A single food’s taste can evoke an entire civilization’s history

Evidence

‘The whole Mediterranean, the sculpture, the palms, the gold beads, the bearded heroes, the wine, the ideas, the ships, the moonlight, the winged gorgons, the bronze men, the philosophers – all of it seems to rise in the sour, pungent taste of these black olives between the teeth. A taste older than meat, older than wine. A taste as old as cold water.’* — David, Elizabeth, Book of Mediterranean Food, 625

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — David, Elizabeth, Book of Mediterranean Food, 625
• XREF: connects to: Mediterranean cultural identity is popularly bound to garlic use in cooking — David, Elizabeth, Book of Mediterranean Food, 22; History shapes diet and taste, not the reverse; Taste registers historical experience because the individual is itself a historical product — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia: Reflections from…, 167