Listed in: French, as FREN-366
Samantha M. Presnal (Section 01)
In 2010, UNESCO designated the French gastronomic meal a “world intangible heritage” for its unique ability to “bring people together to enjoy the art of good eating and drinking, draw circles of family and friends closer together and, more generally, strengthening social ties.” But not all is fair in matters of French fare. This course debunks the myth of the gastronomic meal by studying cuisine as both source and a symbol of tensions in French society. Through the close analysis of primary and secondary sources, including novels, monographs, memoirs, magazines, menus, restaurant reviews, photographs, and advertisements, students consider how culinary discourse has concealed and revealed inequalities of class, gender, and race. Food also serves as our entrée into key conflicts that have shaped modern France, from Marie-Antoinette’s confectionary fetish that incited the French Revolution to the couscous dinner that scandalized the far right in recent presidential elections. Over the course of the semester, students will select and critically dissect a dish from the Larousse Gastronomique. Using France’s open access digital library “Gallica,” they will investigate the origins of the dish, the sourcing of ingredients, and the contexts in which it was cooked and consumed in order to interpret its cultural meaning(s).
The entire class will meet remotely once per week via Zoom in a class which will involve some lecturing and some breakout group work. The class will also have two discussion sections that are also via Zoom. The readings, class discussions, and critical and creative writing assignments are in French.
Requisite: One of the following--FREN 207, FREN 208, or the equivalent. Limited to 24 students. Fall semester. Visiting Lecturer Presnal.
Section 01
Tu 01:30 PM - 02:50 PM ONLI ONLI
Section 01
Th 11:50 AM - 01:10 PM ONLI ONLI
Section 02
Th 01:30 PM - 02:50 PM ONLI ONLI