French Literature and Cuisine: A Cultural Approach/ La Littérature et la cuisine françaises: Une approche culturelle
Prof. Julia Douthwaite (Dept of Romance Languages, University of Notre Dame) and M. Richard Viglione (chef cuisinier)
ROFR 275 AF / ROFR 462 AF (by permission): Fall 2002 ,
Time: Tuesdays, 7:00pm-9:30pm
Room: 515 Bâtiment René Bazin and 73 blvd St Michel (chez JD/RV)
email: julia.v.douthwaite.1@nd.edu Tel. 02.41.43.61.92 or 06.65.16.75.12
Office: Room 100, Bâtiment René Bazin, Université Catholique de l’Ouest
Office hours:
Prof. Douthwaite: Monday: 1:30pm-3pm; Thursday: 10am-12:00 or by appointment;
M. Viglione: Thursday 1:00pm-3:00pm.
Required Texts:
Reading packet (recueil de textes), Volumes 1 [14th - 18th-century] & 2 [19th century and 20th century]: Vol. 1 available in Room 100, (Vol. 2 will be made available in due course).
Course description:
Foreigners living in France are quick to realize that the French have a very complicated relationship with food, cooking and meals. They spend hours around the dinner table, eating, drinking, and talking with great gusto about their food. They go out of their way to purchase just the right wines to accompany a fine meal, just the right oysters and foie gras to begin, and just the right cheeses, fruits, and desserts to bring the meal to a suitable close. The results are delectable but sometimes bewildering too, to the foreign guest. Even everyday life seems full of mysteries. Why do baguettes always cost the same price? Why are meals served one course at a time? Why are garlic and olive oil so prevalent in the South, while butter and cream reign supreme in the North? When did the French passion for gastronomie begin? What eating habits marked the everyday life of the French poor, and the peasantry, over the years? And how did the French diet change over the course of history? This course will explore such questions from two vantage points: the literary history of great French writers from the Renaissance to the present, and the technical history of French cooking from the 14th to the 20th century. By studying major works of literature alongside cookbooks and texts on culinary history, we hope that students will discover new insights into the ways that cuisine, cooking, and eating can be seen to reflect the hopes, dreams, and concerns of French people over the ages. Reading materials: Our readings will be varied and range over five centuries. They will include literary texts and background texts, both collected in the Recueil de textes.
Literary Texts Literary texts include:
Folktales Anon., “La Sardine du Suzon” and Perrault, “Le Petit Poucet,” “Les Souhaits ridicules,” and “Peau d’âne.”
Medieval and Renaissance texts will include recipes from contemporary cookbooks; poetry of the famous Pléïade poets DuBellay and Ronsard, and excerpts from the earthy, comic novels of Rabelais (Pantagruel and Gargantua); and examples of period manuels of savoir-vivre taken from Elias, La civilisation des moeurs.
18th-century texts will include examples of “enlightenment” efforts to disseminate knowledge from Diderot and D’Alembert’s L’Encyclopédie.
The French Revolution era will be represented by highly political works from two opposing camps: the left-leaning Mercier (Tableau de Paris), and the royalist Grimod de la Reynière (Manuel des Amphitryons) and Proussinalle, (Histoire secrète du tribunal révolutionnaire).
19th-century texts include the moody poetry of Baudelaire; Balzac’s ironic praise of stimulants (“Du café” from Traité des excitants modernes), and Huysmans’s black humor in the short story, “Le Buffet des gares.”
20th-century texts will include Rouff's nationalistic gastronomy novel, La Vie et la passion de Dodin-Bouffant, gourmet; Colette’s reminiscences of regional cooking from Paysages et portraits; and more contemporary accounts of French cuisine from Barthes, Mythologies; Loomis, On Rue Tatin; and Gopnik, Paris to the Moon.
Background Texts: Background texts include scholarly work on culinary history, recipes, journalism, and sociology. Chapter one of Friedrich, A Wine and Food Guide to the Loire; Ferguson, “A Cultural Field in the Making: Gastronomy in 19th-century France,” excerpts from Flandrin, Fêtes gourmandes au Moyen Age; Wheaten, Savoring the Past; Rowley, A Table! La Fête gastronomique; Flandrin and Montanari, Histoire de l'alimentation; Peterson, Acquired Taste; Csergo, Le Pot-au-feu.
