Tea, Chocolate & The History of the World

There are some thinkers who could write the history of civilisation as the passage of so many dazzling ideas or as a landscape brilliantly lit up by the fireworks of the mind (Isaiah Berlin , for example). But then there are the 'hedgehogs', the slow accumulators of detail, those whose eyes pass slowly over every contour of the canvas, every crevice and crack, tracing and then retracing the convoluted mechanisms of power, the web of interactions between thought and the world, those who see the very structure of the world as composed of localised patterns and discontinuities. And underlying both, they think of the deeper rhythms of the land , the soil, as if this slower history were the fabric on which other patterns were superimposed: Braudel writes as if the whole history of the world could be written down starting from the production processes , the consumption patterns, of the simplest of foodstuffs. Starting from tea one would be able to draw up a map of all human history-her majesty and her folly.

Both Boserup and J. Herbst point to population density as a possible reason for technological and political developments that would, eventually, lead to the west succeeding. Countries with low population density and poor technology (the hoe) have less incentive to invest in the control of space. Rain-fed agriculture adds to this effect. If that space itself is inhospitable or if 'exit' is a distinct possibility then it is not surprising that relatively weak (but egalitarian) political formations occur (Gellner). High density implies a greater incentive to switch to more efficient technologies. It may also, incidentally, be why the west was so hooked to property rights (de Soto).

Luxury: ' Luxury can take on many guises..what does not change is the unending social drama of which luxury is both the prize and the theme..a spectacle, fascination, the dream that one day becomes the reality for the poor.
the display of luxury is the foundation of capitalism (Sombart) [See also Bataille: the accursed share] or is it a sign of sickness, decadence (so speaks the wahabi, the puritan). .."the attainment of the superfluous causes greater spiritual excitement that the attainment of necessities".

Modernity is, if anything, the 'revolt against necessity', the unnatural growth of the natural. This has ended up with the city and its rhythms: the city that never sleeps. Globalisation: one time and space.

Today's luxury is tomorrow's necessity. If America slowed down we all could. Oranges for the Stuarts, handkerchiefs for Erasmus, glass window panes made from soda not potassium for 15 th century Venice.

Food , glorious food.
'There was no sophisticated cooking in Europe before the 15 th century.' Just quantity: mets . Even Montaigne ate with his hands. Forks do not become general in England before 1750 (and are not mentioned before 1660). To eat with a fork is to eat 'in the French manner'.

Dionysus rediscovered.
Paris before the Revolution drank 120 litres of wine per person per year. quita-penas: drowner of sorrows. The first distillation (Brandy, spirits) attributed to Raymond Lull! (d. 1315) .

The ancient battle:
vodka, gin against beer.
wine against beer.
Teutonic vs Mediterranean

the divine stuff.
Chocolates reach Europe via spain via Mexico. The history of colonialism goes hand in hand with the history of capitalism. First stage: luxury items for the court: silks, precious metals, rare woods. Second stage: mercantile capitalism; theird stage: industrial capitalism. Reaches England in 1657 and there follows three centuries of rotten teeth! In Andalucia hot chocolate for breakfast.

Chai.
Reaches Amsterdam in 1610, France 1635, Morrocco, 18th century (via the English) As with all things, the Chinese were there first...some twelve centuries earlier in this case! Tea leaves dried by fire (green tea) or by the sun and then fermented (black tea) [or what we call 'English Tea']. British colonialists try to market it by saying that one should drink 50 cups a day -for medicinal reasons! Thankfully, the Kashmiris preserve their salty tea. Damn those Punjabis to hell for putting sugar in it! In Egypt: Two spoons means four, 3 means 5 ,..i.e 2 is taken for granted.

Gives us this day our daily tea:
England: 1693: 1 lb per person per year.
1800: 3.2 lb
1840: 5.7 lb

[Aside: New York: coffee: 1 lb/person/week]

Cha-no-yu. Every plant of civilisation creates a state of strict bondage.

Kafoue.
Banned in Mecca in 1511 and again in 1524.
Arab saying: good coffee should be like love: hot and bitter.
Reaches Venice in 1615. The cafe and information channels: insurance (Lloyd's ), literature. A whole separate cultural history.
Not universally popular though:
'When Cartouche was about to put to death (november 21, 1729) the judge, drinking coffee with milk, offered him some. "He replied that it was not his drink and he would prefer a glass of wine". '