Exploring Food And Culture In The South Of France

"In France cooking is a serious art form and a national sport"

-Julia Child

The food of Provence is a cuisine far less fussy then the gastronomic Burgundy and many northern regions of France. The foundation of Provençal dishes is the spirit of the people cooking them. The Provençal spirit is one that is unique to the rest of the country, and it is one that is noted in the regions food. The vegetables, herbs, garlic and olive oils create vivid flavors, but lighter food than those of northern regions. Provençal cuisine is simple and respectful of the land from which it hails. As Provence native and cook Jean-Sebastian told me “Provençal cuisine is not recipes, it’s a state of mind. Here, food is more than sustenance, it is a way of life”.

"Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are"

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

Eating, though an inevitable part of daily life, is an extremely personal and in many ways political act. To the french, there is no question that eating is far more than sustenance, but a way of life and national past time. A day without a good meal is not a good day at all. With the act of eating we share our beliefs, cultural background, and lived experiences. French sociologist Claude Levi-Strauss stated that food can be conceived as a language that expresses social structures and cultural systems. Mary Douglas has looked at food as eating codes that define an individual’s place within a society and serve to actively maintain social order. Though there is no doubt of foods place as a reflection of class and social standing, the french culinary patrimony extends beyond social barriers. As Jean-Pierre Poulain said “The Gastronomic attitude found in contemporary France cannot be reduced to the cuisine and manners of the elites, but instead constitutes a heritage to which all those who participate in French culture, regardless of their social position, lay claim with a certain amount of pride”. Though consumption patterns throughout France may be in the midst of changes, the country’s culinary patrimony and pride in its cuisine is one that is not likely to fade.

"Food was, and continues to be, power in a most basic,

tangible, and inescapable form"

- David Arnold

Though food, in many ways, is common ground and a universal experience, it is also extremely polarizing in its nature. Because of people’s tendencies to articulate and recognize differences with others through the medium of food, food and consumption can easily become extremely politicized subjects directly concerning affiliations with class, race, gender and social groups. With increased immigration in France during recent decades, questions of the politics of food are more relevant than ever. With the recent increase in power of the Front National and Islamaphobia running rampant in France acts of xenophobia, racism and prejudice have become commonplace. France has both the highest muslim and jewish populations in Europe, both religious traditions have strict rules banning the consumption of pork. In 2014 courts ruled in favor of a law banning schools from offering muslim and jewish students halal and pork free lunches. With the banning of children from participating in their own culinary and religious practices and forced assimilation comes stigmatization. Though these laws claim to serve in the preservation of religious neutrality they can easily be viewed as tools to ostracize and stigmatize Muslim and Jewish youth. By speaking ill and passing judgments on others ways of eating, we speak ill of them indirectly. By looking at what is eaten, as well as what is not eaten, we are able to understand current and past social structures and cultural systems.

“The polarities between feminine and masculine tastes were to serve not only to demote women as taste-setters, but also to criticize and truncate women’s opportunities to participate in the arts” 

-Carolyn Korsmeyer

In the world of academia, questions regarding the sensual and the body have long been regarded as trivial compared to questions of the mind. Historically the so called subordinate senses of smell, taste, intuition and subjectivity have been regarded as inherently female while the “higher” senses of rationality, objectivity, visual and the mind have been associated with men. When faced with this fact some might argue that it becomes the responsibility of the woman to break free of these associations but as Korsmeyer says in Gender And Aesthetics “Prevalent caution regarding women’s talents had psychologically inhibiting effects on the progress of those who desired to try (as we sometimes can know from their own letters and diaries). With messages about a circumscribed feminine ambit of taste and ability so pervasive it would be nearly impossible not to internalize at least some of these values for oneself.” At home “women’s” cooking has become synonymous with Kant’s definition of the beautiful, while the male dominated often intellectual world of fine dining falls more in line with Kant’s definition of the sublime. Both are positive, but it is the latter that achieves a more profound and respected scope. The place of food-work is one that is essential in “correct” performances of femininity, and though there is often power in who is fed, and what is fed responsibility is not always equivalent to control.

