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WORK TITLE: A Bite-Sized History of France: Gastronomic Tales of Revolution, War, and Enlightenment
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: Nantes
STATE:
COUNTRY: France
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Married Jeni Mitchell (a writer); children: Jules.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Cheesemonger, food writer, and culinary historian.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Stéphane Hénaut is the coauthor, with his wife Jeni Mitchell, of A Bite-Sized History of France: Gastronomic Tales of Revolution, War, and Enlightenment, a history of some of the most famous products from French kitchens and farms. “The deepest roots of this book,” Hénault stated in the introduction to A Bite-Sized History of France, “lie not in France but in its eternal bête noire, England. It was in South London that I, Stéphane, a dilettante French cheesemonger, met Jen, a newly arrived American graduate student. This meeting led to a love story; a wedding with a very impressive cheese board; our son, Jules; and, eventually, after we moved to France, to the creation of this book.” The work emerged as a collaboration between the two when the French cheesemonger was convincing his American-born bride to broaden her palate and enjoy some of the French cheeses he loved. “Soon,” Hénaut continued in his introduction to A Bite-Sized History of France, “Jen started thinking that if we could put these stories together, in their historical and social context, it would be possible to not only share interesting food anecdotes but also slowly wander through the history and landscape of France. Perhaps this way people might better understand why the French spend an enormous proportion of their waking hours and income on food, and why in France we do not only eat food, we savor it, we talk and sing about it, we philosophize about its meaning in life.”
Hénaut and Mitchell begin their journey through French cuisine with stories of the Gauls and the Romans, who introduced grape production and wine-drinking into the conquered province in the first century BCE. “In a series of brief chapters,” wrote a Kirkus Reviews contributor, “… we learn about a variety of iconic French foods; when, why, and how they emerged; and what their status is today.” The journey continues through the medieval period and explains the popularity of organ meat in the town of Limoges, the emperor Charlemagne’s edicts on the production of honey, and the importance of bread during the French Revolution. “Henault and Mitchell,” stated a Publishers Weekly reviewer, “are often witty (perhaps most amusingly illustrated by a chapter called ‘War and Peas’).” “The origins of the most legendary French foods and wines—from Roquefort and cognac to croissants and Calvados, from absinthe and oysters to Camembert and champagne—also reveal the social and political trends that propelled France’s rise upon the world stage,” explained a contributor to the New Press website. “They help explain France’s dark history of war and conquest, as well as its most enlightened cultural achievements.” “We will be pleased if this book makes you want to travel to France and wander through its markets, towns, and countryside,” Hénaut declared. “But if at the end of this book all you do is go out and buy a bottle of French wine, some fresh bread, and a French cheese of your liking, and enjoy them with a new appreciation … then we will consider our mission accomplished.”
Critics enjoyed Hénaut’s and Mitchell’s trip through French history and cuisine. “The intertwining between the gastronomical and historical is often robust,” observed James Norton in the Christian Science Monitor, “but not invariably – sometimes a big block of violent history is tied to a slender reed of gastronomy, as when chestnuts are used as an entryway to talk about the massacre of the Huguenots. There’s nothing particularly wrong with this – while individual mini-chapters may skew toward food or revolution, the overall balance is fairly close.” “This,” asserted Tracy Rowan in Tales from Crazy House, “is the sort of book that will get you up out of your chair to root around in the refrigerator for something really tasty to eat.”
BIOCRIT
BOOKS
Hénaut, Stéphane, and Jeni Mitchell, A Bite-Sized History of France: Gastronomic Tales of Revolution, War, and Enlightenment, New Press (New York, NY), 2018.
PERIODICALS
Christian Science Monitor, July 18, 2018, James Norton, review of A Bite-Sized History of France.
Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 2018, review of A Bite-Sized History of France.
Publishers Weekly, April 23, 2018, review of A Bite-Sized History of France, p. 74.
ONLINE
New Press, https://thenewpress.com/ (August 29, 2018), review of A Bite-Sized History of France.
Tales from Crazy House, https://tracyrowanwrites.wordpress.com/ (May 29, 2018), Tracy Rowan, review of A Bite-Sized History of France.
