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Regional identity is becoming a successful way to market regions and resist homogenous globalisation

Regional identity is becoming "distilled" to certain dishes or products (like wine and cheese)

Focus on link between gastronomy and culture - trying to protect cultural homogeneity by promotion of regional cuisine and products.

A problem in regards to Catalonia specifically is that politicians advocate boycotting catalan cuisine specifically when Catalan-Spanish relationships are strained

- Emily-Jane Skillin

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This video is about the UNESCO nomination of the French gastronomic meal as a way to preserve culture and heritage. The gastronomic meal is an important family ritual that is an essential part of French heritage and is typically observed in the celebration of important family moments such as birthdays and anniversaries. It begins with the process of choosing recipes, shopping for produce at the market where people share knowledge and tips. Then the meals are cooked together over many hours, children are involved in simple tasks like peeling vegetables and making sauces. While the focus is on French food, the video suggests that ingredients from other cultures are welcomed, encouraging appreciation of diversity. The gastronomic meal is based on a sequence of courses that begins with the aperitif - to open the appetite, followed by a starter, meat or fish which is carved at the table, then cheeses, and finally dessert with the meal being ended with a digestif liqueur.

- Emily-Jane Skillin

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Can anyone save French food? - 20th Century France Reading A

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Can anyone save French food? - 20th Century France Reading A

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This New York Times articles remarks on the new wave of young foreign chefs as Paris shows new signs of vigour as a culinary city after the growing popularity of fast and pre-packaged food.
These young chefs are either born or trained overseas. They brought a new sense of fun and adventures back to the city along with new organisational structures. Through these young chef's reinventing French culinary traditions as their own and Parisian's acceptance of expat chefs,  French cuisine may not belong exclusively to the French anymore.
Interestingly, many of the innovative restaurants started by young chefs listed on the article are indefinitely closed.
Sophie

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Gollner emphasises on multicultural diversity in modern 20th century Paris and its effects on Paris' food scene.  In addition bringing to reader's attention of success stories of restaurants and chefs who embraced and integrated other culture's ingredients, methods of cooking etc.

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Nouvelle cuisine allows the French culinary stage to embrace, present, and take pride in the "multiculturalism" of Paris onto the plate. This is a wild, novel development and I find it quite fascinating, especially with the emphasis on French tradition and rules that are evident in our previous readings.

Despite this novel shift in thinking, there are parallels still with the older readings on how the cuisines are ultimately French. I find this oddly reminiscent to our class discussion on Australia and its multiculturalism. The ever-increasingly globalised world demands nations to deal with multiculturalism and the way it is "dealt with" continues to change and evolve overtime.

Ped la prik from the restaurant Lao Lane Xang that was mentioned in the article
"The dish takes the best attributes of maret de canard and confit de canard, two classic French dishes, a Southeast Asian inflection. The extraordinary crispiness of the duck's skin is accentuated by  flash-fried Thai basil leaves, a garlicky chilli paste and incendiary sour-sweet tamarind sauce."

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Can Anyone Save French Food? By MICHAEL STEINBERGER MARCH 28, 2014

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Can Anyone Save French Food? By MICHAEL STEINBERGER MARCH 28, 2014

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Approx 70 percent of restaurants in France using ready-made meals produced offsite at large industrial kitchens

Changes include: disappearance of raw-milk cheeses, fall in French wine consumption (down by more than 50 percent since the 1960s) and France now McDonald’s’ second-most-profitable market in the world.

Paris has come to be regarded as a dull, predictable food city

Paris is showing signs of renewed vigor, much of it coming from young foreign chefs serving french food

The beginning of change occurred in late 90s with bistronomie movement

todays change differs from previous changes. Diners are flocking to “young” cuisine and change is being led by the living room.

" For the first time, Dubanchet says, young restaurantgoers are seizing control of France’s culinary tradition and making it their own.”

The article continues to give the history and approach of different restaurants including: Bones, Roseval, Albion, Les enfants rouge, abri, frenchie, verjus, spring, le camion qui fume.

Dim

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This article is summarised in this quote by Gollner: "The Parisian food world is finally starting to reflect the true spirit of the city as it’s been for years: a place that is gloriously, unabashedly pluraliste."

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This article is summarised in this quote by Gollner: "The Parisian food world is finally starting to reflect the true spirit of the city as it’s been for years: a place that is gloriously, unabashedly pluraliste."

