How could it be otherwise, today we open this new space with a clear declaration of intentions, unite Gastronomy and Health, through its direct link, the science of Nutrition and diet.
In reality, conceptually, they have always walked hand in hand, although in these times where everything is information that travels “At the speed of the network”, the borders become blurred, the terms are confused and what appears to be, is not in reality and vice versa.
For centuries, man has known (or intuited) the importance and influence of diet on his health, thus, until the seventeenth century this influence was measured through the “Humors”These reflected whether the body could be modified depending on the composition of the diet.
Such a diet would be good if it balanced the following moods:
- Phlegm (wet)
- Black bile (cold)
- Yellow bile (dry)
- Hot blood)
Already in the seventeenth century the interest in good taste prevailed, especially in France, and food was evolving towards the concept of gastronomy, moving away from health, although never completely, because it is a time of great scientific advances.
A little later, in 1825, Brilliant Savarin, surely the first and brightest gourmet, defined gastronomy as:
“The reasonable knowledge of everything that affects the human being while it is nourished. Its purpose is to keep man alive by giving him the best possible nutrition ”.
And in Paris, the concept of restaurant as we know it today was born, the work of chefs who had worked for the previous aristocracy, making the city the capital of the gastronomic world already coinciding with the Belle Epoque.
The trend towards luxury, aesthetics, etc., was destabilized with the 1st world war, the kitchen was once again more rational and realistic, closely related to healthy habits, and our country is experiencing a similar development with certain peculiarities.
Perhaps the most important thing to note is that unlike France, with a more uniform gastronomic influence throughout its entire geography due to the large presence of the capital, the characteristics of regional cuisine were maintained.
La gastronomic cultureFrench-style, one lives in the first restaurants in Madrid, leaving aside for the moment the classic Spanish gastronomy, which will take a while to enjoy splendor. Even if “Nephew of Botín” It is by many considered the first restaurant in the capital of Spain, in 1725, it was actually an inn in its origin, and for a long time it adopted this type of establishment useful at the time until it was considered a restaurant as such.
It is then that the figure of what we know today as L’Hardy, founded in 1839 and that could then hold the figure or the recognition of being considered the first restaurant, as such, without hurting the feelings of the neighbor “Booty”.
In Barcelona, with a more economically wealthy bourgeoisie than in the rest of Spain, French dishes began to be replaced by regional classics, although great French cuisine would never lose relevance.
Our particular current Gastronomic panorama
Today, Spain is writing its most important gastronomic chapter in the world and if we analyze it from the plane of the Dietetics and Nutrition, we must highlight a great revolution in the last 35-40 years.
From a more balanced diet, although more caloric, towards a more unbalanced one where current life habits and the incorporation of fast food (fastfood), with a special conditioning factor in terms of price and development, cheaper and precooked, moving away from the nutritional paradigm of the Mediterranean diet.
The Nouvelle Cuisine, man has incessantly developed a fundamental hedonistic spirit where food is considered a journey towards organoléptica only, and prevents making a clear distinction between eating well, to enjoy a good health, and eat well for satisfy your senses.
There were attempts, albeit unsuccessful, to convert the Nouvelle Cuisine in a healthy way of eating, most of them due to misconceptions, where they were cooked with a tendency towards the natural and scarce dishes, which supposed them to be light, although not entirely true, due to their composition.
The truth is that gastronomy and health must complement each other, today we can say that this trend already exists in society and together we must strive so that it is not just a movement “underground” in the culinary.
For this we need the knowledge and tools provided by the science of Nutrition and Dietetics, to know and maintain the bases of the gastronomy protecting its evolution. So we can spread all this on a social and cultural level.
This is the way for both concepts to penetrate the transgenerational tree and become customs that last. We will contribute our grain of sand, not only health, but also in economic, food and ecological sustainability that is at stake, and therefore also our happiness.