 

“He showed the words “chocolate cake” to a group of Americans and recorded their word associations. “Guilt” was the top response. If that strikes you as unexceptional, consider the response of French eaters to the same prompt: “celebration.” 


-Michael Pollan

Reflecting upon my own experiences in both France and the United states the differences in mentality regarding eating are undeniable. I have grown up in a household with a French mother and have often spent my summers with family in France. Through reading the experiences of Americans like MFK Fisher and Julia Childs first moments in France and first encounters with French cuisine and comparing them with my own, I was reminded of the contrasts that do exist in regards to cultural and culinary traditions. In France, even in 2016, the concept of the doggie bag is somewhat frowned upon, meals, and the often smaller portions that are served, are meant to be savored and appreciated in that moment, and above all, never rushed. Meals are for socialization and appreciation of what you are eating, and it is not uncommon to stay at the table for more than 2 hours, especially when in good company. The act of snacking, so commonplace in America is an activity reserved almost exclusively for children in France. The snack that is served ( Le Goûter ) is never savory and served promptly at 4:00, contrasting to American’s often sporadic snacking schedules. In France food is a constant topic of discussion, even while eating a delicious lunch the French are often scheming about what they will have that night for dinner.

Since the revolution, food has been used as a tool to unify French citizens. In the hearts of almost all french people there is a sense of pride and appreciation for the french culinary identity despite all complexities and the shift that is undoubtedly occuring in consumption patterns across the country. I am aware that in my research I have barely touched the tip of the iceberg in regards to the complexities that exist within the world of French food and culture, and I intend on continuing to explore these questions for the rest of my life.

Few dishes are as quintessentially Provençal as tapenade. The mere sight of the olive spread always brings me back to summers in my grandparents yard with the whole family, standing around a small table in the sun for aperitif, speaking over each other and tapenade being spread liberally on small pieces of baguette.

The word Tapenade comes from the Provençal word for caper, Tapeno. Like the olive tree, capers were brought by the Phocaean’s to Marseille in the sixth century B.C., both have remained staples in the Provençal diet since. Many varieties of tapenade exist including black, green, tomato, garlic, artichoke and others, but the core ingredients always remain the same: olives, anchovies, olive oil and capers.

 

Ingredients:

• 200G Pitted Kalamata or other black olives
• 3 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Cloves of garlic
• 4 Anchovies
• 8 Capers
• Bread for serving

1. Roughly mince garlic then add olives, garlic, anchovies and capers to food processor and pulse.
2. Slowly add olive oil to mixture then serve on bread, crackers, meat or vegetable dishes for a Provençal touch.

Historically, the examination of food theoretically and philosophically has been ignored for the most part, Why is that the case? Using Carolyn Korsmeyer’s Gender and Aesthetics as a reference I will briefly explore questions of gendered thinking and potential explanations for the historical dismissal of philosophical explorations of food.

In the world of academia today it is common practice for questions regarding the sensual and the body to be considered trivial compared to questions of the rational mind. Historically, rationality, objectivity and concepts regarding the visual and the mind, have typically been associated with men while the so called subordinate senses of taste, smell, intuition, subjectivity and emotionality have corresponded with women. Food has therefore been regarded as trivial and sometimes even dangerous because of its physical nature that in itself has the possibility of over-indulgence and gluttony.  “One reason why taste is disqualified from philosophical approval has to do with the kind of pleasure that it delivers: a very dubious sort, by most accounts, one that leads to self-indulgence in bodily sensation, which if pursued with sufficient zeal, as Christian philosophy warns, eventually leads to th
e deadly sin of gluttony” (Korsmeyer, 89). Philosophers, and thinkers (primarily men historically) have in turn been urged to refrain from pleasures of the body including food, drink and sex, regarding the sensual and physical to be a semi animalistic diversion from higher callings of thinking reflecting nothing more than primitive instincts.