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This article touches on the decreasing popularity of French food in Paris in recent years, as well as the lack of passionate French chefs cooking French cuisine.

It displays the idea that people are moving away from the ‘typical’ expectations of French cuisine (that it is extravagant, fancy and for the elite) and moving towards more modern interpretations of French food created by foreign chefs

I think it’s quite interesting and ironic that France, who throughout history has been the leader and major influencer of European cuisine, is now relying on ideas, adventurousness and influences from other countries to become popular again.

Stephanie

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This is a blurb and video explaining the submission of the “gastronomic meal of the French” to UNESCO for protection/listing (which was granted). The gastronomic meal is in fact essentially a swanky French dinner party prepared and held with family / friends, and other than the choice of dishes to be served, is not exclusive to the French as a concept.

The table is beautifully laid and arranged, with space for each dish to be placed in the centre as star attraction, and then served from there (known as “family style” in many restaurants). The standard menu order is aperitif drinks possibly with canapés/nibbles, then a starter/hors d’oeuvres, fish and/or meat course(s), cheese, and dessert - with different matched wines for each course, finishing up with a digestive liqueur or brandy. This video shows the meal being prepared by everyone from young to old, with the children being taught by their elders, just as some of the younger adults are.

Whilst it’s possible that this particular order of courses is now common in European cuisines due to previous French influence, this video and submission seem to imply that the whole concept is uniquely French, which is an idea with which I disagree (especially after exposure to the very family oriented nature of Italian meals and food learning).

I wonder whether a meal entirely prepared by the hosts but otherwise served in exactly this way to invited guests (close friends etc) who are invited to turn up just with healthy appetites would count as a “gastronomic meal of the French” or if he joint creation is an intrinsic part of the classificaiton

Hal

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The reading illustrates how a widely-accepted Costa Rican national cuisine, El Gallo Pinto, came to receive its national recognition and status. For something so commonly found in Spanish restaurants and cuisines, I find it interesting that its current known form was partly a result of economic forces. It is also interesting how the fascienating acquired taste for rice in the 1800s runs parallel to the increased export and trend of another crop, coffee, particularly because the different methods of domestic production of those two crops means no competition for the same valuables agricultural land required for growing coffee.

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On the whole I found this reading was quite interesting in the way that it looks at cookbooks as a medium that can tell us about societies at certain points in time. In this way it talks of similar issues that we have looked at in previous readings - the establishment of a national cuisine and how to deal with diversity throughout a nation.

- The overarching theme throughout this reading is on national identity and food in India and parallels the discussions that we have been having about the formation of national cuisine in Italy, France and Spain.

- Looking at the creation of an Indian cuisine through the historical lens of cookbooks the trend appears to be focusing on the differences between regional cuisines like in the case of Artusi’s work, rather than the homogenising approach that we see in Careme’s work in France.

- Cookbooks are playing the role of cultural connectors to people in India that have had to move away from their homes, both within and without India, and are looking to prepare meals from their “culinary pasts”.

- What is notable it seems is the way that it spends time to focus on cookbooks “Indian food written in English and directed at an Anglophone readership”. It teases out a couple of points here, including that some of the books are made for young women unable to read in their mother tongue and giving them access to recipes from their culture.

Lachlan

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The first thing to note about this article is that it was published in 1988, so when it refers to “recently” and “the last twenty years” it is in fact talking about the 1970s and ‘80s (I.e. 40-50yrs ago now).

Regionality aside, the strength of the caste system in terms of limiting access to food - rather than access being limited solely by availability or pricing - was interesting to me, despite the parallels to aristocratic vs peasant foods in various European countries.

Hailing from Britain originally, I was already aware of the huge impact colonialism had on India (though insufficiently aware of the nuances), and the fact that “curry” is a ridiculously reductionist description of an incredibly diverse food culture with multiple influences, including religious proscriptions, belief in medicinal properties of food, and other cultures (the reading details how much of what is externally perceived as “Indian” cuisine is in fact Mughlai).

Hal

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El Gallo pinto was born from a very practical stand point as a simple, nutritive dish for working class families, however it came to represent a social grouping and position simultaneously defining a group while rejecting what it was not. This Costa Rican example shows how the process of constructing a national cuisine is not always top down, like the French assimilationist model, but can be the product of certain social groupings trying to define their identity.

