The Food Issue

... this is a bit of a boring post, just a warning...

My up coming travels to France were sparked by my interest in attaining a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship grant.  Since traveling to France in 2006, I have become obsessed with the culture, history, art and most importantly the food of the country.  My eating experiences in France directly shaped my current academic interests and along with a wonderful class titled The History and Evolution of Human Food taught by Barrett dean Mark Jacobs, propelled me into a world of cuisine curiosity.  This interest has shaped my current life goals and plans and propelled me to pursue a year in France, not only to teach, but also to research the unique status of food in French culture.  As a component of the Fulbright application, the applicant is encouraged to develop an individual project in conjunction with their teaching experiences.  For my project I designed a research based inquiry into the role of protected foods in France and their changing composition and taste as influenced my outside pressures.  It goes something like this:  

In an effort to retain and protect traditional foods, the European Union has created a system of classifying distinct foods products.  The system ensures that traditional production is maintained for the future, encourages agricultural diversity and offers protection to foods with a distinct reputation.  This system utilizes three designations: Protected Designation of Origin, Protected Geographical Indication and Traditional Specialty Guaranteed.  France has been an avid supporter of the movement with 157 protected foods.  The foods range from Roquefort cheese to Aix-en-Provence olive oil and Bretagne cider.  A bureau, syndicat or syndicat de défense maintains each protected food, with each of the twenty-two metropolitan provinces home to a protected food.  In Provence-Alps-Cote d'Azur, for instance, the protected goods include Banon cheese as well as four distinct olive oils, two types of table olives, rice and honey.  Many of the producers enthusiastically offer tours of their facilities; Aix-en-Provence huile d'olive producer Chateau Virant, for instance, offers tours year round.  Each of these foods is pivotal in French culinary history, and the government desires to maintain and preserve these goods.  When I am in France, I will study the role of the foods of the province where I am assigned to understand the effect they have in reinforcing the role of traditional cuisine.  I will do research on the food before leaving the US, and once settled into my school in France, I will tour the production facilities, attend festivals that celebrate the foods (such as the Marché de l'huile nouvelle in December), analyze the marketing by studying advertisements in newspapers and magazines, and discuss the attraction to and importance of these foods with community members.  I also hope to utilize my interests in French food to begin a dialogue of cultural exchange with my students.  Finally, I plan to meet with members and representatives of the food's protectorate.  I have seen that many offer newsletters and actively welcome questions and comments.   In this study I will not only work with individuals but also conduct research into the necessity and history of these protected foods.  Further, I am interested in the influence of immigration on the evolution of French cuisine, such as the introduction of non-traditional spices, like curry, in meat dishes.   This study will directly impact my future goals of studying the significance of traditional cuisine in redefining and reshaping culture. 

While I didn't receive a true Fulbright grant (instead I am a Fulbright recommended French Government English Teaching Assistant - one of 50 in the US) I still plan to carry out my proposed research project.  Orléans is in the region of Centre, and according to my research, Centre's EU protected foods are: Pouligny-Saint-Pierre, Sainte-Maure de Touraine, Selles-sur-Cher and Valençay (all goat's milk cheeses). Centre also has a number of wines that are very distinctive.  These come from the Loire Valley region and you can read more about them here.  Needless to say, I am very excited to have the chance to research these and other distinctive French foods.  I am especially excited to find out how modern techniques, influences from immigrants and changing attitudes toward food has or has not changed the traditional production of each of these products!  

I don't plan to limit my research just to the region of Centre, instead I plan to explore the cuisine of all of France and discover both the protected products and traditional cuisine.  I hope to report this in as vivid of detail possible, and look forward to sharing my experiences with you!