Communal Cooking

Every agricultural society on earth invented the same dish: a cheap, calorie-dense staple made of rice, corn, wheat, lentils, and stretched with water, scraps, and a little meat or fat, cooked in one pot to feed many. Italians call it cucina povera. Koreans call it kimchi-jjigae. West Africans call it jollof. Tuscans call it ribollita. Andean communities call it locro.  

This is the quick visual on the Explainer above. Just a few slides to show you what this is about. 

The short Explainer describes why every continent independently arrived at the same formula, the five structural features that define communal cooking, the religious fasts and harvest feasts that shaped it, and the dishes that teach the concept best.

Read the the background on peasant cuisine, why it's called that, and how it has been used to feed humanity for thousands of years. Some of your favorite dishes are on this list.  But there are many more to discover.

The DIY Template is a printable guide that you can put up in your pantry and explore the recipes or come up with new combinations of your own.  Need a quick meal? See what you have to combine. 

Explore the countless combinations of universal ingredients, cultural influences, and protein choices.  Use it to come up with your own take on ancient dishes. Download, print, and laminate.