Special events:
Jacqueline Friedrich, expert on French food and wine, author of A Wine and Food Guide to the Loire and articles (in The New York Times, Wine Spectator, Travel & Leisure, and many other publications). Friedrich will join us on October 22 for a lecture and tasting of local products from the Loire Valley.
Françoise Buisson, Breton ethnologist and author of several books on Breton cooking (La Cuisine des îles, La Cuisine de Bretagne, A Table en Bretagne), will join us for a lecture on Breton cooking in December.
Excursions:
· Cooking course at the estate of Victomtesse Jean de la Selle
· Excursion to Chinon and La Devinière (birth home of Rabelais), Sunday 24 November
Requirements (ROFR 275):
- Assiduous reading - Active participation in class discussions - Preparation of “expressions du jour” and written response to weekly reading questions
- Culinary performance (cooking demonstration; see below)
- Midterm take-home exam
- Final exam
- Focus paper Requirements (ROFR 462):
- Assiduous reading - Active participation in class discussions
- Individual tutorials w/Mme Julia, to be arranged by you. Once at end of every three weeks (3 tutorials per semester). 45 minutes each.
- Preparation of reading questions for one text (in consultation w/Mme Julia). Distribution of reading questions one week in advance. Performance as “discussant” for text, in class.
- Preparation of “expressions du jour” and written response to weekly reading questions
- Culinary performance (cooking demonstration; see below)
- Midterm take-home exam
- Final exam
- Two Focus papers: one literary, one culinary
Note: Attendance is crucial, especially since the course only meets once a week. Grades will be calculated accordingly: Participation, homework, culinary demonstration: 30% Mid-term exam: 15% Final exam: 25% Focus paper(s): 30% Culinary Demonstrations and Dégustations Certain classes will take place chez Douthwaite & Viglione, in order that discussions may be accompanied by a demonstration of how to prepare a representative dish. Demonstrations will be done by students with help of M. Richard, and followed by an in-class dégustation. Student groups (3-4 people) will sign up for dishes as indicated below. In preparation for their culinary performance, students are expected to work together, in consultation with M. Richard, to find a good recipe, purchase ingredients and necessary materials, and to prepare the ingredients for cooking, in advance of class meeting time. Organisez-vous!
Student culinary performances
Oct. 15 Soupe au chou; Nov. 5 Renaissance “salades”; Nov. 12 Poires cuites bon chrétien; Nov. 19 Pommes de terre Parmentier; Dec. 3 Pot-au-feu; Dec. 10 recette au choix, tiré de Buisson, La Cuisine des îles
La Littérature et la cuisine: Une approche culturelle Calendrier du semestre: automne 2002
Toutes lectures sont dans le Recueil de textes (ou des feuilles distribuées en classe).
Etudiants de ROFR 462: Lectures, travail supplémentaires indiqués par ** Come to class ready and prepared to discuss the reading assigned for that day. Unless indicated, class is in Room 515. When possible, reading questions will be distributed to help you with the reading. Please contact Mme Julia when you have any trouble with the reading (via email is easiest). It is essential that you take the effort to read and understand the texts!