“It is obvious that in most situations and cultures women are the ones who prepare food. What is less obvious- and more interesting- are the gendered ideas associated with body, eating, gustatory pleasure and the sense of taste that function in opposition to the values that cluster around concepts of the aesthetic and the values of fine art”(Korsmeyer, 85). Beyond sex being commonly associated with food in many cultures, it is historically evident in art as well. In Korsmeyer’s Deep Gender chapter she cite’s  Paul Gaugin’s portrait of Two Tahitian Women ( a depiction of two women, one topless cradling a platter of fruit just below her chest) and biblical paintings of eve and her apple, among others. She then goes on to state that because of the connections that exist with food and sex, with their clear physical gratification and animal pleasure questions of food and taste are often shunned and almost taboo in their nature.

Though historically most have had no problem acknowledging and accepting the comforting, loving grandmother or mothers place as caretaker in the kitchen, with the women’s standing of authority in the kitchen comes the context that has placed them in this position. “As Kant put it in his early work observations on the feeling of the beautiful and sublime the narrow scope of the beautiful characterizes a woman’s sensibility, whereas a man should strive for the deeper understanding of the sublime. Both are positive capacities, but it is the latter that accomplishes the more profound and commanding scope- aesthetically, epistemically and morally” (Korsmeyer,47). Food-works place becomes one of the beautiful linked to visions of goodness and moral value (without slipping into over-indulgence or teetering into the sensual) the woman’s place becomes one to accommodate and serve as opposed to pushing boundaries and striking intellect characteristics seen as stereotypically masculine.

Though historically women have been considered capable of developing refined palettes and tastes, the model for the ideal arbiter of taste was implicitly male because of the supposed greater mental facility of men and beliefs in their judgments of tastes on complicated subjects to be more sound. “The polarities between feminine and masculine tastes were to serve not only to demote women as taste-setters, but also to criticize and truncate women’s opportunities to participate in the arts” (Korsmeyer, 47). Assumptions of the female experience being less broad and the lack of fostering of women’s talents in all fields historically has led to lack of access, tools, and societal mindset for encouraging the creative endeavors of women. Though more and more women contribute to the arts and academia the historical lack of acknowledgment of the talents, tastes and intellect of women has not subsided. Societal pressures and socialization continue to place women in positions often dismissed as lacking in intellect but with an examination of the practices in art, media, painting and film have perpetuated these ideals continued forward movements in mindsets are foreseeable.

 

 

 

It is no secret that the fate of our earth is in a questionable place. Recently while watching Before The Flood I was reminded of the extent our planet and our actions are in desperate need of reform. When we think of climate change it is easy to shift the blame away from ourselves and blame mega corporations and their emissions of green house gasses for the state our planet is in, and while they do play a giant role in the state of the environment, there are actions we as individuals are capable of partaking in that have the potential of making substantial changes.

The worlds most common vegetable oil, Palm oil, is found in everything from animal feed and processed foods to shampoo and beauty products. Palm oil extraction is done primarily in Indonesia and Malaysia, in the past decades, expansion of palm oil plantations has taken over 80% of Indonesia’s rain forests. The oil is a cheap commodity with tremendous enviornmental cost. The burning of the rain forests releases massive amounts of carbon and in turn destroys local ecosystems and seriously threatens the health and safety of indigenous populations. Just 15% of the native animal species of the area are able to survive the transition from rain forest to plantation. Corporate disregard for environment, people and animals and prioritization of money have turned a once flourishing and abundant ecosystem into a wasteland no longer able to provide for its inhabitants.

In the United States, 47% of land is used for agricultural production, 70% of that is used for feeding livestock (compared to only 1% used for fruit and vegetable production). Beef livestock and their methane production are responsible for 12% of total emissions in the U.S. As Gidon Eshel, a scientist and professor at Bard college stated,” If you switch to chicken, you will have eliminated 80 percent of what you emit”. Though climate change often seems distant and abstract, the sooner we take action, the less harm will result.

