food and diet: Asia and the Pacific 445 in the Caribbean islands Very little is known about the interior of the South American continent before contact with Europeans because of the lack of written records and of skeletal or other remains in the acidic soils of the Amazon rain forest Probably most people lived by hunting and gathering, eating whatever plants or animals they could find, including roots, seeds, monkeys, insects, and fish One of the few types of remains available is large deposits of seashells in many coastal areas, indicating that mollusks were an important food item where they were available There are indications that settlements in the Amazon region could have contained thousands of households, a size that could have been supported only by a form of agriculture Asia and the Pacific by Amy Hackney Blackwell Asia was home to a plethora of culinary styles Owing to climate and the influence of China, rice was the principal source of carbohydrates throughout much of Asia, though there were areas where starches such as wheat or sweet potatoes took its place Most Asian meals were simple affairs composed of rice or another starch, vegetables, and little or no meat People used a vast array of spices to enliven these otherwise simple dishes Rice was the staple grain in southern China It was served either boiled or as a soupy porridge In northern China, around and to the north of the Huang River, people ate millet, wheat, and sorghum instead, also boiled into porridge The Italian explorer Marco Polo (1254–1324) noted that people made porridge by boiling millet in milk Both rice and millet could be made into dough and cut into noodles, which cooks put in soup or served dressed with sauce Throughout most of the medieval period Chinese people did not make bread of any kind Rice, millet, and sorghum all could be fermented into alcoholic beverages Many medieval Chinese people were too poor to eat anything besides their staple grains Those who could afford it supplemented rice, wheat, sorghum, or millet with vegetables and meat Chicken and pork were the most common meats Beef and mutton were rarer People who kept chickens also could eat the eggs The most common source of vegetable protein was the soybean, which could be prepared many ways Tofu, a white, cheeselike substance, was made by coagulating soy milk with gypsum and pressing the moisture out of the curds to form soft blocks Tofu was invented in China; no one is exactly sure when or where, although it is certain that tofu was widely available by the start of the medieval period Some historians have suggested that Chinese cooks borrowed milk-curdling techniques from the Mongols Others believe that mixing soy milk with sea salt could have created a tofulike substance Chinese cooking featured a great many vegetables, including mushrooms, peanuts, eggplant, and bamboo shoots Chinese cooks devised stir-frying as a way to conserve fuel Firewood was in short supply, so they tried to cook using as little fire as possible To enliven their stir-fries, cooks added various spices, including ginger, garlic, daylily buds, and several kinds of pepper Tea was a ubiquitous drink by medieval times North of China the Mongols ate a much less varied diet Most of their food came from their livestock They ate a great deal of mutton, goat, camel, beef, and any other meat they could acquire Dried meat was essential to surviving harsh winters Cooks typically prepared meat by boiling it Mongols also consumed many dairy products They boiled milk, scraped the cream off the top, and dried curds in the sun on their tents; they also dried cheese and fermented mare’s milk to make an alcoholic beverage The cooking of Southeast Asia resembled that of China Rice was the main starch Cooks followed the same practices as Chinese cooks, cutting vegetables and meats into small pieces and cooking them quickly Many Southeast Asians were Buddhists and did not eat meat but substituted tofu as a source of protein During the medieval period food in this region was heavily spiced with ginger, basil, pepper, tamarind, shrimp paste, and coconut milk The chilies that characterize the region’s cuisine in modern times are New World plants and did not exist in the region until the 1600s Koreans adopted many of the foodstuffs of China, including rice as a staple starch Korean cooks sometimes added beans, nuts, or other grains to their rice They also cooked rice into a porridge flavored with other ingredients, such as mushrooms, pumpkin, ginseng, or abalone In addition to rice, cooks served soups, stews, and cooked meat, fish, tofu, or vegetables As was the case throughout most of Asia, meat was an uncommon treat for most households One quintessentially Korean dish was kimchi, a fermented vegetable pickle served with nearly every meal Historians believe Koreans started making kimchi several centuries before the start of the Common Era In its earliest incarnation kimchi was just salted vegetables In the 1100s cooks began adding different ingredients to make the kimchi sweet, sour, or spicy The modern form of kimchi made from cabbage did not appear in Korea until the 1800s Ginseng, a root, thrived in Korea Koreans and Chinese people sliced it thin and boiled it to make a tea This tea was believed to improve the health by balancing the energy in the body