ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the extent to which the connection between food and power, which has clearly been defined for medieval and early modern courts, can also be identified for nineteenth and twentieth-century court elites confronted with gigantic societal turmoil. It adds to our understanding of the importance of food, as well as of the power of royal courts in modern Europe. Apart from exploring this fascinating period of time in history, the subject of the book covers a substantial geographic area of the world. The social and cultural importance of food has been examined and confirmed at length by anthropological, sociological, and historical research, which has ascribed to it status, identity, and power. The book looks for the underlying reasons of this modernization of the food language and examines the importance of food in the positioning of the Ottoman court within power alliances.
