Famous Shipwrecks
13 September 2024
Sunken treasure – the oldest shipwreck in the world Sailing around the Mediterranean in the
Food has enormous power. The divide between those who have an abundance of things to eat and those who are desperately hungry has caused oppression, strikes and even revolution.
In ancient Rome, the phrase panem et circenses (bread and circuses) referred to the provision of free food and entertainment to pacify the ordinary people and prevent them from challenging those who were in charge. Citizens enjoyed the spectacle of gladiator games in enormous amphitheatres all over the empire and they didn’t question the power of those who paid for these diversions.
There were huge differences, however, in what people could afford to eat. As new spices began to be imported from other parts of the world, wealthy Romans enjoyed flavours such as cinnamon, nutmeg and pepper. Poor people could not afford to buy these expensive foods and this divide continued as the most extraordinary diets became status symbols for the rich. The Roman emperor, Nero, once held an extravagant banquet on a raft, which was towed across a lake by boats covered in ivory and gold.
Showing off the food you could afford to eat has been a big part of many royal courts all over the world. King Henry VIII of England and King Francis I of France held a summit known as the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520. The two kings competed to prove just how wealthy they were and, as well as the spectacle of enormous tents, jousting tournaments and even a temporary palace, they also dined on the most incredible feasts. Some of the dishes we know were served at Henry’s feasts included wild boar, deer, swan, heron and even porpoise.
Porpoise? I thought that was reserved for the dauphin! It’s funny because it’s French, ed.
Those on the highest rungs of the social ladder became so far removed from the common people that they had no understanding of the hardships that plagued the very poorest. One of the factors that caused the French Revolution in the late 1780s was the enormous inequality between the monarchy and the ordinary people. The French queen, Marie Antoinette, came to be accused of saying ‘Let them eat cake’ when she heard the news that the people of France didn’t have enough bread to eat. It is now accepted that she never actually said this (well, for one, she would probably have said ‘brioche’, ed). This story only came to be told a long time after the revolution. However, it does show that ordinary people observed a complete lack of understanding on the part of the rich.
Yet another revolution began at the dawn of the twentieth century. The people of Russia suffered from shortages caused by World War I. In February 1917, as food began to be rationed, people started to riot. Later that year, the phrase ‘Peace, Land and Bread’ became the slogan of the masses when they rose up against the unpopular rule of Tsar Nicholas II. The revolution overthrew him and his family, and established the Soviet Union under the communist rule of a dictator named Lenin. Lenin’s dictatorship also went on to cause famine and starvation in Russia.
This call for revolution was not the last political slogan to use food in its wording. The phrase ‘Bread and Roses’ came to be connected with the suffrage and labour movements of the early twentieth century. The phrase meant that people were entitled to both the comfort of food and shelter (the ‘bread’), and the pleasures of leisure and the arts (the ‘roses’). It became associated with a strike by textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, USA in 1912 where some 25,000 members of the Industrial Workers of the World went on strike for three months to appeal for decent wages and working conditions. Their actions succeeded and improved the lives of thousands more people just like them. A poem and a protest song were inspired by these words, and they are still used today.
Food is still not easy to access for everybody. Food poverty is the name for when people cannot afford or access the food they need for a nutritious diet. This affects people all over the world, even in wealthy countries such as the US and the UK. In order to support those who are affected, charities run food banks and take donations from members of the public who want to help. At the opposite end of the spectrum there is also a global food waste problem. Friends of the Earth estimate that one third of all the food around the world goes to waste.
The political significance of food is tied to its importance in all of our lives; we need to eat to survive. Throughout history the food that people have been able to access has been tied to their place in society. However, food also has the power to cause shifts, which have changed the world for the better.
– One sustainable food source, which is being used creatively to increase the amount of protein in our diet, is insects. It is now possible to buy foods made from crickets, worms and locusts. Would you eat cookies made from insect flour?
– Lack of food has caused mass migrations all over the world. For example, following the Great Famine in Ireland in the 19th century, hundreds of thousands of people sought new homes in the US, Canada and Australia.
– According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), roughly 1/3 (that’s around 1.3 BILLION TONNES) of the food produced in the world for human consumption is wasted. On the flip-side over 820 million people around the world are undernourished and suffering from chronic food deprivation.
Words: Frances Durkin. Illustration: Jasmine Floyd
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