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Key points

A prime example of a culinary country is France as its food and nation coincide

Culinary country is to be found in the familial context like ordinary kitchens rather than modern restaurants where food is made extravagantly by well known chefs

Ingredients are so important because they don’t just make up a dish, they create a landscape

In today’s world, the more aggressively different a dish is, the less likely it will be adopted as there is a greater chance of there being the “yuck factor”.

We are more likely to associate the dish with the nation rather than the region due to us being further away from the origin of the product.

The idea that I found most interesting was that in order to truly enjoy a regional dish you have to be born there - ideology trumps instrumentality.

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Some interesting points/links:
- Ferguson expresses the importance of cookbooks in defining a national cuisine, with an emphasis on the importance of not only cooking the food, but also the enjoyment found in reading the recipe. Haute Cuisine touched on this idea in the scene were Hortense and the President shared their love of reading cookbooks and compared recipes to culinary poetry.

- As also seen in Haute Cuisine, foods that identify a nation are not the "extravangent creations of celebrated (male) chefs in fancy restaurants" but rather those of the home-cooks who base their cooking on locally sourced produce, traditional recipes and techniques.

- Pampille defined national cuisine as dishes which were able to be shared among the classes and regions of a country. As we have seen in both 19th century Italy and France, attempts to create a national cuisine typically involve the spread of cooking techniques and recipes across classes in a way which is applicable to as many regions as possible eg. use of formal italian by Artusi.

- This reading emphasises that in order for a national cuisine to be defined, the techniques of the cuisine must be generalisable, so that certain dishes can easily be identified and linked back to a certain nation eg stir-frying today is linked to Asian cuisine.
Stephanie

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Pampille positions herself as a defender of tradition in a rapidly modernising world. She aims to define France through its cuisine. She asserts that the national cuisine is made from the building blocks of the dishes brought to Paris from the provinces.

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The thing that strikes me the most about this reading is how ashamed Grimod’s parents were of him to the point they had him secretly baptised and his godparents were an illiterate carpenter and a tailor’s widow. I liked that he was challenged his own people especially at his ‘funeral supper’ where he would question social hierarchies and insult his family as well as remind everyone that death was the great equaliser. I wonder if this tendency to be outspoken was a result of Grimod feeling inadequate to others around him due to his genetic disability.

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One of the most interesting aspects that I found from this reading was Grimod’s contribution to merging pleasure and eating. As mentioned in the article, during the 17th and 18th century the concept of eating and the relationship of food was predominately influenced by religion, in this case by Catholicism. The Catholic Church had condemned the concept of gluttony as a deadly sin to the extent that no word existed to describe the process of one being satisfied by food. I think that this is a very clear example of how the relationship a society or individuals can have with food are affected by various factors, in this case religion and arguably, language. Grimod challenges this by arguing that the gourmand (the glutton) had ‘enlightened sense of taste”; it was not about eating all at one but rather about appreciating the food that one ate. It is interesting to see how that can reflect our consumption of food today, where fast food restaurants have emerged as a place to cater for the busy cosmopolitan lifestyle, but alongside side them, experimental restaurants seek to entice that thoughtfulness and reflection in food consumption that Grimod described.

Maria

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Davis discusses a shift in French tastes that called for more economic, nostalgic and simplistic meals, which she suggests at the time were synonymous with 'feminine cuisine.’ This differentiating of the male cook as one of elite and aristocratic cooking verses the female cook’s domestic cuisine in the private realm, is echoed the film Haute Cuisine. Contrasting in her cook’s apron to the men’s chef whites, Hortense is presented with a brief of creating simplistic, unadorned, childhood-reminiscent meals that it is suggested only she can make, as a woman.

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I found the career of the protaginist to be quite interesting. A

25-year-old lawyer who dabled as a theatre critic and an entertainer. He used his table as a means of political discussion which enriched the context of his future writing. Because of his theatrical nature, his gastronomic influence increased and became multifaceted.

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This reading highlights the way in which food, cuisine, cooking, and restaurants are deeply political, as evidenced through the relatively recent history of France. I found it interesting that the roles of both women and men in relation to food were regularly reinterpreted and reinvented based on the popular ideals of the time. For example post-revolution when cooking certain food became a political statement, allowing women to participate in the intensely androcentric world of politics through methods of cooking. Despite this however, the reading seems to suggest that the politics of cooking progressively began to reflect the more recent history of sexism still relevant today: the public/private distinction along the lines of gender. Female cooksseemed to move away from a positive empower source of a political statement, to, naturally, the relegation of women to the domestic sphere, an unfortunate turn from the positives immediately post-revolution.

