Matters of Taste: French Eating Cultures (FREN30015)

In France since the 19th century, the preparation, serving and consumption of food and drink, in both the domestic and public space, has been emblematic of French bourgeois cultural hegemony. In this subject students will examine the elaboration of normative codes relating to food and wine and the emergence of gastronomy as an expression of cultural dominance and identity. Students will also study challenges to bourgeois cuisine and gastronomy as have been experienced since at least the mid-20th century, resulting from the colonial history of France and globalisation. Contemporary issues relating to food sovereignty and security will be considered in the context of French and European appellations and provenance regulations. Students will engage with a wide variety of discursive practices including treatises on taste and gastronomy, recipe books, restaurant critiques, works of fiction and contemporary film. This subject is taught and assessed in French.