Razmišljanja o pirinču u mediteranskim društvima

Abstract

Kulturna istorija hrane je prilično zapostavljeno polje istraživanja u domaćoj istoriografiji, i tek sporadično se pojavljuju istraživački prilozi. Izabran je pirinač kao biljna kultura koja je imala određeni značaj u mediteranskim društvima, i čija se uloga u sklopu tradicionalne mediteranske ishrane menjala shodno društveno-kulturnim, ali i klimatskim promenama. Rad ima za cilj da ocrta kulturni i istorijsko-geografski tok gajenja i konzumacije pirinča pre i posle vizantijske epohe, polazeći od Brodelovih zapažanja, potom predstavljajući novije rezultate iz različitih disciplina – vizantologije, osmanistike, kulturne antropologije, i ekološke istorije. Na drugom nivou je traženje odgovora na pitanje čija je hrana bio pirinač na vizantijskom i osmanskom Levantu, i u kojoj meri je bila prisutna njegova kultivacija, koji su bili načini njegove pripreme, čime se ulazi u područje gastronomije sa njenim nizom istraživačkih pitanja. Rad je prvenstveno usmeren ka povezivanju različitih metodoloških pristupa i mogućnosti u policentričnom istraživanju jedne od trenutno najzastupljenijih poljoprivrednih kultura na svetu.

This text, very short due to the requirements of this volume, is not aiming at anything but providing some questions and challenges for the well-established frameworks regarding the rice culture. Though Braudel’s voluminous works, The Mediterranean and Material civilization, are still highly relevant in both the sources and the conclusions, it is necessary to include more disciplines and aspects, when analyzing a food culture and an item of nourishment, which did not replace the traditional, old grains in the bread basket. Food choices, food preferences, consumption studies, luxury and elite food, haute cuisine, history of gastronomy and many more questions and sub-fields of cultural anthropology have to be included into further investigations of both rice and any other ‘novel’ food item in any society. Starting as the luxury food and a medicinal item in the Byzantine time, rice was incorporated into already eclectic Ottoman cuisine, but due to the mass production, it was affordable for the lower social levels, as a staple food in charity kitchens – imarets. Rice fields demanded quite a complex organization in their making, tilling, irrigation, labor calendar, and above all – constantly supervised skilled labor force, which makes rice cultivation similar to viticulture. Another common thing is the climate sensitivity of both crops, in terms of precipitation and temperature, so it could be argued that ‘the Little Ice Age’ had not influenced favorably the vineyards and paddy fields in the Balkans.