Camembert: A National MythUniversity of California Press, 2003 - 254 páginas Camembert—delectably fragrant, creamy-centered, neatly boxed—is the most popular and most famous French cheese. Originally made by hand in the Norman countryside, it is now mass-produced internationally, yet Camembert remains a national symbol for France, emblematic of its cultural identity. In this witty and entertaining book, Pierre Boisard investigates the history of Camembert and its legend. He considers the transformation of France's cheese-making industry and along the way gives a highly selective, yet richly detailed history of France—from the Revolution to the European Union. Camembert: A National Myth weaves together culinary and social history in a fascinating tale about the changing nature of food with implications for every modern consumer. As the legend goes, by coincidence, grand design, or clever marketing, the birth of Camembert corresponds almost exactly in time with the birth of the French republic. In this book, republicans and Bonapartists, revolutionaries and priests are reconciled over the contents of a little round box, originating a great myth and a great nation. The story of the cheese's growing fame features Napoleon, Louis Pasteur, the soldiers of the First World War, and many others. Beneath this intriguing story, however, runs a grittier tale about the history of food production. We learn, for example, how Camembert became white—a topic that becomes a metaphor for the sanitation of the countryside—and how Americans discovered the secrets of its production. As he describes the transformation of the Camembert industry and the changing quality of the cheese itself, Boisard reveals what we stand to lose from industrialization, the hallmark of the past century. Today, small producers of raw-milk, ladle-molded Camembert are fighting to keep their tradition alive. Boisard brings us to a new appreciation of the sensual appeal of a lovely cheese and whets the appetite for a taste of the authentic product. |
Contenido
Marie Harel and Her Descendants | 25 |
Camembert Goes National | 69 |
The Reign of the Great Families | 116 |
The War of the Two Camemberts | 160 |
The Image of Camembert | 196 |
Permanence of the Myth | 221 |
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Términos y frases comunes
agricultural appellation d'origine Archives attempt Auge cheese Augeron began bert Besnier brand Brie butter Caen Calvados Camem Camembert cheese Camembert de Normandie Camembert industry Camembert producers cattle century cheese factories cheese producers cheese-making cheese's collected competition consumers countryside cows created curd curdling Cyrille Paynel dairy farms demand Département embert employees fabrication farmers firm France France's French Fromagère Fromages hand increase industrial Camembert invention Knirim label labor ladle-molded Laitière Lanquetot Lepetit Les Halles Lisieux Livarot Livarot cheeses managed Marie Harel methods molds Morière myth Nestlé Norman Camembert Norman cheese makers Normandy's origin owners Paris Parisian market Pasteur Institute pasteurization Penicillium candidum Pierre Pierre Boisard Pont l'Évêque priest production raw-milk Camembert region rennet rural Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives sell SFVCN small cheese soft-centered cheese sold statue success syndicate syndicate's taste tion took traditional cheese Tremblay turned village Vimoutiers workers
Referencias a este libro
Economy's Tension: The Dialectics of Community and Market Stephen Gudeman Vista previa limitada - 2008 |