| dc.description.abstract | Food is an integral part of life. It sustains us, inspires us, and pleases us. Societies often come together around it, using meals as a time to socialize, strengthen bonds, and create community. Our world is intimately tied with food, so much that cultures are often defined by it and take pride in upholding these traditions. Several questions arise, however: how did these particular dishes become associated with these cultures? Who decided? How were particular dishes promoted to citizens so they knew which dishes were theirs? Annette Cozzi in her text, The Discourses of Food in Nineteenth-Century British Fiction, argues that food is one of the most fundamental signifiers of national identity, and literary representations ... reveal how that identity is culturally constructed (Cozzi 5). In food and literature, cultural identity is constructed and revealed.^Writers utilize literature to emulate the culture that is discovered around them and support specific food practices that their readers may perform themselves. Within nineteenth-century British literature, food is depicted as an integral aspect of British domestic life. There are numerous dinner scenes, afternoon teas, balls and dances, and drinks in front of the fire that can be observed throughout the century. The inclusion of colonial foodstuffs is vitally important to understanding the culinary landscape of Great Britain during this period. Dishes that have become synonymous with British life--afternoon tea, Indian food, Christmas pudding, and punch--can all find their roots in colonialism. What sets them apart from their origin, however, is the methods in which the British Empire reappropriated these goods. The transformation of colonial goods ultimately demonstrates Great Britains mastery of its colonies.^It is able to alter these foods so much that they have become representative of the British culinary palette. We can see the civilizing transformations of British foods through the ritualization of recipe creation for popular food and drink. Specifically, this dissertation project will examine afternoon tea, rum punch, Anglo-Indian dishes, and Christmas pudding. These four foods have become synonymous with British culture and all have roots within and would not have been possible without the expansive nineteenth-century British Empire. | |