Stéphane Hénaut’s wide-ranging career in food includes working in the Harrods fromagerie, cooking for the Lord Mayor of London’s banquets, and selling obscure vegetables in a French fruiterie. He lives in Berlin.
Henaut, Stephane: A BITE-SIZED HISTORY OF FRANCE
Kirkus Reviews. (May 1, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Henaut, Stephane A BITE-SIZED HISTORY OF FRANCE New Press (Adult Nonfiction) $26.99 7, 10 ISBN: 978-1-62097-251-9
A husband and wife--he is French; she, American--move briskly through the history of France with a picnic basket full of information about the connections between history and gastronomy.
The research underlying this account is sturdy and impressive. Henaut, who has had a long, diverse career in food, and Mitchell (War Studies/King's Coll. London) take us on a tasty chronological journey, beginning with the Gauls and ending with McDonald's (France is "the second most profitable market for McDonald's worldwide"). In a series of brief chapters, most only a few pages long, we learn about a variety of iconic French foods; when, why, and how they emerged; and what their status is today. The authors discuss baguettes, brie, honey, champagne, vegetables, fruit, salt, vinegar, sauces, chocolate, crepes, and chicken. We see the emergence of table manners and customs, from sitting while eating to wielding a fork. Readers will enjoy learning how certain historical luminaries are associated with the popularity of various foods: Charlemagne and honey, the Black Prince and cassoulet, Louis XIII and chestnuts. The authors also show clearly the effects of warfare on cuisine. The World War I trenches in France featured a sustaining cheese for the beleaguered troops. We learn, too, about the integration of foods originally from external sources--e.g., couscous from Algeria is now a fond French favorite--and we see the effects of improved transportation on the French diet. The authors do not float lightly over the darkness of history. They write bluntly about the egregiousness of colonialism, slavery, warfare, and inhumanity of all sorts. They also work hard to separate fact from legend, which is not always an easy task. The authors chronicle the emergence of certain brands we associate with France--like Gray Poupon mustard--and discuss the lack of popularity of peanut butter.
A genial journey through history that will leave readers both satiated and ravenous.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Henaut, Stephane: A BITE-SIZED HISTORY OF FRANCE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 May 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A536571079/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=22f1ddf1. Accessed 27 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A536571079
A Bite-Sized History of France: Gastronomic Tales of Revolution, War, and Enlightenment
Publishers Weekly. 265.17 (Apr. 23, 2018): p74.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
A Bite-Sized History of France: Gastronomic Tales of Revolution, War, and Enlightenment
Stephane Henaut and Jeni Mitchell. New
Press, $26.99 (352p) ISBN 978-1-62097-251-9
Husband-and-wife authors Heniult and Mitchell serve up a fascinating history of France through food. They discuss Marie Antoinette's notorious phrase "let them eat cake" (which the authors maintain she never actually said in response to being told "the people of France had no more bread to eat") and the role sugar played in the city of Nantes, known for its rum-soaked vanilla cake (due to France's slave-based sugar-cane plantations in the Caribbean, the city developed sugar refineries in the late 17th century). Referring to Napoleon's famous adage--"an army marches on its stomach"--the authors recount an omen involving his flipping of crepes ahead of his failed invasion of Moscow (he flipped four crepes perfectly as a sign of good luck, but the fifth fell into the flames). The authors share some intriguing facts: a country as small as France, for example, produces five million tons of potatoes yearly. The authors also discuss the country's drastically declining bee population, which caused French honey production to drop from 30,000 tons in the early 1990s to 10,000 tons in 2014. Henault and Mitchell are often witty (perhaps most amusingly illustrated by a chapter called "War and Peas") even as they present their exceptionally well-researched material. This culinary history is a treat for Francophiles. July)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"A Bite-Sized History of France: Gastronomic Tales of Revolution, War, and Enlightenment." Publishers Weekly, 23 Apr. 2018, p. 74. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A536532923/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=bb04991f. Accessed 27 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A536532923
'A Bite-Sized History of France' delightfully combines French history with gastronomy
Whatever this rollicking survey lacks in focus, it more than makes up for with its brisk, witty, imaginative voice.
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What are you reading?
