Author: heckerti

Last Sunday, my classmates and I had the unique experience of sharing a traditional French gastronomic meal with the host families of Dickinsonians studying abroad in Toulouse. Gastronomic meals, which are eaten to mark special occasions, are elaborate and strictly structured, making them as much a celebration of French cuisine as of the occasion itself (UNESCO, n.d.).

Jenn, Dinela, Isaac, and I were hosted by Cécile and her Dickinson student, Emily. We were joined by Cécile’s friend, Laurence, who was visiting from London. Our meal differed from traditional gastronomic meals, as some of us don’t eat meat and others don’t drink alcohol. This gave us the opportunity to see how modern French families are adapting tradition to fit their needs. We began with bubbly, non-alcoholic beer, and juice for apéritif, along with pastries, crackers, avacado, and cherry tomatoes. Instead of the Sunday roast Cécile would usually make, she prepared a vegetarian cheese and leek quiche. As Laurence noted, this is a very popular dish, making our meal just as quintessentially French as if we had eaten meat. We also had two types of green salads with nuts and dried fruits, and a lentil and carrot dish similar to the daals Cécile often makes for herself. As Cécile prefers a more casual meal, the entrées and main dishes were served at the same time, family-style instead of the typical structure of individual courses.

As we ate, we discussed sustainability within the French food system. Cécile and Laurence had very different ideas on what makes a meal sustainable than the ones we’ve been discussing in class. For example, they are both skeptical of organic foods. They don’t believe they are environmentally friendly, as organic foods can still be grown with chemicals and industrial agricultural methods, and the organic products in supermarchés look “too perfect.” As Cécile said, for a food to be truly organic, “it has to be a bit brown, a bit broken down.” She chooses only shop at markets in order to find the best vendors for each product and, to lower her carbon footprint, chooses locally grown produce. Laurence, on the other hand, has engineered her cooking practices so that she has no food waste whatsoever. She buys small amounts of food and never cooks more food than necessary, choosing to eat cheese or dessert if she’s hungry after meals.

The key to their sustainability mindset seems to be incorporating good practices into their lifestyles so that sustainability becomes automatic. A wider scale example of this is Cécile’s apartment building’s composting system. Outdoor composters are accessible to all residents, who have individual compost collection bins in each of their homes. The bins in the backyard serve as “nudges,” prompting residents to separate their waste (Raworth, 2023). As a result, composting is no longer a conscious choice but an easy part of residents’ routines. These nudges show that both individuals and communities have fluid values that can be changed if their environments change, giving me hope for sustainable change in other French neighborhoods and beyond (Raworth, 2023).

 

Sources

Raworth, K. (2023.) Donut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21^st-Century Economist. Chelsea Green Publishing.

UNESCO. n.d. Gastronomic meal of the French. https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/gastronomic-meal-of-the-french-00437?RL=00437.