The Economic CULTURE OF food By: Robin Jenson

Chocolate: When Money Grew ON trees Cholate has been prized in Mesoamerica for more than 2,000 years for its pharmacological effects as well as its rare taste. It was considered to be a stimulant, intoxicant, hallucinogenic and aphrodisiac as well as cure anxiety, fever, and cough. Overtime people began to add spices to chocolate, such as chili peppers, flowers and lime water. Eventually, the Aztecs began to add milk and honey. Was high in demand but rare, which resulted in it being considered so precious they began to use it as money. The Aztec economy relied on the barter system so the use of cacao beans was their start to monetization. People began to counterfeit cacao beans by filling empty shells with clay. The Spanish continued to use cacao beans as money in Central Mexico and parts of Central America.

Chocolate goes to Europe Priest first popularized chocolate in Spain and other European nations. Jesuits became involved in cacao production and attempted to monopolize the trade. Over centuries became popularized as a drink of leisure and luxury. Europeans began to control both production and distribution. Became part of plantation agriculture and cultivated through central America, Asia, and Africa. Chocolate became domesticated as women and children began to drink it. Source: https://whydowelovechocolate.wordpress.com/category/plantation-cocoa-tree/

Tea: China’s Supply Tea has ben in China since 600 C.E. and spread to Korea and Japan soon after. Buddhist monks were the first exporters as they brought it back after visiting Chinese temples. Tea became part of Chinese civilization, associated with prestige which made it a valued export throughout Asia. The Chinese government attempted to make it a state monopoly with an affordable price but this resulted in prices being too low. China’s government went to regulating tea instead of running it. Crime to take tea plants out of China until the mid 19th Century. This made it so China was the world’s main tea source. Source: http://epicmatcha.com/matcha-tea/

Tea: Europe’s Demand Europeans were unhappy with China’s monopoly once tea began to spread. In 1600s Western Europe used tea as medicine, which had a small market. By 1793 it has become a popular drink and England imported 1 pound of tea per person. Cheapening of Sugar due to slave labor in Americas help to popularize tea in Europe. As formal wage labor became normalized in Europe it created a demand for tea to get through the work day. English demand for tea lead to a negative trade balance with China, which they made up by exporting opium from their Indian Colonies. Europeans began to grow tea in their colonies such as Java, Indonesia and Assam, India. Assam was able to fulfil European tea demand as their exports increased drastically from 1870 to 1900.

Mocha’s Coffee Coffee plant is native to Ethiopia but the beverage is attributed to Mocha Yemen. Believed to have originated in the 1400s under an Arabian monopoly. Produced in the mountains of Yemen with the majority consumed in the Middle East. Became a part of Muslim worship which spread coffee throughout the Islamic world. It was adopted slowly in Europe due to its high expense. Source: http://coffeerama.com/closer-look-different-coffee-species/

Challenges in the Coffee Market High price of coffee was due to Yemen's artisan production, commercial intimidation, and transportation cost. Market place was controlled by Indian merchants and Arabs who used a system involving levels of intermediation. Europeans went through Indian intermediaries when attempting to purchase coffee as they lacked political influence in Yemen. For Europeans to trade in Mocha a treaty needed to be signed by the governor of Mocha. Prices were unstable due to fluctuations in demand. Prior to ships arriving from the French East Indian Company in 1708 and establishing a new trade route, it took 2 and a half years for coffee to arrive in France. Coffee would soon be planted in the European colonies in the Americas, ending the Arabian coffee monopoly.

Coffee through the Ages 1511 bags of coffee were burned in Mecca due to concern about its addictive nature. Coffee became popular in Europe with rise of commercial capitalism. King Gustav III of Sweden did a coffee vs tea experiment on twin brothers convicted of murder. Found the brother who drank only coffee lived longer, and so Sweden became the largest per capita coffee consumers. Popularity of coffee grew in the capitals of European nations. In Paris coffee became the drink of the bourgeois elite.

The rise of the coffee house Coffeehouses became centers of politics and associated with vice in areas such as Cairo and Istanbul. In England they became the main stock exchange. King Charles II tried to shut down coffee houses due to fear that men were spending too much times there instead of with their families. Coffee “speakeasies” became popular spaces for democratization. In the US coffee houses represented a place where laborers could meet. Some societies promoted coffee houses as an alcohol free alternative to saloons. Source: http://cluesheet.com/All-About-Coffee- XIV.htm

America: From Tea to Coffee America is the worlds largest drinker of coffee. Historians see coffee drinking as noble and patriotic. This association is greatly due to the Boston Tea Party. In reality American preference for coffee over tea has more to do with profits than patriotism. In 1607 Coffee first came to America, though colonial America drank more tea. Imports of tea went from 2.5 million pounds in 1790 to 90 million pounds in 1890. Despite the dramatic increase in tea consumption, coffee consumption increases seven times faster during this period. In 1909 US purchased 1.25lbs of tea per person vs 11.5lbs of coffee per person. By 1950 America drank more coffee than the rest of the world combined.

Slavery and coffee America consumption of coffee was greatly due to slavery. Haitian slave labor produced large amounts of sugar. People in Haiti began opening small coffee farms. Coffee was so profitable in Haiti that production exceeded local demand. Coffee was ideal for transporting over sea given that it took long amounts of time before it spoiled. This resulted in a dramatic drop in price of coffee. 18 shillings per pound in 1683 (Arabian Coffee) 9 shillings in 1774 (Haitian Coffee) 1 shilling in independent US 1790s Haitian slaves revolved and coffee production moved to Brazil. American began to make up for their trade deficit with Brazil through supplying them with slaves.