France is far from being a uniform culture and yet the food of French provinces is often subsumed into one universally known “French cuisine.” While 19th-century haute cuisine ignored regional differences, gastronomes of the early 20th-century, such as Curnonsky, Marcel Rouff, Austin de Croze, and Pampille, defined a new French culinary identity based on appropriating and incorporating the diversity of the regional cuisines. Regional cuisine at the time was, however, quite diverse. Some of the regions of France were newly added to the country, such as Savoie and Nice, while others had been in contention for some time, such as Alsace. In addition, peasant cuisine differed greatly from that of bourgeois and upper-class households. Nevertheless, gastronomic works emphasized that an inherent “Frenchness” made them uniform, a concept put to work in the service of French national identity, even as one witnessed a rising regionalism. I argue that regionalism intersected with French gastronomy at the time and played a defining role in the construction of what is currently referred to as French Cuisine, exemplifying the profoundly political nature of culinary discourse at the time.
","abstract_html":"<p>France is far from being a uniform culture and yet the food of French provinces is often subsumed into one universally known “French cuisine.” While 19<sup>th</sup>-century <em>haute cuisine</em> ignored regional differences, gastronomes of the early 20<sup>th</sup>-century, such as Curnonsky, Marcel Rouff, Austin de Croze, and Pampille, defined a new French culinary identity based on appropriating and incorporating the diversity of the regional cuisines. Regional cuisine at the time was, however, quite diverse. Some of the regions of France were newly added to the country, such as Savoie and Nice, while others had been in contention for some time, such as Alsace. In addition, peasant cuisine differed greatly from that of bourgeois and upper-class households. Nevertheless, gastronomic works emphasized that an inherent “Frenchness” made them uniform, a concept put to work in the service of French national identity, even as one witnessed a rising regionalism. I argue that regionalism intersected with French gastronomy at the time and played a defining role in the construction of what is currently referred to as French Cuisine, exemplifying the profoundly political nature of culinary discourse at the time.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Reches, Lauren"],"institution":"The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York","degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy","degree_level":"Doctoral","degree_discipline":"French","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Francesca Canadé Sautman"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":["Julia Przybos","Antoinette Blum","Sara McDougall"],"year":2017,"date_issued":"2017-06-02T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2017-06-02T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:59:54Z","subjects":["Cultural History","French and Francophone Literature","Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures","Political History","gastronomy","french","cuisine","Curnonsky","regionalism","France"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/2056","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Francesca Canadé Sautman"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Julia Przybos","Antoinette Blum","Sara McDougall"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Reches, Lauren"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2017-04-24T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["French"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Doctoral"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Cultural History","French and Francophone Literature","Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures","Political History","gastronomy","french","cuisine","Curnonsky","regionalism","France"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/2056"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["France is far from being a uniform culture and yet the food of French provinces is often subsumed into one universally known “French cuisine.” While 19th-century haute cuisine ignored regional differences, gastronomes of the early 20th-century, such as Curnonsky, Marcel Rouff, Austin de Croze, and Pampille, defined a new French culinary identity based on appropriating and incorporating the diversity of the regional cuisines. Regional cuisine at the time was, however, quite diverse. Some of the regions of France were newly added to the country, such as Savoie and Nice, while others had been in contention for some time, such as Alsace. In addition, peasant cuisine differed greatly from that of bourgeois and upper-class households. Nevertheless, gastronomic works emphasized that an inherent “Frenchness” made them uniform, a concept put to work in the service of French national identity, even as one witnessed a rising regionalism. I argue that regionalism intersected with French gastronomy at the time and played a defining role in the construction of what is currently referred to as French Cuisine, exemplifying the profoundly political nature of culinary discourse at the time.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Region, Nation and Gastronomy: Regionalism in Gastronomic Texts of the Early 20th Century (1900-1939)"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Francesca Canadé Sautman"],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Julia Przybos","Antoinette Blum","Sara McDougall"],"dc:creator":["Reches, Lauren"],"dc:date.available":["2017-04-24T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["France is far from being a uniform culture and yet the food of French provinces is often subsumed into one universally known “French cuisine.” While 19th-century haute cuisine ignored regional differences, gastronomes of the early 20th-century, such as Curnonsky, Marcel Rouff, Austin de Croze, and Pampille, defined a new French culinary identity based on appropriating and incorporating the diversity of the regional cuisines. Regional cuisine at the time was, however, quite diverse. Some of the regions of France were newly added to the country, such as Savoie and Nice, while others had been in contention for some time, such as Alsace. In addition, peasant cuisine differed greatly from that of bourgeois and upper-class households. Nevertheless, gastronomic works emphasized that an inherent “Frenchness” made them uniform, a concept put to work in the service of French national identity, even as one witnessed a rising regionalism. I argue that regionalism intersected with French gastronomy at the time and played a defining role in the construction of what is currently referred to as French Cuisine, exemplifying the profoundly political nature of culinary discourse at the time.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/2056"],"dc:subject":["Cultural History","French and Francophone Literature","Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures","Political History","gastronomy","french","cuisine","Curnonsky","regionalism","France"],"dc:title":["Region, Nation and Gastronomy: Regionalism in Gastronomic Texts of the Early 20th Century (1900-1939)"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["French"],"thesis:degree_level":["Doctoral"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy"],"thesis:institution_name":["The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:59:54Z"}