July 18, 2018
By James Norton
Napoleon’s most famous (and probably apocryphal) quote weaves together war and food: "An army marches on its stomach.” In a few short words, we are led to consider the immense logistics that make war possible, and the humanity of the people who wage it. It’s a fitting quote to introduce A Bite-Sized History of France, a new and impressive book that intertwines stories of gastronomy, culture, war, and revolution.
Each amuse bouche-sized chapter of “A Bite-Sized History of France” tackles a different theme, ranging from the relationship between the revolutionary government and potatoes to the connection between the thoughts of philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau and a search for “authentic” French food. The book delves back to the origins of seemingly eternal fixtures of French food culture (chocolate, raw oysters, sweet pastries) and teases out the meaning of their arrival. And it dives into serious historical events ranging from revolutions to sectarian massacres with real conviction, recapping many of the most significant political and military developments in France’s long history as it goes.
Throughout the book, the authors return to certain themes that tie together its many far-flung topics and tastes. Chief among these are the theme of inequality – an examination of how the rich and the poor pursue pleasure and sustenance is at the heart of “A Bite-Sized History of France” and that frame provides a window into economics, inequality, and revolution. Perhaps mostly strikingly, the authors tell the story of a famous Christmas Day feast for wealthy Parisian during the 1870 siege by Prussian troops. Food had seemingly run out, but for those with means, the zoo would serve as a kind of exotic butcher shop:
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“[The meal] began with a stuffed donkey’s head, an inelegant successor to the usual porcine centerpieces of prewar banquets. The soup course included elephant consommé. This was followed by kangaroo stew, rack of bear in pepper sauce, and roasted camel à l'anglaise (a cheeky reference to what the French saw as the plainness of English cuisine.) The main course included le chat flanqué de rats (cat flanked by rats) and cuissot de loup, sauce chevreuil (wolf in deer sauce), a wry inversion of the natural order.”
Time and again, authors Stéphane Hénaut and Jeni Mitchell look beyond a beloved French snack and find a much bigger story. Behind the French love of butter, stories of Catholic indulgences and brutal suppression of Protestant revolts; behind the tradition of the patisserie, the slavery and war that supported the conversion of sugar from a luxury good to a commodity. The second story, in particular, is rich and chilling: Rum, guns, sugar, and slaves churned around the Atlantic in what the authors describe as a “diabolical trade pattern,” bringing luxury goods to the rising middle classes of Europe and helping to build the American colonial enterprise while destroying native populations in the Americas and enslaving millions of Africans. By the late 1700s, the authors note, the sugar trade accounted for one sixth of French export income, which created powerful incentives to defend and expand an industry reliant on slave labor.
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The intertwining between the gastronomical and historical is often robust but not invariably – sometimes a big block of violent history is tied to a slender reed of gastronomy, as when chestnuts are used as an entryway to talk about the massacre of the Huguenots. There’s nothing particularly wrong with this – while individual mini-chapters may skew toward food or revolution, the overall balance is fairly close, and most of the threads of this story are tied off neatly. And beyond food itself, Henaut and Mitchell also draw on their many sources to offer knowledgeable assessments of French wine and spirits, tying them into both gastronomy and larger historical forces.
It’s a shame that there aren’t more books like “A Bite-Sized History of France.” Whatever it lacks in focus, it more than makes up for with its brisk, witty, imaginative voice and its shotgun generalist approach to both history and gastronomy. It’s a roller coaster ride, and when you’re done you’ll wish you could come back for more.
A Bite-Sized History of France
Gastronomic Tales of Revolution, War, and Enlightenment
Stéphane Hénaut Jeni Mitchell
A French cheesemonger and an American academic and ex-pat join forces to serve up a sumptuous history of France and its food, in the delicious tradition of Anthony Bourdain, Peter Mayle, and Pamela Druckerman
“How can anyone govern a nation that has 246 varieties of cheese?” —Charles de Gaulle
From the cassoulet that won a war to the crêpe that doomed Napoleon, from the rebellions sparked by bread and salt to the new cuisines forged by empire, the history of France is intimately entwined with its gastronomic pursuits. A witty exploration of the facts and legends surrounding some of the most popular French foods and wines by a French cheesemonger and an American academic, A Bite-Sized History of France tells the compelling and often surprising story of France from the Roman era to modern times. Traversing the cuisines of France’s most famous cities as well as its underexplored regions, this innovative social history explores the impact of war and imperialism, the age-old tension between tradition and innovation, and the enduring use of food to prop up social and political identities.