The act of picking Olives is a somewhat meditative practice, in your corner of the field you find yourself faced with a tree and your thoughts, lowering the branches, grasping the olives and putting them in the basket at your waist. In the fields in Lédenon, in the Languedoc- Rousillon region I often found myself faced with my own thoughts and many questions regarding the trees surrounding me.  How did the tree so ubiquitous to the region get there, and where did they come from?

The production of olive oil has existed for over 6,000 years, originally hailing from Palestine, Iran and Syria, the oil, like wine has taken on many sacred and religious qualities. Originally used in Pagan ritual, mythologized by the greeks, incorporated into Judaism, then into Christianity and mentioned often throughout the bible, olive oil has long been used for beauty, anointment and foremost, consumption. Introduced into french culture 2,500 years ago with the arrival of the Phocaeans in Marseille the crop was crucial in the development of Marseilles vieux port and has maintained an integral status in Provence’s gastronomic and cultural heritage, despite the disastrous freezing of 1956 that rendered 2/3 of the regions olive trees out of commission.

In the south of France, olives are inescapable, whether in passing fields, parking lots, aperitif with friends, in tapenade or as oil in one of many regional dishes, the olive is never far. Provence and Languedoc boast a large variety of olives including, picholine, negrette, rougette, vedale, aglandau, all with their own flavor profile, oil content and terroir.

Though French olive oil producers make considerably less oil than their neighbors Spain and Italy, southern France and it’s Roman and Greek roots are deeply tied to olive oil culture. As opposed to Spain where most olive oils are mass produced, 90% of the olive oil produced in France is extra virgin and a majority of production is from small manufacturers usually operated under Appllation d’Origine Controlée, a concept based in the protection of the countries unique terroirs and often used for wines, butters and other agricultural products. Provençal oils are known for their green, sometimes fruity herbaceous flavor, while oils hailing from the area surrounding Nîmes and the Languedoc are known for their distinctive sharpness.

In the south of France and across the Mediterranean the olive and its oil are representative of more than just food. They are a symbol of peace, cultural heritage, promotion of health, regional cuisine, beauty, religious ceremony and tradition. France is never going to be the worlds biggest olive oil producer, but the south of the countries ties to the olive tree are irrefutable.

 

 

The following is an exploration of the French restaurant and  culinary world as seen by 3 noted chefs. Nicole Chapuisat also called La Femme Chocolat, is a swiss born chocolate and pastry chef that now resides in France, Jérôme Roy, originally from Tours is a Michelin starred executive chef at Le Cloître, in the Luberon, Daniel Minet is the youngest Michelin starred chef of the guides 2010 release.

What inspired you to become a chef?

Nicole: My maternal grandmother was the wife of a farmer and wine maker and was passionate about cuisine and pastries. She only used food from their land and transformed it into magnificent things. With one simple ingredient she could make something beautiful and delicious! It was magical! She used everything, no waste. She made me love eating well, I thank her for me working in the world of pastries and sweets.

Jérôme: I was born in the countryside where my mom cooked with fresh produce from the farm for a family of 7 children, being the youngest I grew up in the kitchen with her. I’ve also always loved the art of hosting and setting a beautiful table, I think everyone is born with a mission in life..

Daniel: I am a person that uses my hands, I love art and I love creating, that’s why I gravitated towards cuisine that is more gastronomic.

How would you describe your cooking?

Nicole: As pastries. A cuisine of quality as opposed to quantity.

Jérôme: Its a cuisine based around terroir laden products that I work with respect and take to a new level, I tell my own story through them.

Daniel: I would describe my cooking as one from the heart, creative and flavorful.

What inspires you?

Nicole: Books, chefs, images, colors, words, ingredients, objects.

Jérôme: A good natural product, a vegetable growing in my garden, traveling.

Daniel: There are a lot of things that can inspire a chef, you have to be curious and always on the lookout for new discoveries and ingredients. The simple act of going to the market is a great source of inspiration for me.

Do you have distinct childhood memories tied to food?

