ABSTRACT

The rise of nation-states has been the dominant political trend in modern world history. Having replaced the monarchy with a national government, the French Revolution of 1789 also brought about the nationalization of Versailles's court cuisine. French culinary discourse, based on the consumption of texts as well as foods, took shape in the early nineteenth century. The restaurant menu provided a crucial intersection between text and practice in this modern gastronomic culture. The project of nation building, like the creation of Parisian gastronomy, involved forging a unified French identity at the expense of regional loyalties, but peasants insisted on negotiating the terms of their incorporation into the national community. Latin Americans took the lead in imagining distinctive national identities but paradoxically lagged behind in achieving national unification. National ideology, like Western technology and culture, posed dilemmas for Asian societies. Unlike China, Japan had a long history of adopting foreign culture, notwithstanding Tokugawa-era isolation.