TThhee UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff SSoouutthheerrnn MMiissssiissssiippppii TThhee AAqquuiillaa DDiiggiittaall CCoommmmuunniittyy Honors Theses Honors College Fall 12-2015 YYoouu AArree WWhhaatt YYoouu EEaatt:: GGaassttrroonnoommyy aanndd GGeeooggrraapphhyy ooff SSoouutthheerrnn SSppaaiinn Katherine F. Perry University of Southern Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/honors_theses Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons RReeccoommmmeennddeedd CCiittaattiioonn Perry, Katherine F., "You Are What You Eat: Gastronomy and Geography of Southern Spain" (2015). Honors Theses. 346. https://aquila.usm.edu/honors_theses/346 This Honors College Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors College at The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The University of Southern Mississippi YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT: GASTRONOMY AND GEOGRAPHY OF SOUTHERN SPAIN by Katherine Perry A Thesis Submitted to the Honors College of The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science in the Department of Geography & Geology December 2015 ii Approved by _________________________________ David Cochran, Jr., Ph.D., Thesis Adviser Associate Professor of Geography _________________________________ Andy Reese, Ph.D., Chair Department of Geography and Geology ________________________________ Ellen Weinauer, Ph.D., Dean Honors College iii Abstract Using empirical and numeric data, this study explores the use of food as a proxy to understand the cultural-historical geography of southern Spain. After spending three months in Granada, Spain, I compiled the most commonly used thirty-five ingredients from a selection of Spanish cookbooks and contextualized them within the broader history of Spain. The elements of traditional Andalucían cooking fit into three primary chapters of Iberian history: Roman occupation, the Moorish invasion beginning in the 8th century, and the Columbian exchange, or the exchange of goods that took place between the Americas and Old World following European discovery of the New World. Globalization adds an additional and incredibly complex layer to the Andalucían kitchen, making contemporary food in the region a reflection of many outside influences. The wider implication of this study lies in the fact that it sheds light on the character of Andalucían cuisine and demonstrates that what is often perceived as purely Spanish or Andalucían is actually an amalgamation of internal and external forces that have shaped Spain since the settlement of the Iberian Peninsula. Key words: food, food geography, Spain, Andalucía, cultural geography iv Dedication NiAnna Balzli, Courtney McMullan, Joshua Von Herrmann, and my family: A million thanks for your warm friendship, endless patience, and wonderful wit. v Acknowledgements I offer sincerest thanks to my academic and thesis advisor, Dr. David Cochran, for his mentorship, guidance, and encouragement from the first moment I stepped into his classroom. I am forever grateful for his kindness and endless patience, as he helped me enormously to grow as a person and as a student. He sets an outstanding example for what an educator should be. Muchas gracias. I would also like to thank the Honors College at the University of Southern Mississippi for offering me such a unique opportunity to conduct research as an undergraduate student, and on a topic that I care a lot about. Finally, I offer thanks to the NASA Space Grant program, whose support helped fund the purchase of the Spanish cookbooks and history books I used for this research. vi Table of Contents List of Figures .................................................................................................................. viii List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... ix Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................1 Chapter 2: Literature Review ...............................................................................................5 Chapter 3: Methodology ....................................................................................................11 Chapter 4: Geography of Spain & Andalucía ....................................................................14 Chapter 5: History of Spain ...............................................................................................20 Chapter 6: The Globalized Andalucían Kitchen ................................................................35 Chapter 7: Conclusions ......................................................................................................42 References ..........................................................................................................................44 vii List of Figures Figure 1: Political territory of Spain and the boundaries of Andalucía .............................18 Figure 2: Major land use and land cover zones of Spain ...................................................18 Figure 3: Shaded relief map of Spain ................................................................................19 Figure 4: Major rivers of Spain ..........................................................................................19 Figure 5: Jamón Asado ......................................................................................................37 Figure 6: Paella..................................................................................................................38 Figure 7: Gazpacho ............................................................................................................38 viii List of Tables Table 1: Overall inventory of ingredients ..........................................................................41 Table 2: Inventory of ingredients from Cuisines of Spain (Barrenchea) ..........................41 Table 3: Inventory of ingredients from Rustica (Camorra & Cornish) ............................41 Table 4: Inventory of ingredients from Spain (Koehler) ..................................................41 ix