Nicole: Oh yes! My mom had her pineapple tarte, her diplomate, her apple tarte (with lard in the crust, its so good), her jams, her sweet and her savory french toast, her tongue with capre sauce, her vaudois sausage and her apple sauce, her sausage with cabbage, but what I liked the most was her grain salad with her apple cake (so good!) but i’ll stop there! There’s still more to say.

Jérôme:The smell of freshly harvested produce from the garden and  pâté de campagne fresh out of the oven

Daniel: Yes, It was very hard to get me to eat when I was a kid, paradoxically I became a chef.

What changes have you noticed in the culinary movements of the last 5 years?

Nicole: There has been a shift that has brought chefs towards a more regionally focused and often lighter cuisine, more regional, more seasonal, more real tastes and values. There have also been enormous advancements in the artistry of plating food, it’s a whole art within itself. When culinary advancements are made in France they’re often very influential across the globe.

Jérôme: Molecular cuisine isn’t everything anymore, we’re returning to cuisine with an emphasis on terroir. Lots of people are into detox cuisine right now but in my opinion its not always healthy.

Daniel: Food has never been as much in the media as it is today! And people are becoming more and more demanding. Cuisine evolves very very fast, as a chef you constantly have to evolve what you’re doing to keep it with the time.

What do you think the importance of cuisine is in French culture?

Nicole: It’s important in the sense that we have beautiful regions, excellent products, a climate that varies throughout the country and gives us magnificent and indulgent things like olive oil, foie gras, honey, chocolate, wines, fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, herbs, spices etc! For me made in France is important  and we need more enthusiasm surrounding it. We are rich in our French culture, and that should be respected. Even if i’m only French by heart.

Jérôme: Cuisine is an integral part of French culture. Good food and the pleasure of sharing it is a representation of savoir-vivre and respect for other humans. It’s also a cuisine that’s recognized worldwide.

Daniel: It’s something to be very proud of, regardless of everything going on these days in France, we absolutely have to preserve it. French cuisine is a giant source of inspiration for chefs all over the world because of the quality associated with it. With the wine produce and specialties here we have good reason to be proud.

Why is cuisine important to you? 

Nicole: Its important to me because it allows me to voyage through taste, colors and discover.

Jérôme: I have been passionate about cuisine since the age of 10 and I find enormous pleasure in creating new tastes, it feels good to share them with clients and with friends.

Daniel: It’s a job with limitless creativity, where creation is ceaseless. I love surprising people and making them happy.

 

 

 

To many , the cliché vision of the frenchman is one toting a beret, baguette in hand, cigarette in mouth, and glass of wine strategically placed at his side. Though these conceptions are often exaggerated and untrue, one thing that has remained eminent throughout the ages is wines place in french society. In France, with the rise of Catholicism came a rise in wine consumption, influenced greatly by religious orders, the beverage established its place as a potent and spiritual substance, a representation of the blood of christ himself, thus separating its position from that of many other commodities an

d giving it sacred and ceremonial properties.

 

Though the historical origins of wine are recognized as hailing from Greece, Iran and Armenia, viticulture in France has existed and remained culturally and economically integral since the founding of Massalia ( now modern day Marseille) in 6BC. In Roland Barthes Mythologies the author highlights the cultural significance of the act of wine drinking asserting that “Knowing how to drink is a national technique which serves to qualify the Frenchman, to demonstrate at once his performance, his control and his sociability” in his wine and milk chapter Barthes also states that “Other countries drink to get drunk, and this is accepted by everyone; in France drunkenness is a consequence, never an intention. ”

For centuries wine has been considered an innate part of French society and the ceremonies of daily life, weather marriage, casual dinner, picnic or communion, as Barthes said “There is no situation involving some physical constraint (temperature, hunger, boredom, compulsion, disorientation) which does not give rise to dreams of wine.” Recently while speaking to both my Grandmother and Jean-François Julian (a winemaker in the Drôme with whom I recently spent a week WWOOFing with) questions of the shifts of wines place in the daily lives of french citizens arose. Both spoke of a time where wine was more than a celebratory drink, it was a daily element at meals. In the 1970s and 80s France experienced a shift in the perceptions of wine, transforming the drink from one of the people to a beverage primarily reserved for middle and upper classes, moving from mass production and table wines to a focus on higher quality and often more expensive product.

