How Peasant Food Became Fine Dining

Historically speaking, when you think about fine dining, you probably think about kings, queens, lords, ladies, and all other manner of aristocrats. What you probably don't think of is peasants. Yet these days, so-called peasant food is increasingly considered fancy. And if you're wondering how that happened, well, today we're going to take a look at how peasant food became fine dining. But before we get started, be sure to subscribe to the Weird History Food channel. After that, please leave a comment and let us know what other kinds of food you would like to hear about. OK, time to find out what's so pleasant about food for a peasant. Names can often be deceiving. For example, you probably wouldn't be totally surprised if we told you that peasant food is named after its creator, whose moniker was something like Cornelius J. Peasant. But that doesn't happen to be the case. Peasant food, as you might expect, is food that peasants eat. Yes, throughout much of history, wealthy folks ate meals made from the most expensive and sought after ingredients. Poor folks, on the other hand, had to get creative with the less desirable stuff that they both had access to and could afford. In other words, the stuff their royal highnesses didn't want to eat. In the Middle Ages, when most of the population of Europe lived in rural settings and worked as farmers, that meant things like bread, porridge, mollusks, mushrooms. Vegetables like peas, beans, and onions were pretty common. And the closest thing to sweets were the berries, nuts, and honey that could be gathered in the wild. Meat, however, was a rarity only served on special occasions. And due to its cost, it was typically stirred into stews or soups. So a big, juicy burger was out of the question. Anyway, if you know your history, weird or otherwise, stigmas frequently develop around anything associated with the poor, including their food. And while it's easy to overgeneralize about the whole history of the whole world, it's pretty safe to say that peasant food has, historically speaking, widely been considered low quality. So after hearing all this, you're probably hoping to hear a list of so-called gourmet foods that used to be considered peasant foods so that the next time you see a rich person eating them, you can confidently mock them for dining like a dirty pauper. Well, your wish is our command. If you're wondering where and when it was decided that peasant food should actually be considered fancy and expensive, well, there was no one particular moment. Each food has its own story. And many of those stories stretch across vast swaths of history. That being said, there are some commonalities. For example, endorsements from royalty and the mega wealthy are frequently a factor, as is increased scarcity. Take, for example, the consummate rich person's food, caviar. From Anna Karenina to the Great Gatsby and from breakfast at Tiffany's to the Wolf of Wall Street, caviar is routinely portrayed as a status symbol associated with opulence, decadence, and luxury. But it hasn't always been that way. Caviar, for the record, is canned sturgeon roe, which is another name for the unfertilized eggs of sturgeon fish. It's been around since the ancient world. And by the 12th century, it was the favorite of Russian peasants due to the abundance of sturgeon in Russia's Colga River and Central Asia's Caspian Sea. In the 16th century, however, it became a favorite of the czar known as Ivan the Terrible. And despite his foreboding nickname, that association began to change the food's image for the better. By the 20th century, however, overfishing had decimated the sturgeon population, changing caviar into a rarified good and sending its price through the roof. The high price made caviar a rich man's food. And in the modern era, that high status would be cemented into pop culture by the 1980s hit television show Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, which routinely ended with its host wishing the audience champagne wishes and caviar dreams. The story of lobster is, in many ways, similar to the story of caviar. When European settlers first arrived in the Americas, lobsters were so plentiful and so cheap that legend has it indentured servants would include clauses in their contracts that prevented their employers from serving them lobster more than three times a week. The trick with the lobster was that it had to be served fresh or its meat started to rot quickly. But by the 1800s, the canning industry figured out that cooked lobster could be easily canned and shipped. People who didn't live on the coast began developing a taste for lobster. And with the advent of railroads, they could even get fresh lobster delivered to them. The price of that shipping, however, was considerable. And as a result, lobster began to be perceived as a luxury item. By the late 19th century, overfishing caused a decrease in the lobster population, which increased its scarcity and reinforced its status as an expensive and sought-after delicacy. Of course, seafood is far from the only fare to make the journey from peasant tables to the dining rooms of the wealthy. Truffles, for example, were a big deal in ancient Mesopotamia and Greece. And they were a favorite of Egyptian pharaohs. But in the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church decided that truffles were a little too tasty. Assuming that anything so pleasurable could only be the work of the devil, the church started describing truffles as witches' fares. That pretty much put the kibosh on truffles as a treat for the upper classes. But since no one really minded the peasants or what they ate, the lower classes started adding truffles into their recipes. And over time, they acquired a reputation for being peasant food. That reputation began to change again during the Renaissance after the stupidly rich and powerful Lucrezia Borgia took to including them on the menu on her dinner parties. After that, King Francis I of France developed a taste for them. And so did Caterina de' Medici. Since then, the truffle has remained a staple food of