ABSTRACT
Gastronomy is a powerful tool of national self-fashioning in France, influencing and shaping how France sees itself and hopes to be seen. While food has proven a consistent cultural, political, social, and economic touchstone throughout French history, the rapid and profound changes that mark France during the Fifth Republic have caused the French to think about and consume food in new ways. This chapter engages various elements and actors of gastronomy, including agriculture, the paysan, domestic kitchens, trends in consumption, gastrodiplomacy, and gastronomic racism as a lens through which to view and understand France and the French.
