Fine faces and beautiful feathers

Since the early 2000s, cooking has become a staple of French media. The proliferation of cooking shows, blogs, newspapers, recipe books, cooking classes and festivals has also seen the emergence of the figure of the foodiea modern, young and connected incarnation of the gastronome of yesteryear. Sidonie Naulin analyzes this vogue from a sociological perspective; less to trace its history than to analyze “the media devices, and in particular journalistic ones, which support and encourage it” (p. 8). Far from the now outdated approaches which saw gastronomy as a minor art, unworthy of the attention of academics outside of court cuisine and illustrious amateur figures (from Brillat-Savarin to Curnonsky), this work reaffirms the importance of this field as an object of study, in line with food studies. Approved by the media and invested with their power of prescription, gastronomy becomes a cultural barometer, and by the same token an economic issue. Culinary journalism is therefore invested with a major sociological role, since it possesses, via a set of selection, evaluation and information dissemination devices, the power to define what would be a priori gastronomic, and what would not. Words in the mouth analyzes this power of prescription in the light of three parameters: historical developments, work environment and economic trends. On the side of primary sources, the analysis is based on the analysis of the press and culinary blogs, and on a program of interviews conducted with players in gastronomic journalism.

History of Food Journalism

Food journalism was born in XIX^e century, with the very appearance of the term “gastronomy”, or the art of good food – from the choice of ingredients to the ways of preparing and tasting them. With the democratization of the restaurant, professional cuisine is no longer the preserve of the aristocracy and the upper middle class, and therefore becomes a consumer good, with its own economy. From the outset, gastronomic journalism has intended to have a dual function: a commercial intermediary between lovers of fine food and the establishment where they can eat, it is also a cultural intermediary, able to define what “good eating” is, to differentiate between ambrosia and broth. Both a mirror of its time and an echo chamber, gastronomic journalism disseminates culinary fashions as much as it makes and unmakes them. Its role is therefore anything but insignificant in the creation and perpetuation of culinary heritage, even more so in a country like France, so jealous of its gastronomic aura. Cuisine and Wines of Francea flagship title of the French gastronomic press at the end of the XIX^e in the middle of the XX^e century, illustrates this synergy between the power of prescription and historical context. During the interwar period, at a time when patriotism was fashionable, the magazine established itself as the guardian of French culinary traditions, and put regionalism in the spotlight, to better signify the nation’s renewed vivacity.

The landscape is more varied today, due to the growing number of cooking enthusiasts, but also to competitive logic that leads to the creation of economic niches. The French gastronomic press market is then split between “recipe” magazines focused on so-called “home cooking”, and gastronomic magazines with a decidedly prescriptive tone. This effort to define and disseminate an art of good eating involves several expectations: gastronomic critics often as publicized as the cooks they evaluate, advanced culinary styling, chronicles of great restaurants and recipes from renowned chefs.

Amateurs vs. Professionals

Another divide is between amateurs and professionals. The latter traditionally dominate the sector of gastronomic journalism in the name of a triple expertise: culinary, literary and ethical, with the defense of this cardinal value of the profession that is objectivity. The rise of blogs, however, blurs the boundaries, since the authors present themselves as influencers, but while maintaining their amateur status, at least at the beginning. Indeed, many bloggers have transformed their site into a career, to become recipe developers, authors or culinary journalists. Conversely, the latter often keep a blog, a platform that can offer them more freedom of tone and content than the traditional press, and which also serves to build their public image – and therefore their power of prescription.

Sign and consequence of this blurring: the general impression of uniformity that emerges today from the content. Among bloggers as among professional journalists, we criticize the same establishments, using the same criteria, which have become canonical thanks to gastronomic guides: decoration, service, value for money. The judgments are all the more similar because they participate in the same “economy of relations and exchanges of information” (p. 303) where the question of ethics arises. An open secret in the field, the culinary critic, whether blogger and/or journalist, is often invited by the restaurant’s press service. It is therefore difficult to achieve sacrosanct objectivity. In this world with blurred contours, the difference in terms of prescriptive power then comes from the individual aura of this or that influential journalist, collective or blogger.

Economy of influence

So how can you differentiate yourself and capitalize on your prescriptive power? The stakes are high, since gastronomy has both symbolic value in France (since it is an integral part of the national heritage) and economic value (given the weight of the hotel and restaurant sector, a sector of which gastronomic journalism is one of the main showcases). Two major, and not exclusive, strategies are identified. On the one hand, individual staging, which leads, for a minority of actors, to celebrity. The case of François Simon, a gastronomic critic at Figaro and blogger, is unique as much as it is the sign of a real communication tactic. If Simon has become one of the most famous culinary columnists in France, it is thanks to his pen, but also, paradoxically, because he never reveals his face. On the other hand, some manage to stand out by developing an innovative gastronomic paradigm. Claimed heirs to the iconoclastic talent of Nouvelle Cuisine, Fooding and Omnivore, guides born in the 2000s for a young, urban and cosmopolitan audience, have today become institutions.

In the case of both strategies, success comes from the same combination of factors. First of all, the existence of a public of gourmets receptive to innovation. Then, the ability to grasp the spirit of the times, the change in culinary trends. Finally, the ability to disseminate this novelty. The Gault & Millau guide has thus become the apostle of Nouvelle Cuisine against the old; Fooding and Omnivore have become known thanks to the organization of gastronomic events, between festivals, ephemeral restaurants and culinary workshops.

Conclusion

At the end of this decoding of an environment that is still too little known despite its economic and symbolic importance, Sidonie Naulin brilliantly succeeds in the challenge of this collection “Table des hommes”, the first in French to question the link between societies and food. Far from being a minor subject, gastronomy raises the question of the social role of eating well, particularly when we consider the performative role of gastronomic journalism. However, we would have liked to know a little more about the concrete impact of these prescription mechanisms on society, particularly in terms of restaurant attendance, the shaping of the tastes of an era, or the attitudes of the population towards gastronomy, at a time when environmental awareness shows that eating well is inseparable from consuming well. The question arises with all the more urgency since anyone with internet access can now proclaim themselves an influencer. Words in the mouth remains, however, a fascinating work, where the abundance of quantitative data does not detract from the pleasure of reading. We want more.