The Rise and Fall of French Cuisine in the United States - Paul Freedman

Friends Culture & Cuisine Talk: November 15, 2013
"The Rise and Fall of French Cuisine in
the United States"
Paul Freedman
More videos on video.ias.edu

[@musclesmc1234]

I'd listen to Paul Freedman read the yellow pages.

[@maxheadrom3088]

What brought me here is my liking of food - can't live without it. I would love to hear a history of the fall of American cuisine. I'm from Brazil and know nothing about US cooking - except the scene in which John Wayne eats in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance". My question: how did the US go from eating steak and whole fried potatoes to barbecuing burgers and eating chips?

[@zakesters]

The notion of contemporary bistros relying mainly on the _cachet_ of things French rather than the actual gastronomic tradition rings pretty true. There's a little vignette in the third installment of the video game trilogy _Mass Effect,_ set roughly two centuries in the future, that plays the concept for laughs. The hero is ambushed by antagonists at a high-end sushi restaurant on a space station called "Ryuusei" with an entirely French staff and various extra-terrestrial patrons that can be overheard gushing about the prestige of eating "authentic French sushi." I doubt the devs were making a conscious comment about Nouvelle Cuisine, of course, but it does demonstrate the idea is bouncing around in the _zeitgeist._

[@ssbphotography]

4:17 Talk begins.

[@cueball7428]

From the history of the Roman Empire to all you ever wa ted to know about French cuisine is not that great a leap for Paul. I hear him using the same critical analysis of the Chef as the creator rather than guardian of tradition as he does in his wonderful lectures on the Roman Emperor's . Constantine- guardian or creator? He is one brilliant academic. Such a tonic to the parade of screenwriter's masquerading as historians that we have all to many of today .

[@roodborstkalf9664]

Very interesting lecture. It's true that the dominance of French cuisine has also ended in parts of Europe I know outside France. When I was a child in the seventies this dominance was still there. If I speak for myself I think the reason it ended was persistent low value for money in comparison with other cuisines.

[@asitriresearch]

@10:00 Not even a mention of Germany.

[@madtrade]

french cuisine still the best by far tho it's insane how many good cooks they have. a random one star michelin from france will have a complete mastery of his craft to such a level that is hard to understand for the foreigner. frankly there is no competition beside the italians. a good chef in france must be an excellent baker,patissier,saucier,cook,grill master, roaster, gardener,somellier, fromagier,butcher etc you hardly find anyone that can master the full spectrum of cooking like that.

[@liamhayes1011]

France isn't an island but culturally the French have been obtusely insular for a very long time, never more so than in their assumption that no other country could have a cuisine to match theirs. The truth is that there are great dishes to be found all over the world and a vast wealth of culinary knowledge and expertise to be explored everywhere. It isn't for nothing that the 'great' Paul Bocuse has been called the Stalin of cuisine: authoritarian reflexes twitch along French nerves, not least when it comes to food. Technically, professional French cooking is superb but as a people the French need to lighten up and be more open to new ideas: if they could do that, the standing of their cuisine would rise again.

[@MatthewMcVeagh]

I agree, but for me what's so sad is not the French attitude itself, but the way a lot of the rest of the world accepts it. There is a huge cultural cringe in countries like my own, the UK, and it's completely unnecessary. In other circumstances the French snottiness would be their undoing internationally; instead it has been their making. I can't see how their particular set of culinary values will survive in the sort of ecology-determined world we are moving into, where climate catastrophe will transform diets, ingredients, cooking styles and nutrition.

[@jeffsanders6793]

The French people I know are very kind and accommodating and certainly not arrogant at all. Their cuisine is a southeastern "country French" faire.

[@michaelmanning5379]

Chauvin was a Frenchman but the French do not have a monopoly on snotty "exceptionalism". Besides, as everyone knows, God is an Englishman.

[@dudeidontcare3430]

French inwardness you're complaining about is what keeps its standards high unlike incoherent dirtpile island Britain where they think curry is English food

[@JJaqn05]

@@dudeidontcare3430 Depends on the curry. There is English curry, Korean curry, Indian curry. There are plenty of different curries. Stop being an ignorant idiot

[@praveensrinivasa3503]

do French have there own cuisine culture???