Gastronomic Capitals

A gastronomic capital is a place where cooking is the clearest available account of the society — not a city with good restaurants.

The dish explains the history. Ovos moles exist because convent nuns starched their habits with egg whites and had yolks left over. Lima's cooking is Spanish, African, Chinese and Japanese immigration on indigenous ingredients, and chifa and nikkei are separate cuisines with their own names.

Protection is a legal fact. Parmigiano and prosciutto di Parma are made under rules that read like statute, with rejected wheels marked so they can never be sold under the name. Traditional balsamic is aged twelve years minimum in shrinking barrels, and a family may start a set at a child's birth.

Where you eat is part of it. San Sebastián's gastronomic societies are private clubs where members cook for each other and mostly still exclude women from the kitchen; Fukuoka's yatai licences are so scarce they pass within families.

Ordinary is the point. The best evidence is usually a bar snack, a market stall or a bowl of noodles judged on five elements.

Eat where the town eats, at the hour the town eats.