Lectures:
8 octobre Introduction. Lectures: Loomis, ch. 1, On Rue Tatin; Rowley, A Table! La Fête gastronomique
15 octobre Classe chez JD/RV Le Moyen Age et ses festins vis-à-vis des soucis du “menu peuple”: un refrain à travers les ans Lecture: Flandrin, Fêtes gourmandes du Moyen Age, “La Sardine du Suzon,” “Petit Poucet,” “Les souhaits ridicules” **“Peau d’âne”
Dégustation: Soupe au chou
22 octobre Conférence de Mme Jacqueline Friedrich Lecture: Friedrich, A Wine and Food Guide to the Loire, DuBellay, “Heureux qui …,” Curnosky sur la Loire Dégustation de produits régionaux du Val de la Loire
29 octobre Toussaint: jour férié
5 novembre Classe chez JD/RV La Renaissance et Rabelais Lecture: Rabelais, Pantagruel & Gargantua, pp. 105-122; Peterson, Acquired Taste; Ronsard, “Une Cueillette de régime: La Salade”; DuBellay, “Heureux Qui…” Ronsard, “Ode à Cassandre” Dégustation: Salades de la Renaissance
6 novembre ** Rendre Proposition (1 page) du 1er Focus Paper
12 novembre Classe chez JD/RV Rabelais, Gargantua, pp. 122-134. Le «savoir-vivre» du passé: Du Moyen Age à la Renaissance Lecture: Elias, La civilisation, pp. 169-179 Elias, La civilisation, pp. 180-194
Dégustation: Poires cuites bon chrétien
Examen de mi-trimestre distribué en classe
14 novembre Rendre examen de mi-trimestre (rédiger à domicile)
15 novembre **Rendre brouillon (rough draft) du 1er Focus Paper
18 novembre ** Rendre 1er Focus Paper
19 novembre Classe chez JD/RV Le 18e siècle: L’Age des Lumières et de la Révolution Lecture: L’Encyclopédie, Mercier, Le Tableau de Paris; Wheaton, Savoring the Past Grimod, Manuel des Amphitryons, Proussinalle, Histoire secrète du tribunal révolutionnaire
Dégustation: Pommes de terre Parmentier
24 novembre Excursion à Chinon et à La Devinière
26 novembre Le 19e siècle: L’essor des restaurants, l’analyse “scientifique” de l’alimentation, le phénomène de l’absinthe, et le spleen Lecture: Balzac, “Du café”; Baudelaire, Du Vin et du haschich; Huysmans, “Le Buffet des gares”; Pitte, “Naissance et expansion des restaurants” ** Baudelaire: 2 poèmes (au choix); Ferguson, “A Cultural Field” Rendre proposition (1 page) de Focus paper ou **2e Focus paper
3 décembre Classe chez JD/RV 19-20e siècles: La domination de la cuisine française et le nationalisme naissant
Lecture: Rouff, La Vie et la passion de Dodin-Bouffant, gourmet; **Ferguson, “Le Pot-au-feu: un plat qui fait la France?”; Carantino, “Voyages en pot-au-feu”
Dégustation: Le Pot-au-feu
5 décembre Rendre brouillon (rough draft) Focus Paper ou **2e Focus Paper
10 décembre Classe chez JD/RV Le Régionalisme Conférence de Mme Buisson sur la cuisine bretonne Colette, Paysages et portraits, Csergo, “L’Emergence des cuisines régionales”, Hervé, Boued: Expressions culinaires bretonnes
Dégustation: Un plat breton (du livre de Mme Buisson) **Buisson, “Le kig ha farz”; Dulon, “La garbure”
17 décembre Enjeux de l’alimentation et de la cuisine françaises actuelles. Fischler, “La Macdonaldisation des moeurs,” Gopnik, “The Crisis in French Cooking” **Flandrin & Montanari, “Aujourd’hui et demain”; Barthes, extraits de Mythologies Rendre les Focus papers et présenter à la classe. Examen final à rédiger à domicile
Renseignements sur les Focus papers Recherche sur l’histoire culinaire:
Livres recommandés (Ces livres sont tous disponibles, soit à la Bibliothèque Municipale, soit chez Viglione & Douthwaite). Conseil amical: Visitez la Bibliothèque Municipale au plus vite! (Adresse: rue Toussaint, à côté du Café Dupon.) Procurez-vous une carte et profitez-en (pour avoir une carte, apporter carte d’identité, carte d’étudiant, justificatif de domicile, et 5 euros-remboursable)
Csergo, Julia, ed. Pot-au-feu: Convivial, Familial: Histoires d’un mythe. Paris: Editions Autrement, 1999.
Ferguson, Priscilla Parkhurst. Paris as Revolution. Writing the 19th-century City. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994.
Flandrin, Jean-Louis et Massimo Montanari, eds. Histoire de l’alimentation. Paris: Fayard, 1996. (Voir articles, c.f. “L’Invasion des produits d’outre-mer,” “Naissance et expansion des restaurants,” “Alimention et classes sociales à la fin du Moyen Age et à la Renaissance,” “Images de la nourriture dans l’art moderne,” “L’émergence des cuisines régionales”)
Friedrich, Jacqueline. A Wine and Food Guide to the Loire. New York: Henry Holt, 1996. Gopnik, Adam. Paris to the Moon. New York: Random House, 2000.
