5 Culinary Exports from the New World (Part 1)

The New World really spiced up the World’s Cuisine

While Europe, Asia, and Africa are considered the Old World, the lands of the Western Hemisphere, in particular the Americas, are often referred to as the New World.

The benefits that Europeans attained from colonizing and exploring the New World were not only in their attainment of land but also in their exposure to new commodities and in turn culinary exports. The following are five examples of the many New World culinary imports that changed Old World cuisine.

Tomatoes

The MVP of Italian cuisine?

From the annual tomato fight, La Tomatina, in Spain to the ubiquity of tomatoes in Italian cuisine, it is hard to imagine tomatoes being a culinary import that was only introduced to Europe in the 16th century. But this was the case.

Tomatoes were a staple in Mesoamerican diets thousands of years before Europeans arrived in the Americas. The plant was only imported to Europe by Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century. Europeans first considered the fruit as “golden apples” and shortly distributed them throughout the world. It was soon after that many cuisines began including it in their diets.

Tomatoes were first appreciated in Italy not as much for their taste but for their beauty. They functioned as ornaments and houseplants for rich aristocrats. By the 17th century, tomatoes became gradually more common in European cuisine. Yet, the incorporation of tomatoes in pasta only became widespread in the 19th century and the mass industrialization that would follow would make tomatoes and tomato sauces associated with Italian cuisine.

Avocados

Guac my world

Sometimes referred to as the alligator pear, in reference to their dark and bumpy skin, avocados were another fruit imported from the Americas.

Believed to have originated in Mexico in the years 5000 BCE, avocados spread throughout Mesoamerica before first being introduced to Spain in the 17th century. They have since been grown on all six of the inhabited continents.

The first written account of the fatty fruit came from the conquistador Martin Fernandez de Enciso who described avocados as a fruit “which looks like an orange, and when it is ready for eating it turns yellowish; that which it contains is like butter and is of marvelous flavor, so good and pleasing to the palate that it is a marvelous thing.”

The word “avocado” itself has its origins in the Aztec Nahuatl language, with the people calling the fruit “āhuacatl,” which translates to “testicle.: When the Spanish explorers encountered the fruit during their expeditions to the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries, they chose to adapt the Aztec term into Spanish as “aguacate” rather than refer to the fruit as the human gonad.

Peppers

Bringing the heat

Chili peppers and bell peppers were native to the Americas, in particular Central America, and the Caribbean.

While in the Caribbean, Columbus and his men experienced the blazing spice of capsicum. Having little reference to what they experienced, the Spaniards concluded that these vegetables were quite spicy, much like black pepper which they were familiar with. So they put their Spanish brains together and asserted that these vegetables would similarly be called peppers, even though black pepper derives from a completely different family of plants.

Years of globalized trade would render chili peppers and bell peppers staple ingredients to add a spicy kick to dishes throughout the world.

Maize

Acknowledge the corn

Maize or corn, has become synonymous with North American cuisine and rightly so. The vegetable was domesticated nearly 9000 years ago in the lowlands of southwestern Mexico.

Through years of selective breeding, maize was produced from the wild plant species of teosinte. Over time, ancient farmers engaged in selective breeding by choosing tesonites with desirable traits, such as larger cobs, and the plant became more suitable for human consumption.

Corn was introduced to Europe by Columbus, and it didn’t take long for Europeans to adopt it as a cheap and easy-growing food. Evidence of corn in European iconography was also prompt, as shown by Renaissance artist, Raphaël’s 1517 fresco depicting the plant. As the modern era progressed, corn was quickly spread throughout the world through trade and has remained an efficient food for many people.

Potatoes

Boil ’em, mash ’em, stick ’em in a stew

Potatoes were likely the most significant culinary exports from the Americas. The first evidence of the vegetables dates them to approximately 7000 years BCE, originating in Mexico. They were cultivated throughout all of South America and Southern North America when Europeans arrived.

The Spanish conquistadors, led by Francisco Pizarro, encountered potatoes in the Andean highlands and noted their importance and religious significance as demonstrated in Axomamma, the goddess of potatoes.

The Spanish initially viewed potatoes with skepticism, and it took time for the crop to gain acceptance in Europe. But by the 18th century, the starchy vegetable had become incredibly popular and efficient. Similar to corn it could be grown in many different environments, however, potatoes were more nutritious.

The widespread popularity of potatoes in Europe and Asia lead to significant population booms from the 18th to 20th century. So much so that approximately 20 to 40 percent of European population and urbanization during this period are attributed to the adoption of potatoes.