In Marion Demossier’s The Quest For Identities: Consumption of Fine Wine In France she comments on the mentality shift regarding wine that emerged in the 1980’s saying “The new culture of Wine emerged in the 1980s in the context of changing patterns of wine consumption. This new culture of wine is defined by the large diffusion of journals, magazines, guides, photographs or other types of publications mainly edited or written by wine experts, journalists, historians, professionals or even politicians. This growing literature was accompanied by the explosion of places devoted to wine drinking as a specific social act, of associations, festivals and clubs as wine drinking places. The success of such initiatives illustrates the

decline of a traditional and private culture of wine and the emergence of an emblematic and fragmented culture of wine.” With these shifts in public portrayal and ceremony wine soon became representative of indulgence, and the drinking of wine, an activity in its own right, accentuating the class divide in France’s consumption of wine and resulting in a decrease in mass production.

Wine consumption in France has decreased steadily in recent decades (25% from 1970 to 1990, though studies have shown an increase in occasional wine drinkers since 2010) while the consumption of beer and other alcohols not local to the country have increased, questions of the wines place in society are currently highly contested. Though wine’s new status as a leisure activity and drink serves as a class barrier for many, many table wines do remain available, and some would argue the recent flux of interest regarding high quality wines brings a sense of consciousness and appreciation to the product.

Changes in food habits are arguably never static, but is the shift in current wine consumption and increase global interest in the product a result of globalization and a hiccup in consumption patterns or a permanent shift in the cultural value of wine in France?

 

 

After my sluggish train ride form Lyon to Montélimar and a missed bus to Rousset Les Vignes, I found myself outside of the bus station shivering and wondering what the next week would bring. After my warm reception in Rousset Les Vignes by my hosts Jean-François and Annick I knew my time spent in the countryside of the Drôme Provençale would be well worth it.

The following is an interview with Jean-François on his family legacy, Domaine Les Clos.

Recently while speaking to a restaurant recruiter in the Vaucluse, I asked if she had noticed an increase of women chefs in the industry in recent years. She looked at me forwardly and told me the life of a chef simply was not women’s work, and that when the time for her to bare children would undoubtedly come it would not be possible for her to continue in her work. For centuries women have

been cautioned that their educations and careers be moderated as to not interfere with their primary roles as wives and mothers.

 

In Food And Femininty Josée Johnston and Kate Cairns explain that femininity as a notion refers to the socially constructed roles that society at large has deemed appropriate to be performed by women. Though for many women, myself included, foodwork can be an intimate expression of selflessness and love, the intrinsic ties of femininity and food work are hard to deny. Women’s role as primary nurturer and person responsible for the feeding of families is one that is highly scrutinized, those who are not able to maintain the perfect balance of feeding families healthy home cooked meals without teetering into the neurotic obsessively organic mother or the mother shamed for feeding their children fast food, often due to economic and scheduling reasons are deemed inadequate and shamed in their performances of femininty.

Potentially in part to the mostly unpaid ‘intrinsic’ connections of food and femininity that have been perpetuated throughout history, despite the women’s place in the kitchen in many family homes, highly regarded female chefs remain a rarity. The trope of the “bad boy” hot tempered male chef  is one that is abundant in modern media representations of high-end kitchens. With these media representations and socialization comes a societal exception of the ideal chef as one that is aggressive, militant and above all, male.

According to a Bloomberg study women occupy  6.3 percent, or 10 out of 160 head chef positions at 15 prominent U.S. restaurant groups, regardless of recent increases of women culinary students in recent years (up to 40% at the International Culinary Center) and women making up 45% of the culinary industry. As well as the lack of women chefs gaining industry accolades, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission revealed the restaurant industry as the largest source of sexual harassment complaints.

