소소한 식물이나 동물의 사체를 날것으로 섭취할 경우, 소화에 상당한 무리가 따르고 병원균이나 기생충 감염의 주요 원인이 된다. 심지어는 생물이 갖고 있는 독소를 제거하거나 중화시키지 않으면 사망에 이르게 하는 식재료도 꽤 존재하기 때문에 적절한 식재료 가공 기술은 인류 역사에서도 매우 중요한 생존 요인으로 인정받는다. 그렇기 때문에 생물이 보유한 영양분 파괴를 최소화하면서 인간이 소화하기에 알맞고 안전한 형태로 식재료를 가공하는 것, 이것이 바로 요리 및 조리의 첫 목적이라 할 수 있다.

동물과 인간을 구분하는 행위로 불리기도 한다. 과거 사냥, 채집으로 얻은 동식물을 날로 먹던 인류가 우연히 산불이나 낙뢰 등으로 타 죽은 동물의 시체를 먹기 시작하면서 오히려 날것보다 맛이나 영양적 측면 등 여러 면에서 좋단 걸 알게 되었다. 이런 ‘타버린 음식’을 인위적으로 재현하기 시작하면서 최초로 요리라고 불릴 만한 행위가 이루어졌다. 자연을 가공하여 인간이 흡수하기 알맞은 형태로 바꾸는 것이 요리의 첫 번째 목적이라면, 두 번째 목적은 더 먹기 좋은 느낌, 즉 보기 좋고 맛있게 만드는 것 또한 요리의 목적이다. 특히 의식주 문제가 충분히 해결된 선진문명으로 갈수록 조금이라도 요리를 더 맛이 있고 보기 좋게 만드는 이 2번째 목적으로 그 관심이 집중된다. 그것이 더욱 심화되면 요리의 양보다는 맛을 더 중요하게 생각한다. 달리 말하면, 물론 반드시 그런 것은 아니나, 대체로 어느 지역의 전반적인 요리 문화를 보면 그 지역의 경제 사정을 짐작할 수 있게 하기도 한다.

Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin and contains essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is ingested by an organism and assimilated by the organism’s cells to provide energy, maintain life, or stimulate growth. Different species of animals have different feeding behaviours that satisfy the needs of their metabolisms and have evolved to fill a specific ecological niche within specific geographical contexts. Omnivorous humans are highly adaptable and have adapted to obtain food in many different ecosystems.

Humans generally use cooking to prepare food for consumption. The majority of the food energy required is supplied by the industrial food industry, which produces food through intensive agriculture and distributes it through complex food processing and food distribution systems. This system of conventional agriculture relies heavily on fossil fuels, which means that the food and agricultural systems are one of the major contributors to climate change, accounting for as much as 37% of total greenhouse gas emissions.

Comfort and speed than land-travel

Travel in the Middle Ages offered hardships and challenges, though it was important to the economy and to society. The wholesale sector depended (for example) on merchants dealing with/through caravans or sea-voyagers, end-user retailing often demanded the services of many itinerant peddlers wandering from village to hamlet, gyrovagues (wandering monks) and wandering friars brought theology and pastoral support to neglected areas, traveling minstrels toured, and armies ranged far and wide in various crusades and in sundry other wars. Pilgrimages were common in both the European and Islamic world and involved streams of travelers both locally and internationally.

In the late 16th century, it became fashionable for young European aristocrats and wealthy upper-class men to travel to significant European cities as part of their education in the arts and literature. This was known as the Grand Tour, and included cities such as London, Paris, Venice, Florence, and Rome. However, the French Revolution brought with it the end of the Grand Tour.

Travel by water often provided more comfort and speed than land-travel, at least until the advent of a network of railways in the 19th century. Travel for the purpose of tourism is reported to have started around this time when people began to travel for fun as travel was no longer a hard and challenging task. This was capitalized on by people like Thomas Cook selling tourism packages where trains and hotels were booked together. Airships and airplanes took over much of the role of long-distance surface travel in the 20th century, notably after the Second World War where there was a surplus of both aircraft and pilots. Air travel has become so ubiquitous in the 21st century that one woman, Alexis Alford, visited all 196 countries before the age of 21.

Travel may be local, regional, national (domestic) or international. In some countries, non-local internal travel may require an internal passport, while international travel typically requires a passport and visa. Tours are a common type of travel. Examples of travel tours are expedition cruises, small group tours, and river cruises.