Guillemard, Colette. Les mots de la cuisine et de la table. Paris: Belin, 1990.
Hervé, Patrick. Boued: Expressions culinaires bretonnes. Morlaix: Skol Vreizh, 1994.
Loomis, Susan Harris. On Rue Tatin: Living and Cooking in a French Town. New York: Broadway Books, 2001.
Peterson, T. Sarah. Acquired Taste: The French Origins of Modern Cooking. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1994.
Robuchon, Joel. Larousse gastronomique, 3 vols. Paris: Larousse, 2000.
Rowley, Anthony. A Table! La Fête gastronomique. Paris: Gallimard, 1994.
Rowley, Anthony, ed. Les Francais à table: Atlas historique de la gastronomie francaise. Paris: Hachette: 1997.
Shattuck, Roger. The Banquet Years: The Origins of the Avant Garde in France, 1885 to World War I. New York: Vintage Books, 1968.
Spang, Rebecca. The Invention of the Restaurant. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000.
Toussaint-Samat, Maguelonne et Mathias Lair. Grande et petite histoire des cuisiniers de l’Antiquité à nos jours. Paris: Editions Robert Laffont, 1989.
Vatel, Dominique. Vatel et la naissance de la gastronomie: Recettes du grand siècle Paris: Fayard, 1991.
Walden, Hilaire. Loire gastronomique. New York: Abbeville Press, 1992.
Wheaton, Barbara. Savouring the Past: The French Kitchen and Table from 1300 to 1789. New York: Scribner, 1996.
Wright, Clifford A. A Mediterranean Feast: The Story of the Birth of the Celebrated Cuisines of the Mediterranean. New York: William Morrow, 1999.
Livres sur la cuisine dans le Fonds ancien de la Bibliothèque de l’Université Catholique de l’Ouest
Anon., La Cuisinière bourgeoise. Paris: Chez Guillyn, 1762. Côte: 902243
Anon. Le Livre de tous les ménages, ou l’art de conserver, pendant plusieurs années, toutes les substances animales et végétales. Paris, 1813. Côte: 56457
Anon. Essai sur le lait, considéré médicinalement sous ses différents aspects. Paris, 1786. Côte: 49271
Berchoux, J. La Gastonomie, poëme. Paris: Chez Giguet et Michaud, 1805 (an XIII). Côte: 38328
Proussinalle, M. Histoire secrète du tribunal révolutionnaire … avec des anecdotes piquantes sur les Orgies que faisaient les Juges et les Jurés, et notamment sur les Déjeuners, les Dîners et les Soupers secrets des meneurs de la Convention, et sur les parties fines de Clichy. Paris: Chez Lerouge, 1815. Côte: 32083
Sites internet sur la cuisine française
http://www.ravensgard.org./gerekr/food.html
http://www.foodbooks.com/medieval.htm http://frenchfood.about.com/cs/foodhistory/index_2.htm http://www.france.net.nz/gastronomy/food/internet.htm
http://www.applink.net/wolfpack/kitchen.html/
Definition of Focus Paper Goals:
The goals of the focus paper are three:
1) To research and write a succinct, well-conceived report on some aspect of French cultural, literary, or culinary history, as seen through a well-defined focus of issues;
2) To become more familiar with methods used by researchers in the flourishing field of culinary history; and
3) To delve more deeply into a specific topic raised in class readings and discussions.
Design of Focus Paper:
· individual research project · written in English or French (** one of the two must be in French) · 6-8 pages typewritten (double space, 10-12 font, 1” margins) · ** 8-10 pages typewritten (double space, 10-12 font, 1” margins) · separate bibliography, prepared along lines of the Chicago Manual of Style. (See style sheet, distributed by JD.) Must include at least 5 print sources (books or journal articles) · may also include separate appendix if including illustrations · must pick topic and present 1 page abstract by 26 November · rough draft due December 5 · final draft due December 17 ·
two Focus papers will be required.