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This reading highlights the way in which food, cuisine, cooking, and restaurants are deeply political, as evidenced through the relatively recent history of France. I found it interesting that the roles of both women and men in relation to food were regularly reinterpreted and reinvented based on the popular ideals of the time. For example post-revolution when cooking certain food became a political statement, allowing women to participate in the intensely androcentric world of politics through methods of cooking. Despite this however, the reading seems to suggest that the politics of cooking progressively began to reflect the more recent history of sexism still relevant today: the public/private distinction along the lines of gender. Female cooksseemed to move away from a positive empower source of a political statement, to, naturally, the relegation of women to the domestic sphere, an unfortunate turn from the positives immediately post-revolution.

# data[].attributes.body
This reading highlights the way in which food, cuisine, cooking, and restaurants are deeply political, as evidenced through the relatively recent history of France. I found it interesting that the roles of both women and men in relation to food were regularly reinterpreted and reinvented based on the popular ideals of the time. For example post-revolution when cooking certain food became a political statement, allowing women to participate in the intensely androcentric world of politics through methods of cooking. Despite this however, the reading seems to suggest that the politics of cooking progressively began to reflect the more recent history of sexism still relevant today: the public/private distinction along the lines of gender. Female cooksseemed to move away from a positive empower source of a political statement, to, naturally, the relegation of women to the domestic sphere, an unfortunate turn from the positives immediately post-revolution.

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This is a very accessible quick video introducing Auguste Escoffier, and stressing his relevance to all chefs of all nationalities, even today.

As opposed to Carême’s writing style, which was at times verbose, Escoffier’s recipes are brief and to the point, written for people already familiar with the required techniques. The main improvement he makes to the genre is thoroughly codifying each recipe in terms of precise quantities of ingredients - a quarter teaspoon rather than “a pinch” for example.

In terms of my own experience, I have learned a lot from various cookbooks, the vast majority of which follow Escoffier’s example in terms of giving quantities, however many explain at least some techniques in further detail.

I remain curious as to whether Escoffier does explain some of these “basic” techniques in detail anywhere.

Hal

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I found the use of ‘the pig’ throughout this reading extremely interesting. Beginning with the rumour Grimod had fallen into a pigpen where he was disfigured through to the supper that opened with a course of dishes made entirely of pork. And finally, before Grimed was arrested he dressed a live pig in his fathers clothes and seated it at the head of the table. This aspect of the reading acknowledges how a story that aids in creating ones identity can then resurface throughout ones life and further appear in decisions and actions.

Dim

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Although Grimod initially bought shame to his family due to his genetic disability, it ended up saving his life during the revolution due to his birth certificate which made it look as though he did not come from the aristocrat family.
Grimod and his father unsuccessfully began a business in bringing exotic foods from the South of France to Paris which also aided in saving his life during the terror.
Grimod insisted on serving dishes one at a time and reserving upcoming dishes on a sideboard, which has been an influence to modern cooking
Had a sense of theatre with his dining, held a fake funeral dinner where he resurrected.
Wrote about gastronomic arts after loosing his wealth in the Terror, formally was a writer where he covered topics essential to a full appreciation of the table, from the duties of the host, proper table settings, and a general discourse on ingredients.

I found it interesting how Grimod's misfortunes saved his life and how theatrical he was with his 'funeral suppers,' resurrecting during his own funeral supper. It makes me think about how creative he was and how gastronomy really is an art.

Laura.

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-This video summarises and introduces Auguste Escoffier, a famous French chef who was the first to categorise cooking mathematically and record recipes analytically. His goal was to change and revolutionise the way people ate, making food and its methods of preparation available to everyone.

-Escoffier published Le Guide Culinaire which is still used as a guidebook for cooking today and has earned him the title of the 'father of modern cuisine'.

-Personally, I have always enjoyed trying new dishes while cooking and the easiest way of learning is by following recipes. Therefore, Escoffier and his methods are still relevant to my life and the way I interact with food today.

