People. 2nd ed, pp 129. John Wiley, 2007.