One must be on a topic linked to literature; the other may be on a historical or cultural topic
.First Focus paper: proposal due: 6 November; rough draft due 15 November; Final draft due 18 November.
Second Focus paper: follow schedule above.
· on the last day of class, each student will present a short lesson on his/her Focus paper and explain the highlights of his/her research to the class.
Focus Paper Topics
1. Salt and pepper are normally the only condiments present on the French table. How and why did this come about? Discuss the history of salt and pepper, using different examples from different historical periods. When did salt and pepper shakers first come into use? Were other condiments in more common use during different periods?
2. Garlic and onions have a rank reputation. For example, eating raw onions before a date is not advisable. Garlic is also considered odiferous and is associated with Southern European (especially Italian) foodways. Obviously this was not always so. When did this prejudice arise? Discuss the historical, sociological, and cultural implications.
3. In Europe, horsemeat is popular only in Northern France and Southern (French-speaking) Belgium. Discuss the history of this phenomenon. Horseflesh is the only specific food to be banned by the Pope in the History of Christianity. Why? Why have Chevaline butcher shops persisted in France? Is eating horsemeat cruel, as it is considered in some countries?
4. The edibility of mushrooms has been the source of much debate over the centuries. Find supporters of both views (pro and con the culinary use of wild mushrooms). Interestingly, the Anjou region has become the leader of professional mushroom production in modern-day France. Yet among amateurs, mushroom hunting is a popular recreation which ends in numerous fatalities every year. Discuss the extra-culinary ethos behind this phenomenon.
5. Identify and give a brief history of a Parisian café that was popular with painters and/or writers in a particular historical moment. Discuss the importance of café society in that period. Why did people congregate there instead of other places? How did the café experience influence the art works of its patrons? Locate the café on a Paris street map and discuss the cultural significance of its location.
6. Pick a regional cuisine and give a brief history of its popularity over the years. Do a study of a characteristic dish; find recipes from different periods showing how it has evolved (or not) over time. How does the cuisine, and the particular dish, reflect the mentality and the natural resources of the region?
7. Based on one of the literary readings we will enjoy during the semester, design your own research topic to highlight the connections between literary and culinary history.
Here are a few potential ideas: · Colette on the role of women in traditional cooking. Where was Colette from? How do you see reflections of her region and its cuisine in Colette’s writing? How did Colette’s time impact her view of regional cooking? · Rabelais the physician on food’s medicinal value. Study the texts of Pantagruel and Gargantua with an eye for the author’s attitude towards the therapeutic benefits to be gained from a good diet and companionship around the table. Do research into Renaissance medical history. Was Rabelais merely imitating received wisdom, or did he have innovative views on the health benefits of hearty drinking and eating?
· Compare the vision of restaurant life found in Mercier’s Tableau de Paris and Grimod de la Reynière’s Almanach des gourmands. How do the two authors’ use of rhetoric, vocabulary, and tone create such different visions of fine dining? Why did they have such different attitudes toward gastronomy? · Write a comparative study of the language, imagery, attitudes associated with food, cuisine, and eating in two authors from the same epoch. Choose two authors who belong to different social or political milieux, ie. Ronsard and Rabelais; Mercier and Grimod de la Reynière; Balzac and/or Baudelaire and/or Huysmans; Colette and Rouff
8. Choose one of the following great French chefs and do research on his life and times. · Vatel · Escoffier · Taillevent · Carême · Michel Guérard, Paul Bocuse, or another modern-day famous chef Prepare a report that combines biography and cultural analysis. What do the chef’s experiences tell us about the significance of cuisine in his period? For whom did he work? What status did he enjoy for his professional expertise? What kinds of meals did he prepare and how was he rewarded for his efforts?
9. Research an actual medieval or Renaissance banquet. Give details of its date, place, hosts, guests, menu, and table seating arrangements. Explain the cultural significance of the various dishes, and courses, listed on the menu. Discuss the etiquette involved in the seating arrangement. If possible, include references to eye-witness accounts. Try to include pictorial resources (paintings, book illustrations).
10. Pick a holiday on the French calendar that is associated with a particular dish or food product. Give a brief history of the food product and its significance for the holiday, as it has evolved over the years. Discuss regional variations.
11. Design your own topic. (By permission)