ABSTRACT
This chapter surveys the early modern transformation of diets in France, England, and Japan to reveal important connections between everyday eating habits and broader processes of social change. European nobles of the middle Ages shared a common cuisine featuring large platters of meat and whole fowl, served roasted or boiled, with elaborately spiced sauces. The case of Japan shows that quite diverse social arrangements could lead to the common outcome of a cuisine idealizing simple, natural tastes. Cooking techniques and the organization of menus also changed to reflect new ingredients. Sweet and savory flavors, combined promiscuously in medieval dishes, were separated into distinct courses, with desserts reserved for the end of the meal. The spice trade likewise fell victim to the nouvelle cuisine of the seventeenth century. European travelers' first encountered coffee in the Ottoman Empire during the fifteenth century, but the beverage did not spread west for nearly 200 years.