the rich and powerful. That status has been increasingly buttressed by the facts that truffles are seasonal. They're difficult to both hunt or cultivate. They're highly perishable after being harvested. And worldwide demand steadily remains through the roof. Given all that, it's no wonder that pound for pound, they're one of the most expensive foods on the planet. Escargot, in case you were unaware, is another name for snails. And it's widely considered to be a hoity-toity luxury food. But back in the day, it was just a cheap source of protein for the unwashed masses. And when we say back in the day, we mean it. Snails were on the menu in Southern Africa during the Paleolithic period, which was roughly 70,000 to 170,000 years ago. Ancient Roman peasants loved them and passed that love on to European peasants. It wasn't until a French diplomat served them to Tsar Alexander I in 1814 that they started being seen as something the rich folks might eat. And the rest, as they say, is culinary history. Indigenous folks in North America and Australia were eating oysters as far back as 12,000 years ago. And in the ancient world, they were plentiful and, therefore, cheap. By the 19th century, however, overfishing made them scarce. And in the 20th century, what was left fell victim to increased pollution and invasive species. That newfound hyper-scarcity changed them into a premium and, therefore, expensive product. And today, they remain a pricey staple of high-end menus. Foie gras is a creamy, spreadable topping for bread made from fatty goose liver pureed with mushrooms. And it's one of the fanciest, schmanciest foods on the planet. It's a near-ubiquitous offering on the menus of upscale dining restaurants. And it's always crazy expensive. That wasn't always the case, though. Foie gras was originally invented by Jews living in Egypt who were looking for something to make from the throwaway parts of geese. The Romans eventually developed a taste for it, changing it into a symbol of wealth and class. But in the Middle Ages, it was considered decadent and, therefore, the kind of thing only the poors would eat. Foie gras almost disappeared entirely, but was saved after it became a favorite of middle-class folks in Renaissance-era France. Its reputation only continued to improve from there. And now, it's the kind of thing that middle-class folks have to save up for. A long time ago in Japan, sushi was considered to be the kind of thing only poor fishermen ate. It was originally made by covering fish in fermented rice. And that was really more of a way to preserve the fish than it was a recipe choice. Somewhere around the 17th century, however, Japanese chefs started substituting vinegar or sake for the fermented rice. And they started cutting the fish into smaller pieces. The changes made sushi far more edible. The public developed a taste for it. And chefs increasingly saw sushi making as an art form. It wouldn't, however, be until after World War II that sushi prices shot through the roof. No one knows exactly what caused the price spike. But it might have been a result of sushi makers using rarer and more delicate fish in their recipes to impress foreign tourists. Most of these examples are historical. But the transformation of peasant food into fine dining fare continues into the modern era. For example, the monkfish is a current favorite of celebrities and foodies. And you'll find it on the menu at upscale restaurants around the world. But it used to be known as poor man's lobster. Fishmongers could barely give them away for free, much less sell them. And France once literally banned their sale because they were too damn ugly. And then there's polenta, a corn mush that used to be provided for free to the dirt poor. It took hours to cook, had a bland taste, and was so widely despised, its name became the root of the Italian insult polentoni, which literally just means polenta eater. But thanks to those same celebrity chefs, it's now a common item on menus at upscale restaurants. Then there's skirt steaks. In the 1970s, they were one of the most affordable cuts of meat you could find. Sure, they could be difficult to cook and weren't terribly recipe friendly. But they usually tasted good enough. Thanks, however, to the increasing popularity of Tex-Mex cuisine and fajitas in the 80s, their prices soared. And surprise, surprise, it never came back down. And less than two decades ago, South Americans considered quinoa seeds to be a food fit only for the poorest of the poor. Wealthy people in Peru, for example, would generally prefer to be shot at than to be seen eating quinoa. But today, it's become a favorite of hipsters and health food fanatics, wildly inflating its price and transforming it into a favorite of fine diners. But we're really just still scratching the surface here. Oxtail used to be considered a butcher's scrap. But now it goes for upwards of $30 a plate. Bone marrow was an afterthought you might take a spoonful of after eating a roast before throwing the rest of it in the trash. But now, it's served on artisan toast at high end restaurants. Sardines used to be the cheapest canned food at the supermarket. But now, they're sold with designer labels. And Michelin-starred chefs are serving them as main courses. Similarly, anchovies used to be famous for being that topping absolutely nobody wants on their pizza. But their umami flavor has made them a trendy ingredient. And the kind of sauces and spreads you'll only find at the classiest places. And chicken thighs, pork bellies, collard greens, grits, cabbage, lentils, turnips, tripe, mussels, bread pudding, beets, millet, and sweetbreads have all undergone similar culinary re-evaluations. If things keep up like this, who knows? A decade from now, five-star restaurants could be serving Funyuns and canned tuna. In other words, go easy on the poor for what they eat. Because tomorrow, it might be the same meal you can barely afford. So what do you think? And what's your favorite former peasant food? Let us know in the comments below. And while you're at it, check out some of these other videos from Weird History.