Mediterranean
Food:
So far I
have chosen my nations by based on what was going on that day. Today, however,
I based it entirely on what I was cooking. I ordered a set of dishes from “Hello
Fresh”. They sent ingredients for three dishes. One of them was roasted cauliflower
steaks with Mediterranean salsa. I was not really sure where this dish would
have come from.
According
to Wikipedia, Cauliflower probably originated in Italy and spread through the Mediterranean
and around the world from there. It was popularized in France. Salsa, is
Spanish for sauce. So most likely the salsa is of Spanish origin. Tomatoes actually
came from the Americas and was brought over during the exploration of the new
world.
This was
a very good dish that made me feel light and healthy after eating it. The directions
for how to make this came with the ingredients.
There are
several great Documentary on Netflix that cover the geography of this region.
One of these is “Discovery Atlas: Uncovering Earth”. Episode 3, “Mediterranean”,
was actually very informative. The sea itself was not always a body of water.
It used to be a land, where a natural dam near the Strait of Gibraltar kept the
waters from the ocean out. When the dam collapsed it created the largest water
fall that we know of, over time, filling up the Mediterranean Sea.
The sea,
along with the invention of the sail boat allowed trade to open up between the inhabitants
surrounding this great body of water. The trade allowed for not only spread of
different foods, but also the spread of ideas. Eventually, the sail boats evolved
into the ships that allowed for people to explore the rest of the world.
The Sea
itself is surrounded by the continents of Europe Africa and borders a part of
Asia. Rome, the only empire to ever fully unite this region. Now, the region is
broken up by many countries and can even be easily split up by religion:
Christianity and Islam.
Religion:
The countries in Europe, like
Spain, Italy, Greece, and France, are predominately Christian. Where those in
Africa and Asia are prominently Muslim, like Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, Libya. Of
course there are exceptions to this, for example, Israel is considered a Jewish
Country, and Lebanon, who’s Christian to Islamic ratio is divided down the
middle. All three of these religions are monotheistic, are far cry from the Paganism
that was prominent just a few thousand years ago.
Work Sited:
“Discovery Atlas: Uncovering Earth”. Ep. 3 “Mediterranean”.
Discovery Channel Copyright 2010
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salsa_(sauce).
Retrieved: December 14, 2013
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cauliflower.
Retrieved: December 12, 2013
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanon.
Retrieved: December 12, 2013
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