French Food — Why It’s Revered,
Respected, and Relished
10:00 a.m., Friday, Oct. 6, 2006
Webster Hall Auditorium
Admission: free

As one American shopping in a French grocery store exclaimed: “They don’t have food — they only have the makings for food!” That comment might, in a nutshell, explain the very special relationship the French have to their cuisine. Long meals, sitting down to the table as a family, tasting instead of gulping, sipping instead of guzzling — all these are part and parcel of a French culture that respects and reveres food. But things are changing and the French are, sadly, becoming “Americanized” with McDos and Starbucks and fast food. The older generation still knows how to turn out a five-course meal, but what about the younger generation which is more used to Cokes than wine and sandwiches than blanquette de veau? Still, comparatively speaking, the French devote more time and attention to meals than we Americans do and remain maddeningly slim. How do they manage? And can this unique French attitude toward and attention paid to food and drink resist “globalization?”

Iowa native Harriet Welty Rochefort has lived in France since 1971. A freelance journalist and speaker, Ms. Rochefort is the author of two books about the French, French Toast, a humorous tale of Franco-American cultural differences based on her life in France, and French Fried, a memoir of French cuisine in which she divulges some of her French family’s favorite recipes. Both books were published by St. Martin’s Press. She is currently working on a third book about the French. Rochefort’s hobbies include reading, gardening, wine tasting, cooking, and yoga. Her favorite places are her own little garden in Paris and the terrace of any Paris café where she can watch the world go by.