In Sweden, many of us start the day with some yoghurt or fil for breakfast. The yoghurt and fil we eat nowadays is not the traditional homemade soured milk we ate before industrialization, but the products are closely related. Yoghurt as a product has only been produced in dairies in Sweden. In the time before… Continue reading Filmjölk – The Swedish Yoghurt
Food Cultures
Sourdough or “sourfaux” Bread
Bread in a Healthy Food System The Real Bread Campaign is a part of the SUSTAIN alliance of organisations and communities working together for a better system of food, farming and fishing. SUSTAIN advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living… Continue reading Sourdough or “sourfaux” Bread
The Blessing of Bread in Latvia
By Indra Cekstere. My interest in traditional Latvian bread-baking is rooted in my childhood, because my mother and grandmother on my father’s side both baked rye bread at home. At that time (in the mid-20th century) this was common in all of Latvia. As a child I was allowed to watch everything and to make… Continue reading The Blessing of Bread in Latvia
Rye bread is THE heritage bread in Estonia and here’s why
In the Estonian language, we usually translate the English word “bread” as “leib”. What we mean by “leib” is a loaf made primarily using rye flour. It might be whole-grain or refined, the loaves might have seeds or herbs, meat or nuts added. It might be made using traditional sourdough or yeast (like most breads… Continue reading Rye bread is THE heritage bread in Estonia and here’s why
Museum Education Fighting Food Waste in Estonia
The Estonian Rural Museums Foundation offers various educational programmes on the past, present, and future of agriculture and food. Learning about our national rye bread, potatoes, vegetables, poultry and eggs, bees and honey are just a few of the topics. This fall a new programme on the food cycle was introduced, targeting students from middle… Continue reading Museum Education Fighting Food Waste in Estonia
The industrialisation of butter production in the second half of the 19th century
– spontaneous skimming and skimmed milk machines. [AIMA member Fabien Knittel has proposed a brief article as a follow-up to publication of his books Agronomie et techniques laitières, Le cas des fruitières de l’Arc jurassien, 1790-1914 (Agronomy and dairy techniques, traditional mountain cheese-making in the Jura) and La Fabrique du lait. Europe occidentale (Moyen Âge-XXe… Continue reading The industrialisation of butter production in the second half of the 19th century
Cervoise (Barley Beer) – an Experimental Drink
at Malagne, Archéoparc de Rochefort (Rochefort ArcheoPark), Belgium. By Florence Garit, Scientific Collaborator, Malagne. The first-century CE Gallo-Roman villa located in Belgium on the site of Malagne, the Rochefort ArcheoPark, takes its visitors on a journey back in time (1). In addition to the visible remnants of two residential buildings, the domain also has reconstituted… Continue reading Cervoise (Barley Beer) – an Experimental Drink
Food Culture on Matkult.se
How the Institute for Language and Folklore brings Swedish cultural heritage to the digital audience. Åsa Holmgren & Marlene Hugoson, Institute of Language and Folklore (ISOF), Sweden. In the ISOF archives, extensive knowledge on traditional food culture has been and still is being collected. The themes extend from agriculture and fishing to the diet, food… Continue reading Food Culture on Matkult.se
From Garden Cities to Industrial Canteens
Feeding the European New Towns between 1920 and 1960 Dr. Albena Shkodrova, Institute for Social Movements – Ruhr University of Bochum As the twentieth century advanced through waves of food shortages, which were brought upon by World Wars and economic crises, European states increasingly focused on modernizing food production, trade and consumption. The concept of… Continue reading From Garden Cities to Industrial Canteens
What, if Anything, is Yoghurt?*
Have you ever thought about yoghurt, really? That there might be more than plain and flavoured? That it might be an iconic food in many places and still made in traditional ways? Two fruit and one plain yoghurt, local production by a farmer in the Morbihan, France, Photo C. Griffin-Kremer We may do well to… Continue reading What, if Anything, is Yoghurt?*
Yogurt in Greece
Editor’s Note: In our continuing series on yoghurt and related food products, we can now set off to Greece with Evangelos Karamanes through the kind help of Irina Stahl of the Ritual Year Working Group (part of the S.I.E.F. https://www.siefhome.org/wg/ry/). Greek yogurt has gained significant renown in international markets over the past few decades as… Continue reading Yogurt in Greece
Turkish Homemade Yoghurt
Editor’s Note: In our continuing series on Yoghurt and similar food products, we are pleased to turn to Turkey and welcome Tuncay Güneş and Vildane Özkan (Alieva) through the good offices of Tatiana Minniyakhmetova of the Ritual Year Working Group. DEFINITION Homemade yoghurt is a dairy product obtained as a result of fermentation of lactic… Continue reading Turkish Homemade Yoghurt
Sour Milk in Latvian National Cuisine
Editor’s Note: In our on-going cooperation with Tatiana Minniyakhmetova of The Ritual Year Working Group (S.I.E.F.), who has connected the AIMA to her colleagues in several countries, here is another installment in our series on yoghurt or yoghurt-like foods, this time from the wealth of traditions in Latvia by Aīda Rancāne. Traditional dairy products in… Continue reading Sour Milk in Latvian National Cuisine
The Bashkir dairy food katyk or oyotkan
The Bashkirs are one of the Turkic-speaking peoples of the Volga-Ural region, located at the junction of Asia and Europe. The majority of Bashkirs live in Bashkortostan (or Bashkiria) and there are diaspora groups outside it. Bashkir is a Turkic language belonging to the Kipchak branch. (See the corresponding Wikipedia articles.) The basis of the… Continue reading The Bashkir dairy food katyk or oyotkan
Traditional Hungarian Yogurt: tarhó
The Finno-Ugric-speaking Hungarian people, who migrated to Europe from the east and were genetically partially Finno-Ugric and mostly Turkic, settled in the territory of present-day Hungary in the 9th–10th centuries. In the 11th–13th centuries, several waves of Cumans (Kuns) and Jász people (nomadic Alanic people from the Pontic steppe) arrived from the east, who settled… Continue reading Traditional Hungarian Yogurt: tarhó