1543 - Food And Drink

Food And Drink

Chinese consumption of oils and fats is four to five times as high as in Japan, where diets are far leaner and less varied than what Chinese enjoy in the rich Chang Jiang (Yangtze) delta but not too different from what northern Chinese eat beyond the Great Wall.

Japan's Portuguese visitors introduce baked bread. They will also bring in tomatoes, maize, and other Western Hemisphere foods, but initially just as curiosities. Dutch visitors will introduce sweet cakes which the Japanese will call castella (from Castile) and will continue to bake at Nagasaki for more than 4½ centuries.

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