8 Delicacies Only Poor People Once Eaten

1. Sushi and rolls

Now sushi (or, more correctly, sushi) is an extremely fashionable food that literally everyone consumes. But in ancient times, when Japan was still a country not of anime and PlayStation, but of harsh samurai and frostbitten daimyo, it was the food of the poor.

The fact is that at that time refrigerators had not yet been delivered to the islands, and in order to save the fish, one had to somehow get out. Therefore the peasants foldedC. Lee. Fish Fermentation Technology her in wooden tubs with rice vinegar, salt and rice, where she fermented under a huge stone. This made it possible to store the catch for several months, or even a year in advance.

Rice, by the way, was not eaten, but thrown away. Because he was, to put it mildly, unappetizing.

Naturally, only very hungry people would eat such fish, because it smelled simply terribleC. Lee. Fish Fermentation Technology. But hunger is not an aunt, you know.

Sushi (then called "nare-zushi") was the food of poor fishermen who could not afford fresh meat, since most of the catch was given to the venerable daimyo.

Japanese people eat fish with rice thought ofAn Illustrated History of Sushi / First We Feast only in the 13th century, when they decided to reduce the storage time of seafood in a barrel from a year to three or four weeks. Then the grains acquired a curious sour taste, but did not have time to deteriorate.

Modern sushi - inventionC. Lee. Fish Fermentation Technology XX century, made possible by the refrigerator. Raw fish is no longer fermented, but salted and served with fresh rice.

2. Caviar

Caviar, especially black caviar, is now considered the food of the rich. But it was not always so. In the 19th century in the United States, for example, so many sturgeons were harvested that caviar was served in saloons for free - like peanuts are now in some sports bars. Hosts consideredThe History of Caviar as Food / The Spruce Eatsthat its consumption encourages visitors to order more alcoholic drinks.

In addition, caviar was added to various cheap cereals to increase their nutritional value.

And only when too intensive sturgeon fishing led to a decrease in their population, the product turned from a snack for everyone into a delicacy of respectable gentlemen.

In Russia fashion is black caviar, by the way, it appeared among the nobility much earlier than in Europe and America. It began to be purposefully mined at least from the 12th century, but for centuries it was consideredOnce a Peasant Food, Caviar Now Luxury Treat / The Moscow Times cheap food for peasants and farm laborers, and it was eaten with porridge in large bowls.

But when Tsar Ivan the Terrible triedA. Volynets. History of black caviar caviar, the prestige of the dish increased dramatically. Rich guys began to buy it to eat themselves and sell it to Europe, in particular, to Italy. But ordinary fishermen have since had to be content with porridge without additives.

3. oysters

Eat an oyster - a task for an unprepared person is not trivial. First of all, it must be torn away from the stone on which it is located in its natural habitat. Then open it without cutting off your fingers. And finally, suppressing the gag reflex, swallow the contents.

Now oysters are served in ice in expensive restaurants. But before they were food for the poor - it just didn’t occur to the rich that you could eat such disgusting things.

So, in the 17th century, the streets of New York were literally overwhelmedHistory on the Half‑Shell: The Story of New York City and Its Oysters / The New York Public Library oyster shells, which were eaten on the go by low-class passers-by. For this reason, one of the streets in Manhattan is still calledM. Kurlansky. The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell pearl street.

Oysters were eaten raw, cooked deep-fried, in butter, in wine. And for many poor people it is wasM. Kurlansky. The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell the only source of protein, because they could not afford meat. Charles Dickens, for example, wroteC. Dickens. The Pickwick Papers in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club: "Poverty and oysters always seem to go hand in hand."

But by the 20th century, these mollusks on the coast of North America were safely ateM. Kurlansky. The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shelland they have become very rare and expensive. And because of the increased price of oysters, the rich became interested, reasoning: “If the product ExpensiveSo it's delicious and worth it."

4. lobsters

With lobsters, or lobsters, the story is the same as with oysters. When British colonists arrived in the New World in the 17th century, they found these crustaceans on the shores of their new homeland. so manyThe Expensive Delicacy That Was Once Served To Prisoners / TastingTablethat they literally had nowhere to go.

Lobsters were squeamishly called sea insects and cockroaches And usedA Taste of Lobster History / History for fertilizing fields or as bait for fish, and also fed to the poor, servants and prisoners.

