ABSTRACT
This chapter examines two sets of comparisons, British and French imperialists and their interactions with West and South African and South and Southeast Asian peoples. Across these cases, the common imperial goal of extracting wealth from dependent territories caused widespread disruption to traditional food practices. Indian Ocean outposts, established in the sixteenth century to control the spice trade, provided a staging point for the territorial domination of Asia. In the early years of the British East India Company, resident merchants were called nabobs because of the local habits they acquired, but Anglo sahibs of the late nineteenth century felt duty bound to maintain the prestige of imperial culture. French colonists in Vietnam, even more than Anglo Indian sahibs, insisted on having access to familiar foods, although the climate still required many adjustments. Trade led the imperial flag in Africa as in Asia, starting from commercial posts established since the fifteenth century.