The origins of the most legendary French foods and wines—from Roquefort and cognac to croissants and Calvados, from absinthe and oysters to Camembert and champagne—also reveal the social and political trends that propelled France’s rise upon the world stage. They help explain France’s dark history of war and conquest, as well as its most enlightened cultural achievements and the political and scientific innovations that transformed human history. These gastronomic tales will edify even the most seasoned lovers of food, history and all things French.
Topics: World History/WWII
Stéphane Hénaut
Stéphane Hénaut - Photo: Lidia Tirri
Stéphane Hénaut’s wide-ranging career in food includes working in the Harrods fromagerie, cooking for the Lord Mayor of London’s banquets, and selling obscure vegetables in a French fruiterie. The co-author, with Jeni...
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Jeni Mitchell
Jeni Mitchell - Photo: Lidia Tirri
Jeni Mitchell is a teaching fellow in the Department of War Studies, King’s College London. The co-author, with Stéphane Hénaut, of A Bite-Sized History of France (The New Press), she lives in Berlin.
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Praise
“From the delights of French chocolate (through Portuguese Jews of Bayonne) to France’s passion for plums (brought home by the Templars from Damascus), A Bite-Sized History of France offers satisfaction for all: tastes of history from the people who gave perhaps the world’s greatest cuisine to the whole world. Why travel with a guide book on dry history, architecture, or politics when you can sink your teeth into such a delicious feast?”
—Juliette Rossant, author of Super Chef
“Who would have guessed forks had so much to do with bayonets? From the introduction of wine to Gaul by the Romans to Napoleon’s pancake predictions before entering Russia, the strange dialectics of war and peas offer a fascinating means of exploring the origins of French culinary traditions. Funny and historically accurate, this delicious book will make you want to raid the fridge.”
—Jean Lopez, founder and editor-in-chief, Guerres & Histoire
“Have the French ever done anything that wasn’t motivated, one way or another, by their search for good food? It seems not, and I can’t imagine a more fascinating or titillating angle to explore the history of France than this wonderful book.”
—Clotilde Dusoulier, author of Tasting Paris: 100 Recipes to Eat like a Local
News and Reviews
Henaut and Mitchell's A Bite-Sized History of France
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Christian Science Monitor
[A] new and impressive book that intertwines stories of gastronomy, culture, war, and revolution. . . It’s a roller coaster ride, and when you’re done you’ll wish you could come back for more.
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TIME.com
A “Best Books of Summer” pick
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Christian Science Monitor
A “10 Best Books of July” pick
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Review: A Bite-Sized History of France: Delicious, Gastronomic Tales of Revolution, War, and Enlightenment, by Jeni Mitchell
MAY 29, 2018 ~ TRACY ROWAN
36461238[1]
This is the sort of book that will get you up out of your chair to root around in the refrigerator for something really tasty to eat. It deals with bread, and cheese, and wine, of course. How could it not? But it also gives the reader an insight into how the potato came to be so loved in France, or what fruit excites the most anticipation in the summer (It’s the plum. Who knew?)
It is a history of France, seen through the lens of its culinary interests and obsessions. We learn, for example, that Roquefort cheese is something very specific to France, and the chances of finding it in the US is slim. Ditto French brie, which is apparently nothing like the brie we eat in the states. Much has to do with food regulations, some put in place out of (a sometimes mistaken) sense of public welfare, and others as punitive.
The Iraq war “freedom fries” kerfuffle (definitely not our finest hour) is mentioned along with the information that since frites are actually Belgian, the French didn’t really much care if we changed the name out of pique. No skin off their potatoes. And in fairness, they’re not immune to rebranding themselves. During the revolution, bakers were forced to create something known as pain d’egalite, or equality bread, which was to be eaten by both high and low alike.
While not exhaustive, some of the later chapters failed to hold my full attention, suggesting that perhaps the historical survey of French eating habits might have been better served if it had been a course or two shorter. Still, it’s an amusing and informative book that will probably make you hungry. Well worth a look.