Despite being linked almost exclusively to food, in reality, gastronomy is the conjunction of culinary aspects with cultural aspects that make up each society or community. That is why gastronomy is not simply a set of cooking techniques or methods but also the relationship that individuals establish with the environment that surrounds them, from which they obtain their food resources, the way in which they use them and all those social phenomena. or cultural that have to do with the consumption of culinary preparations.
Gastronomy is always characterized by being particular and almost exclusive to a particular region, since the way in which some dishes are prepared in one country may be completely different in another country. Many times the differences can occur within regions of the same country depending on the type of resources available. This is why gastronomy is directly related to the natural environment, but at the same time with sociological, historical, philosophical and anthropological aspects of each region. In some cases, gastronomy can also be understood from the place of mathematics, physics or chemistry according to the events that occur in each culinary situation.
While for the culinary arts the role of cook is of great importance, for gastronomy it is not so important, but such a place is occupied by the gourmet. The gourmet is someone who, in addition to having the techniques and tools for cooking, also has cultural and intellectual training related to the production of dishes and their link with the culture or environment in which they are made. The gourmet does not repeat recipes but seeks relationships between the use of certain ingredients, their flavors, their cooking methods and the social situations in which such foods are enjoyed.
The planet offers us an endless number of different types of gastronomy. While European or North American cuisines are perhaps the most widely disseminated, Asian, Mexican, South American, and Arabic-type cuisine can also be easily recognized. Each of them has a special type of ingredients, as well as preparations, cooking methods and characteristic situations in which each type of dish is enjoyed socially.
