Culinary art

Cook with the sun.

The culinaria or culinary art is a creative way of preparing food and depends a lot on the culture, in terms of knowledge regarding food, the way it is prepared, as well as the social rituals established around food. It should not be confused with gastronomy, which would include it in a more general field dedicated to everything related to food.

There is a characteristic culinary art in each people, culture and region. Nowadays, with the phenomenon of globalization, with the continuous communication of millions of people and the influence of the media, as well as commerce, they have led to a greater knowledge and appreciation of foreign cuisines, and a greater ease of access. to its preparation. However, a large majority of these recipes and their variations have their origins in traditional cuisines developed over a long period of time, with preparation rituals passed down through many generations.

Traditional cooking is a fundamentally social art, with local and traditional characteristics, but modern society has managed to facilitate its preparation, supported by the easy acquisition of raw materials that are grown, sometimes thousands of kilometers away. It is important, in the modern kitchen, this base of different ethnic and cultural origins.

Food

Eating consists of satisfying the body's needs in terms of water, proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, vitamins and trace elements, to ensure the growth and maintenance of the body according to age, sex and degree of physical or mental activity. Food supplies, but in an unbalanced way in relation to needs, proteins, lipids and carbohydrates that constitute a source of energy and molecules necessary to the human body, as well as vitamins and other elements. As a result, only the balanced association of foods of different nutritional types ensures the contributions of essential elements.

Needs

Babies and infants need vitamin D, which would have to be provided by food but, as it is low in availability in the daily portion, they are usually given vitamin supplements. Similarly, women need 77% more iron than men due to menstrual losses or after childbirth, as well as more calcium at menopause, to avoid as much as possible the appearance of osteoporosis.

Similarly, the water ration varies in the same way as the energy intake. A quarter of extracellular water storage is renewed daily in babies and only one seventh in adults.

Culinary art

It is the art of preparing and cooking food. This includes the variety of typical products of an area, the way they are cooked, the presentation of the food, photography, hotels, restaurants, and much more. We can say that the Culinary Arts are an expression of artistic ideas through food or media related to food. In relation to hotels and restaurants, culinary art generates an impression on clients or diners, since it is expected that the dishes of the selection or menu are prepared according to high quality standards, with all the precautions that govern the norms. hygiene and food handling, and with decorations to make each type of dish more attractive. Regarding the services offered by a hotel restaurant or as an independent establishment, these must be directed by professionals in the culinary arts: chefs or cooks who have the necessary knowledge of their area, to direct, train and even help prepare the dishes. kitchen staff.

How it helps us

• To learn more about the kitchen.
• In order to ensure the health of consumers, various foods are transformed and associated.
• To supply variable foods according to the needs of each individual.
• To be able to propose specific nutritional regimens based on each disease.

Meal preparation

The type of cuisine depends on the cook, the ingredients and the cultural, ethical, medical or religious customs or obligations for specific foods.

It is said then, that some foods (almost all) must go through a process called cooking, which is the application of heat or other techniques to preserve and modify its flavor, color and texture; in this way they will be suitable for human consumption.

For a food to be an integral part of the way of eating, it must be easily available, in quantity adapted to human needs and, if possible, at a good price.

Since man nourishes himself, not only to ensure his growth and development but also for pleasure, food will often have to have taste qualities, which vary according to society. Eating is also a social act, some people try not to eat certain foods because of their devaluing image (rapeseed oil after the First World War), look for rarer and more expensive ones (foie gras or caviar) or rival their imagination to prepare a dish in a complex, appetizing and visually satisfying way.

The kitchen is also the support and manifestation of some religious and even political position. Thus, some cultural customs or some religions have placed taboos on certain foods or preparations.

The food and preparation methods chosen depend on the principles of each consumer. Looking for food with a quality label or Denomination of Origin, from organic farming or refusing to eat food of animal origin (vegetarians, for example) often comes from an ethical choice, just like the desire to non-violence animals, or to not impose such a huge impact on the biosphere (from an energy point of view, the production of 1 kilo of animal protein is more expensive than the same amount of vegetable protein). These positions are strongly defended by ecologists, see also macrobiotics.

The initial choice of food depends on multiple variables: before, the first factor was availability, for example mammoth meat in an ecoregion in northern Europe or the harvest periods of agri-food. Food customs and techniques were formed around these favorable periods and the availability of fuels (wood, coal).