Culinary triangle

Culinary triangle

The culinary triangle is a concept described by Claude Lévi-Strauss involving three types of cooking; these are boiling, roasting, and smoking, usually done to meat.

The boiling of meat is looked at as a cultural way of cooking because it uses a receptacle to hold water, therefore it is not completely natural. It is also the most preferred way to cook due to the fact that neither any of the meat or its juices are lost. In most cultures, this form of cooking is most represented by women and is served domestically to small closed groups, such as families.

Roasting of meat is a natural way of cooking because it uses no receptacle. It is done by directly exposing the meat to the fire. It is most commonly offered to guests and is associated with men in many cultures. As opposed to boiling, meat can lose some parts, thus it is also associated with destruction and loss

Smoking meat is also a natural way of cooking. It is also done without a receptacle and in the same way as roasting. It is a slower method of roasting, however, which makes it somewhat like boiling.

According to Claude Lévi-Strauss, other cooking methods could be situated within this triangle. For example, grilling meat, by nature of the meat being situated "with lesser distance to the fire" , could be situated "at the apex of the recipe triangle"(above the roasted), while steamed food, located further from the water than boiled, would be placed "halfway between the boiled and the smoked.".

References

• Lévi-Strauss, Claude. "The Culinary Triangle." In Food and Culture: A Reader. ed. Counihan, Carole and Van Esterik, Penny. Routledge. 1997

External Links

• "Cooking Vocabularies and the Culinary Triangle of Lévi-Strauss, by Adrienne Lehrer Anthropological Linguistics © 1972 Anthropological Linguistics.
• [1]Claude

Lévi-Strauss: Oysters, Smoked Salmon, and Stilton Cheese, by Edmund Leach