070162 EX Exkursion - Räume der historisch-politischen Auseinandersetzung (2025S)

Vienna's global food history reflects its role as a cultural and political crossroads in Europe, shaped by trade, migration, empire, and modern globalization. In the 18th century, the Orientalische Handelskompagnie was licensed to operate in Vienna, organizing trade from South-Eastern Europe and the Levante. With it, Vienna participated in a global trade network through which exotic foods like spices became available in local markets. Specifically, coffee was introduced to Vienne's drinking patterns. In the 19th century, these networks also expanded Westwards and into Southern European regions, with the latter reviving medieval trade routes.
After the 1830 great flood, the population of Vienna increased sharply, primarily because of immigration. Censuses were conducted regularly from 1869 onwards, showing an all-time population high in 1910, with 2,031,000 inhabitants. Flows of immigration, especially from the Kronländern, established new eating patterns and developed the so-called Wiener Küche. Surprisingly, it is the only -kind of national- cuisine named after a city.
The first half of the 20th century was marked by scarcity, with international trade disrupted. After World War II, new products reached the US-American occupation zone. In the 1960s and 1970s, Vienna's food imports increased considerably, preparing for global food habits.

Theoretical background:
Food is an integral part of human history, serving as both sustenance and a symbol of local cultural patterns, trade, and power. From the earliest days of hunter-gatherers to modern-day globalization, what people eat has influenced history and has been influenced by globalization. The journal "Food & History" (published by the European Institute for the History and Cultures of Food= IEHCA) defines "food and drink history from different points of view. It embraces aspects of social, economic, religious, political and cultural history, and deals with questions of consumption, production, provisioning and distribution, medical aspects, culinary practices, gastronomy and restaurants" (https://www.brepols.net/series/FOOD).

How does local (urban) history relate to global history writing?
Key issues for the intersection of the micro and the global include agency in the histories of individuals and groups and those of the local and the global. While global history includes large-scale comparisons and longue durée histories of migration and circulation, it also follows individual events, key commodities, texts, or technologies, and it recounts the persons or groups that traversed areas of the world. It is "agency" and the human element that many historians now seek in their work on global history (cf. Berg, M. (2023). Introduction: Global Microhistory of the Local and the Global. Journal of Early Modern History, 27(1-2), 1-5.).