-One criticism of Escoffiers method is that his aim is to ensure cooking is scientific with a set of laws and rules. While this may be extremely helpful, it also diminishes the freedoms of the kitchen and reduces individual creativity and identity.
Hannah

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Some main points:
- Alexandre-Balthazar-Laurent Grimod de La Reynière was an intruiging man born to aristocrats in 1758 with a disability of the hands.Whilst he brought shame upon his family due to his physical appearance, he was born into a lavish lifestyle.
- With a passion for theatre and rebellious tendencies, Grimod held his 'funeral supper' where he served interestingly themed meals (e.g. "black foods").
- Between 1803 and 1812, Grimod released 8 volumes of Almanach des Gourmands in an attempt to teach the public about gastronomic arts.
- Almanach focussed on foods of the upper class of the ancien regime. A jury of diners met every Tuesday to discuss and critique dishes that had been submitted by members of the public.
- In 1783, Grimod staged his own 'funeral supper' where he shocked guests by arising from the dead during the meal. He discontinued his literature from then on.

Some interesting points:
- like Artusi, he opened his book to the public to offer their own dishes and recipes and contribute to his writing
- In contrast to Artusi, Grimod focussed on the elite class rather than the middle class in an attempt to preserve the cuisine of the ancien regime rather than create a platform for a diet shared by all classes.

Stephanie

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'Gastronomic meal of the French' UNESCO http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/en/RL/gastronomic-meal-of-the-french-00437

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Gastronomic meal of the French - intangible heritage - Culture Sector - UNESCO

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Website of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage

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Gollner, A. 'The New Nouvelle Cuisine' New York Times

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Steinberger, M. 'Can anyone save French food?' New York Times

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Roser I Puig, M. 'What's cooking in Catalonia?'

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Official Spanish Tourism campaign http://www.spain.info

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Tourism in Spain |Tourist information about Spain | spain.info USA

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Tourist information in Spain: art, culture, museums, monuments, beaches, cities, parties, tours, cuisine and nature in Spain | spain.info USA

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The Catalan Generalitat website http://www.catalunya.com/what-to-do/savour/gastronomy-with-a-past-with-the-cuisine-associations

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Appadurai, A. 'How to make a national cuisine: Cookbooks in contemporary India'

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Vega Jimenez, P. 'El Gallo pinto: Afro-Caribbean rice and beans conquer the Costa Rican national'

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'The Birth of the Recipe' National Geographic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leamWS368L8

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The Birth of the Recipe | National Geographic

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Davis, J. 'To make a revolutionary cuisine: Gender and politics in French kitchens 1789–1815', pp. 301-310 only

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Parkhurst Ferguson, P. 'Culinary nationalism'

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Kaufman, C. 'The Claw at the table: The gastronomic criticism of Grimod de la Reynière'

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Main points of the reading:
There was a huge attitudinal shift regarding the role of women in the culinary pre- and post- French revolution. Pre-revolution, men were the chefs in elite and public kitchens (public kitchens provided low-cost, high volume meals for poorer society with a comparable level of finesse to the private kitchens of the elite) and perceived to create sophisticated meals. During and post-revolution, a replacement for this classist system was conceived which valued primarily simplicity and economy, which were qualities thought to be best introduced by the ‘more humble female counterparts’ as a sign of ‘revolutionary patriotism’. However, post-revolution traditional food prepared by male chefs (cuisinier vs cuisinière) was suddenly nostalgia-fied and considered superior— thus “tradition, long a characteristic of women’s cooking in contrast to masculine innovation, now became a signal feature of French haute cuisine as prepared by the finest male cooks”. This was made worse by the dissolution of Women’s political clubs in 1793. The text goes into a lot of detail about how things became worse before they got better. There is a part about how Lecointe wants to sell books and changes the title and introduction accordingly to fit the political notions of the time; most notably removing all references to cuisiniers and royalty post-revolution.
Things improved for women when guilds were dissolved in 1791 and cuisine generally, including food vendors, underwent an intervention by the republic government turning them into a nearly-free market. Again, things improved because this allowed the pre-revolutionary trend of increasing kitchen size (and hence staff) and more dining options to continue, creating a need for a larger workforce and more positions for women. It was on this ‘scene’ that the concept of a ‘fraternal’ society was introduced which sought to exclude women from public kitchens and commercial kitchens (as well as other arenas of public life).

[to be continued]

Olivia Keegan