| Popis: |
Although the cultural backgrounds of its population largely determined food choice in colonial Louisiana (the French generally preferred European foods and resisted indigenous foods), economic resources were equally, if not more important in determining taste. Applying the ideas of Claude Fischler and Pierre Bourdieu, this thesis examines the historical development of a distinct cuisine against both developmental and socioeconomic processes, as the overall development of the colonial economy made bare survival more remote and resource distribution became increasingly hierarchical. This meant, on the one hand, that once merchants firmly established shipping routes, colonial elites could import Roquefort cheese or host lavish parties as a kind of conspicuous consumption. On the other hand, much of the population remained in a precarious state, and could face starvation with a bad turn in the weather. The division between necessity and luxury in food choice reflected class divisions in colonial society. These divisions grew in proportion with the economic development of the colony; this grew from relatively egalitarian conditions when subsistence and necessity were the norm to increasing conspicuous consumption and discursive strategies for marking good and bad taste. |
