National cuisine
I find it particularly interesting when writers wear different hats and particularly the one where they come close to the work of lexicographers. Some words such as ‘authenticity’ that are more popular than others are often misused, misunderstood, abused or get distorted and maligned in gastronomic writing (Weiss:2011). I believe writers must begin by defining or redefining their key words, problem words, words they love in the form of a compendium or dictionary. A book in this regard is a quest for some elusive definitions (Kundera:2005). This week’s essential reading of a chapter begins with one such word ‘Cuisine’ as it is murky enough to merit some discussion (Mintz:1996).
Mintz begins his chapter ‘Cuisine: High, low and not at all’ in the style of novelists and wordsmiths such as Ali Smith and Milan Kundera, whose works I most revere in this regard. Mintz begins by giving a summary of the etymology of the word ‘Cuisine’ and how its standard dictionary definitions do not render it precise. He embarks on what “cuisine” can mean and talks about national cuisine, regional cuisine, haute cuisine and the possibility of having no cuisine.
The difference between cuisine and haute cuisine as summarized by Mintz is that the latter represents more than one region and the former as he states in the chapter can be regional but not national. I find this notion of looking at cuisine from his lens interesting as all experience is local. All identity is experience (Selasi: 2015). “Cuisines, when seen from the perspective of people who care about the foods, are never the foods of a country, but the foods of a place” (Mintz:1996). So in that sense ‘cuisine’ cannot be national and makes most sense as being regional. This view of cuisine being local reminds me of a passage from ‘Making Tea, Making Japan’ on how nations are made tangible:
Nations are made tangible in any number of ways: historical events, heroic persons,
expressive landscapes, official monuments, signature buildings, public holidays, tics
of character, and repertoires of gesture, in addition to local forms of music, literature,
painting, or dance, or varieties of fashion, sports, and cuisine (Surak: 2013).
One of the other problem words for me is the word ‘National’ which this chapter does not address, although it does question what constitutes ‘National’. Surak (2013) stresses that a montage of these aforementioned forms can multiply the effects of each. Nation can be made tangible through local cuisine but it does not mean that the local cuisine alone can symbolize national ? Even though Mintz has argued that a national cuisine is a contradiction in terms and that there can be regional cuisines but not national cuisines. I would like to add here that nations are often imagined and consumed in everyday life in culinary terms by declaring some aspect of their cuisine unique (Molnár:2017). In retrospect, I would like to conclude by saying that even though I was able to grasp an understanding of the different cuisines, I am still not sure If I have understood how a cuisine becomes national and the difference between how ‘National’ is defined, consumed and imagined in culinary terms and gastronomic writing.
References
Illustration (by author/ me)
Kundera, M. and Asher, L., 2005. Art of novel. 8th ed. croydon: faber and faber.
Mintz, Sidney W. (1996) ‘Cuisine: high, low, and not at all’, in his Tasting Food, Tasting Freedom: Excursions into Eating, Culture, and the Past. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, pp. 92-105.
Weiss, Allen S. (2011) ‘Authenticity’, Gastronomica, 11 (4): 74-77.
Surak, Kristin (2012) Making Tea, Making Japan: Cultural Nationalism in Practice. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
TED talks, 2015. Dont ask where I'm from, ask where I'm local. [video] Available at: <https://www.ted.com/talks/taiye_selasi_don_t_ask_where_i_m_from_ask_where_i_m_a_local> [Accessed 10 April 2021].
Zubrzycki, G. and Molnár, V., 2017. National Matters. California: Stanford University press, p.151.
