Determinants of the Global Culinary Space

Abstract

The author looks at the influence determinants of various national cuisines in the global culinary space. They are: the area of the country, its population, natural diversity, long-standing traditions of social inequality, diet taboos (if any) imposed by religion, ethical and moral reasons. A large number of examples illustrate how the specifics of national cuisine are attributable to historical forms of social inequality in different countries. Some attention is also paid to culinary-class disaggregation, when different classes of the same society focus on different national cuisines.