There is evidence that in the city of Massachusetts, convicts even sued the authorities, demanding that they be fed lobster no more than twice a week.

long time crustaceans were consideredA Taste of Lobster History / History food for the mob. But in the 1880s, lobsters began to run out, and their prices immediately rose, which led to an improvement in the reputation of the dish. And by the beginning of World War II, lobsters were considered a delicacy.

5. Acne

Now eels are not the most frequent guests on the table. But in Medieval England, it was one of the staple foods. the poor. It is estimated that people ate morePaid in Fish: 8 Facts About the Use of Eels in Medieval England / History Hit eels than all other freshwater and saltwater fish combined. They were cheap and easy to get.

Especially popular was the eel pie, as well as jellied and stuffed eel.

These fish were so common in England that they even paid landlords. KnownPaid in Fish: 8 Facts About the Use of Eels in Medieval England / History Hit for example, that by the end of the 11th century, 540,000 eels were used annually as currency. Their trade was an important part of the economy until the 16th century.

Then, however, almost all eels fished outEel Rents: The Curious Way Eels Powered The Medieval Economy / HistoryExtra, and they became rare and expensive and lost their former significance. Only with the popularization of sushi in the 20th century did eels return to the table - however, now they are much less cheap and common than in the good old days. Middle Ages.

6. Polenta

Polenta is an Italian cornmeal porridge. It looks like a Moldavian or Romanian hominy. Until the 16th century, when they had not yet been brought to Europe from America corn, polenta preparedG. Pizzardi, W. Eynard. La cucina valdese from barley, wheat, spelled-two-grain, millet, chickpeas, chestnuts, and in general everything that can be ground into flour.

Since ancient times, this porridge has often been the only source of food for Italian peasants.

But now, through the efforts of such famous chefs as Mario Batali and Jamie Oliver, she turnedMario Batali: Polenta, the ultimate Italian comfort food / Chicago Tribune into an extremely fashionable dish for people versed in sophisticated cuisine. And now polenta served in restaurants as a side dish to gourmet dishes. Although in fact it's just porridge.

7. Paella

Paella is a Spanish rice dish with saffron, olive oil, seafood and chicken. It is now a fashionable delicacy served in restaurants, but in 10th-century Valencia, the original paella was prepared by poor peasants and farmers.

Ingredients were chosenM. v. Montalban. La cocina de Los Mediterraneos / The Mediterranean Cuisine: Viaje Por Las Cazuelas De Cataluna, Valenica Y Baleares according to the principle “throw everything you find into the pan” - tomatoes, onions, snails, rabbit and duck meat were added to paella. The chicken got there less often, because it was considered a bird for wealthy hidalgos.

Also, a water vole or a frog could easily go to paella.

Taste addedM. v. Montalban. La cocina de Los Mediterraneos / The Mediterranean Cuisine: Viaje Por Las Cazuelas De Cataluna, Valenica Y Baleares beans, beans, artichoke, rosemary, paprika, saffron, garlic, salt, olive oil and water. All this was stewed on fire, and something very vaguely similar to pilaf was obtained. If the village had access to the sea, then fish and seafood were also sent to the pan, and the shells were usually not removed.

Naturally, today no one would eat paella with snails and mice. So when in XX dish came outM. v. Montalban. La cocina de Los Mediterraneos / The Mediterranean Cuisine: Viaje Por Las Cazuelas De Cataluna, Valenica Y Baleares outside of Spain, such delights were abandoned, leaving only seafood.

8. Blue cheeses

They are cheese moldy. There is a legend that one of the first such cheeses, Roquefort, appeared in southern France. It happened like this: a certain shepherd boy, seeing a beautiful girl, chased after her, forgetting about his breakfast. And when he returned a few months later, he found that the cheese had become moldy and acquired an unusual taste.

In fact, this product ate Jean Astruc. Memoires Pour L'Histoire Naturelle De La Province De Languedoc even in ancient Rome, or even earlier. Even the feces of the inhabitants of Bronze Age Austria were found, which even then ateF. Maixner. Hallstatt miners consumed blue cheese and beer during the Iron Age and retained a non‑Westernized gut microbiome until the Baroque period / Current Biology moldy cheese washed down with beer.

They did this not because of some stunning taste of the product. Just when there is nothing else, then you can eat cheese covered with sour-milk mold for a sweet soul.

And finally, an interesting fact: the taste and aroma of blue cheeses attachb. Dixon. Cheese, toes, and mosquitoes / The BMJ bacteria of the species Brevibacterium linens - the very ones that make smell bad unwashed human feet. Something like this.