Escoffier and his heirs…
What gets right up my nose about Michael Steinberger’s book Au Revoir to all that, Food Wine and the End of France is its arrogance.
My bet is that France will be around long after the US is absorbed by South America.
But to the food. Steinberger, who writes about wine for Slate, gives a brisk tour d’horizon of French cuisine, touching all the worn-out bases, Careme, Escoffier, the rise and fall of cheese and wine and so on. I think it’s a bit of cheek for an American to mourn the decline in French cooking without mentioning the role Americans have played in it.
Since the end of World War II, European culture has been shaped for the worse by the mighty American dollar and by the uneducated American tourist. I grew up in Europe and remember how Americans demanded exactly what they ate at home. Where is the steak, the burgers, the milk…they were quick to denigrate anything different, they sneered at differences in cultures…after all they won the war hadn’t they?
Even today when I read posts about eating in Paris, I hear the same demand. Where can I eat familiar food in Paris?
Steinberger’s journalistic approach misses something significant: food/cooking are shaped by intangibles, the emotions of the cooks and the eaters.
Why France used to be a reliable source of enjoyable meals was because the food and cooking was regional and particular, and because you enjoyed it for what it was, not what it should be. It is sadly ironic that it was a Frenchman, Escoffier who internationalized French cuisine, made it so competitive. He created an assembly line that established an international standard of luxe quite divorced from the provenance of the ingredients. A souffle is a marvelous thing but it can be made anywhere, I believe they’re very good in Tokyo.
When they got a taste of the French version of wonderbread, the French couldn’t stop eating it. An American, Dr. Steven Kaplan, saved the baguette for posterity. But why?
Funny isn’t it just as Americans have translated the word terroir, France is moving beyond it . As Steinberger points out the French are second only to Americans in their affection for McDonalds. Lots of them are happy to exchange the 7/24 drudgery of growing and cooking food for fast food.
What I admire is the way the French have adapted fast food to suit their way of life. Unlike North Americans they don’t drive thru for snacks but come in groups for a sit down lunch or dinner. Vive La France.
