ABSTRACT
Chronological division o f the historical age from the viewpoint o f traditional dietary culture
The chronological division of the history of the traditional dietary culture in the historical ages will be discussed for convenience in the following three ages, considered in the contexts of associated historical material.(Note23)
(l) The early stage of the pre-European age (up to ca. A.D. 1000)
Although the historical material of this period, especially before the 5th-6th centuries, is limited, inscriptions (epitaph or epigraph) found at many places in Southeast Asia, stone reliefs at Buddhism and Hindu temple sites and Chinese historical material can be used. Though detailed and systematic descriptions and evidence are not expected, the state of the dietary culture can be estimated to some extent by comparing it with current traditional habits. For instance, former food production and dietary habits can be presumed to a certain degree by the betel chewing, the custom of palm wine drinking, rice cultivation, sugarcane cultivation and sago palm exploitation, all of which are found widely in Southeast Asia even now. It is presumed from the historical material mentioned above that this early stage of the pre-European age began with the deep influence of both Indian and Chinese civilisations and then gradually the characteristic dietary culture of this area developed. The techniques for utilising the coconut palm are widely distributed in the whole of Southeast Asia, e.g., the collection and utilisation of the sugary sap from the flower stalk, were probably brought to Southeast Asia by Indian immigrants and merchants from the early time of this
stage.120) A short description on the preparation of flower stark preparation of flowerstalk wine (palm wine) from coconut palm in Jiaozhou (3£jtl), a corner of In do-China flourishing with Indianisation at that time, appeared in a book, Jiaozhouji (S '^H IB) as the oldest Chinese document on this subject.121}
(2) The late stage of the pre-European age (ca.AD. 1000~ 1500) This was a time when Southeast Asia was most prosperous
under the strong kingdoms such as the Angkor Dynasty, Cambodia in the continental region and the Majapahit Dynasty Java in the archipelago region and when the unique traditional dietary culture was developing. Much material such as various inscriptions, literature, reliefs at Hindu temples, Chinese historical records and so on, are known. Around the end of the pre-European age, after the 1400s, the Arabian trade accompanying transmission of Islam and its strong impact on Southeast Asian society, and then the coming of European navigators began, which was to be a prologue to the European Colonial age. What is noticeable during this time is the increase in Chinese
immigrants who came over to various districts of Southeast Asia, and they played an important role in the formation of the traditional dietary culture of this area. A remarkable expansions of immigrants and refugees from China occurred after the age of the late Yuan (tg) to the early Ming Oifl) in the 14th century, and Chinese settlements were formed at various places and became prosperous. Their immigration was accompanied probably by the transmission of many Chinese dietary cultures such as fermentation technology and others to various places of Southeast Asia. Among these others, soybean seasonings were presumably prepared at first for Chinese immigrants themselves by Chinese, and afterwards these traditional foods made in Chinese settlements and/or their preparation methods were assimilated by the local people so that these products and methods gradually became acceptable for the native inhabitants of the peripheral districts of the settlements, and thus such dietary culture is thought, based on supporting evidence, to have penetrated into the society of the locale.