In Charlotte Druckman’s Gastronomica article “Why Are There No Great Woman Chef’s?” the author compares the ‘lack’ of great chefs to the ‘lack’ of great  artists historically and asks “What defines greatness? For our purposes, we must inquire, specifically, what makes a Great Chef? The answers reveal that our signifiers of greatness, chef-wise, are those attributes considered inherently “male”—or at least those not generally associated with women. In the United States, especially, success, for chefs, has historically been measured more by business acumen, celebrity, and marketability rather than by what happens at the stove. Who cares if your panna cotta has a “female” look to it; tell me instead whether you own multiple eateries. Is your personality translatable to a wider audience? Is your restaurant concept something that can be replicated? Do you have a style that both complements and transcends your culinary point of view—as in, are you a serious extremist (a science nerd like Grant Achatz or a purist devoted to technique and ingredients like Thomas Keller or Tom Colicchio); an enterprising French master (Daniel Boulud, Alain Ducasse, or Eric Ripert, par exemple); an unrepentant glutton and camera-loving ham (Mario Batali); a bad-ass genius-rebel who bucks the establishment (David Chang or Anthony Bourdain)? And then, ask yourself, can you think of a female counterpart for any of these?”

When walking around in highly frequented areas of the Cote d’Azur there are no shortage of restaurants boasting assurances of authenticity and regional cuisine, but how many of the claims provide diners with accurate representations of the regions culinary history and traditions? Recently while walking around the old city in Nice with

my cousin and his partner we found ourselves wandering in search of a meal that could provide me with an accurate representation of Nice’s unique culinary history, with its roots in provence and strong influence from neighboring Italy. Walking along one cobble stone street to another in our off season search each restaurant my dining companions had staked out by word of mouth or experience was either closed for the season or magically “out of food” for the day. Beginning to feel disheartened we set our sights on a restaurant with an inviting exterior and a menu listing iconic local dishes like Salade Niçoise, Ratatouille, Socca and Legume Farcis as well as a Niçois tasting platter. Feeling hungry and hopeful but somewhat suspicious of the menus english translations and lack of french clientele we took our seats. After ordering then receiving our tasting platers and taking small bites of our bland off white legumes farcis it became clear to us all that the restaurants goal was not to celebrate the rich culinary history of the region but to fulfill the necessary task of quickly feeding the millions of tourists that annually visit the cote in a barely recognizable rendition of the traditionally rich and saturated flavors of Provençal and Niçois cuisine.

France is a nation revered for its culinary and cultural histories, the countries international reputation draws in around 87 million tourists a year making it the worlds most visited country. With the influx of visitors the country hosts yearly comes an industry that operates on tourist spending and the fact that these visitors must eat. The rapid acceleration of globalization in recent years by means of transport, communication and technology have brought about extreme changes in food production and consumption. Though questions of authenticity in food are highly contested examining the impacts of globalization on regional culinary tradition is important. In The University of Surrey’s paper Globalisation and Food Consumption in Tourism they reinforce that “There is a concern that cultural imperialism and Mcdonalidisation may lead to homogenizati
on that can result in a “global palate” as well as a “global cuisine”. The homogenizing force of globalization  is thus commonly seen as a threat to the close connection between food and place, or as Trubeck puts it, the taste of place or ‘terroir'” Is it possible for terroir to exist in dishes that are altered to become more suitable and accessible to foreign palettes, with these shifts is there an emergence of a new terroir muddled and impacted by questions of globalization possible or is it devoid of any taste of place?

When traveling, tourists often search for senses of novelty while at the same time scouting the security that comes with familiarity. In recent years questions of Authenticity and tradition have been at the forefront of conversations regarding food. Is cuisine that exists to serve tourists palettes a threat to regional gastronomical traditions or an entity that can exist within itself without tainting traditional and historical meal preparations? This question is not one that is easily answerable being that the notion of “authentic” food is so highly contested and many argue that the nature of food and culinary traditions
are never static due to constant shifts in population, technology and tradition. Can France’s tourist food industry remain solely a tourist industry or will the “globalization of taste” have impacts on the palette of the nations citizens and shift the nations own tastes and practices?