Culinary definition - What it is, Meaning and Concept

According to the provisions of the Spanish Royal Academy ( RAE ) in its dictionary, the term culinary derives from the Latin word culinarius .The concept is used as an adjective to refer to that linked to the kitchen .

For example: “The culinary universe was always fascinating to me ", " The municipal government announced the realization of a culinary festival in the main square ", " Culinary knowledge is essential to work in this place ”.

The notion of culinary art (also called simply culinary ) refers to the application of creativity when preparing the food .This ability is related to the cultural practices of each community and the social rites tied to food.

The culinary art is part of the identity of a people.Recipes are usually transmitted from generation to generation, renewing and updating with the passage of history .Globalization, anyway, contributed to the Culinary knowledge transcends borders: today it is possible to enjoy Chinese food in Germany and Turkish dishes in Brazil , to name two possibilities.

It is important to keep in mind that food is essential for life: all people need food to meet, through vitamins, proteins and other elements, the needs of their body.Culinary art goes beyond those organic needs and is oriented towards the way of elaboration and the presentation of food with the aim of transmitting ideas and emotions.

Precisely, culinary art also appeals to the knowledge of food and its properties , something that each community has been discovering over the centuries and that has resulted in the creation of very different recipes across the planet.It is important not to confuse this concept with gastronomy , which can be defined as the study of the relationship between our species and its diet, in addition to its environment.

While globalization and commercial interests have resulted in thousands of recipes traveling around the world, it is important to note that not always the foreign dishes we savor in food houses respect the ingredient lists and the original elaboration steps , but are adapted to the materials and resources available in each region, as well as to other questions that make the tastes of potential consumers (for example: certain dishes become less spicy because the original recipe would be impossible to tolerate abroad).

Another aspect that modern society has modified culinary art and traditional cuisine in general is access to raw materials abroad .While the food processing began as a practice that used only the natural ingredients found by each community, today it is very common to buy certain products to companies that are in other parts of the world, either for economic convenience, for quality reasons or for shortages at certain times of the year.

And this leads us to the relationship that exists between culinary art and the seasons of the year, something that in countries like Japan even today remains in force: certain fruits and vegetables do not know they can sow throughout the year, and that impacted traditional cuisine; At present, however, thanks to importation, this barrier is no longer a determining condition.

One can speak of culinary heritage to refer to those elaborations and presentations that are typical of a particular region .The locro , in this framework , belongs to the culinary heritage of the Andean peoples.