CLCS 284 - A Taste of Terroir: French Methodologies for Experiencing the Earth

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

(Same as FREN 284) The uniquely French concept of “terroir” explains how the physiographic properties of the origin of a food or wine can be detected in its taste. Yet, although the French have “tasted the earth” through foods for more than 500 years, the idea remains problematic: some believe terroir to be more myth than science. This seminar queries the intersection between the science and myth of terroir, mapping the latter’s evolution from Antiquity to the Renaissance and the French Revolution to the modern-day Parisian Restaurant. Along the way, we discover what terroir can tell us of French political theory, aesthetic appreciation, and an Epicurean philosophical movement subverted but never extinguished by Cartesian dualism. Other themes include: food and satire, the birth of connoisseurship, landscape theory, and the evolving dialect between nature and culture. Just as Proust used the flavors of the Madeleine to travel in time, we learn how the French use the “psychogeographics” of terroir to revisit forgotten places. Tastings accompany texts as we savor the fine line between science and figments of the French imagination. Taught in English. A $35 enrollment fee for the tasting component will be charged to enrolled students. Mr. Parker.

Two 75-minute periods.