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"TASTE, TECHNOLOGY AND TERROIR: A TRANSATLANTIC DIALOGUE ON FOOD AS CULTURE" Friday,
September 8, 2000
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In the United States, at least, any discussion about the importance of gastronomy, and of the cultural traditions surrounding food, begins with France. For centuries, France has been the standard bearer for fine cooking, the symbol of excellence and quality. But the country that has given birth to such great chefs as Escoffier, Carême, Bocuse and the Frères Troigros is facing a crisis that could not just change the food of France dramatically, but have an impact across the Atlantic in the US. Several factors are contributing to the malaise. For years, French chefs, especially those with the penultimate honor in gastronomy -- three Michelin Guide stars to their credit -- have pursued haute cuisine with increasing difficulty. High costs and a struggling French economy have conspired against some of France's best restaurants. Also at work is globalization, or what the New York Times' William Grimes has described as cultural pressures of the new global economy and the internationalizing of taste. Fast food has made inroads for decades, not just in France but across Europe, as lifestyles have changed. But now other cuisine -- Italian, American, and Asian -- is making an impressive dent. At its most extreme, fusion cuisine in ultra-designed, un-French looking restaurants in Paris symbolizes the hybridization of French cuisine in a post-modern (and post-national) age. More importantly, biotechnology, and, specifically, genetically modified foods that are revolutionizing agribusiness, are facing stiff opposition in France as well as across the European continent. Newspaper headlines call attention to Europe's "fear of food", whether hormone treated US beef, banned by the European Union, or genetically modified foods or organisms (GMF or GMO). Political and economic analysts express fears of a trade war between the US and Europe over GMF. To understand France's debate regarding GMF, one needs to understand the concept of "terroir" and its cultural implications. It is a commonly held belief in France (not to mention other European countries, notably Italy) that the taste of a particular food will vary from region to region, reflecting the physical and cultural constituents of the countryside. For years, "terroir" has meant a commitment to ingredients locally produced by small, independent farmers and cooperatives. In France, you are what you eat in the broadest possible sense. For what you ingest isn't just food but thousands of years of cultural history - from deeply-held regional folk traditions surrounding, for example, planting and harvest seasons to the more personal, family customs that define local societies and that have been handed down over centuries. And the idea of "terroir" has, indeed, been important in the revolution in modern American cooking. But is "terroir" a concept with resonance beyond the borders of France or no more than a marketing gimmick as France's agricultural industry increasingly modernizes, applying more uniform production techniques nationwide? As "terroir" wanes in France, does it become more important in the US? Have the European arguments against genetically modified foods begun to impress American consumers and farmers, encouraging them more than before to seek answers to questions raised by the widespread application of biotechnology to food production? Or will Americans, viewed by Europeans as more trusting of science and big industry, accept the extension of genetically modified food? "Taste, Technology and Terroir: A Transatlantic Dialogue on Food as Culture" aims to explore the social and cultural contexts of "terroir," the idea of food as culture, and to examine the ways in which food, science and politics come together in the arena of GMF. The conference will focus on the changing relationships in these areas between France, the European Union, and the US, with a focus on Wisconsin. 2. Speakers -- All speakers are confirmed unless indicated by an asterisk (*) Food as Culture Ariane Daguin is the co-owner of D'Artagnan, the nation's leading purveyor of fresh foie gras. Daguin, a native of France, is the daughter of André Daguin, a preeminent French chef from Gascony. Betsy Draine is Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the co-editor/translator of "The Walnut Cookbook," a book of local recipes from southwestern France Michael Hinden is Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Associate Dean of International Studies and co-editor/translator of "The Walnut Cookbook." Odessa Piper is the owner and chef of L'Etoile Restaurant in Madison, Wisconsin, and a board member of the Chefs Collaborative 2000, a national organization of chefs. She travels widely in Europe and the U.S. Harriet Welty Rochefort is the author of French Toast and the forthcoming book French Fried: The Culinary Capers of an American in Paris. Reared in Shenandoah, Iowa, Ms. Rochefort has lived in France for nearly 30 years. As a freelance journalist, she has contributed articles on French business and culture to major newspapers and magazines, including Time, where she worked in the Paris bureau for several years. Anne Topham is the owner of Fantôme Farm, and an award-winning goat cheese maker. Charlie Trotter, owner of Charlie Trotter's Restaurant in Chicago, has been hailed as one of the top five chefs in the world. He has won numerous James Beard Foundation and other awards for his cooking, cookbooks and PBS television program "The Kitchen Sessions." This year, Charlie Trotter's was voted best restaurant by the Foundation. Amy Trubek has trained to be both a professional chef and an anthropologist. She teaches at the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont and is the author of "Haute Cuisine: How the French Invented the Culinary Profession." Robb Walsh is a two-time James Beard Foundation Award winner, food writer for the Houston Press, and a regular contributor to Natural History Magazine and National Public Radio. Food, Science and Politics José Bové is a French sheep farmer and a leader in the radical farmers' union, the Peasants Confederation (Confédération Paysanne). Thomas German is a professor in the Department of Entomology in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, UW-Madison. He is the former director of the Wisconsin Seed Potato Certification Program. Rebecca Goldburg is a biologist at the Environmental Defense Fund. She heads EDF's Biotechnology Program, which focuses on the environmental consequences of releases of genetically engineered organisms, the safety of genetically engineered crops intended as foods, and biotechnology's secondary environmental impacts, particularly in agriculture. Julian Kinderlerer is a faculty member in the Sheffield Institute of Biotechnological Law and Ethics (SIBLE), the Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, and the Department of Law at the University of Sheffield, UK. SIBLE provides advice to governmental and regulatory bodies and carries out inter-disciplinary research on ethical and legal issues raised by developments in biotechnology. Jim Murphy is Assistant U.S. Trade Representative, Agriculture, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Pilar N. Ossorio is Assistant Professor of Law and Medical Ethics, and Associate Director of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prior to taking her position at the UW, she was Director of the Genetics Section at the Institute for Ethics of the American Medical Assocation. Jean-Christophe Paille is Counselor for Agriculture at the Embassy of France in Washington, D.C. Before assuming his post, M. Paille was Deputy Administrator for the financing of agriculture (1996-1998) and Counselor for trade at the Standing Representation of France to the European Community in Brussels (1991-1993). David B. Schmidt is Senior Vice President, Food Safety at the International Food Information Council. Prior to joining IFIC he served as the Bush Administration's director of external affairs for the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The sponsors include the International Institute and three of its member programs -- the European Union Center, the Center for German and European Studies and the Center for European Studies. Other sponsors include the Department of French and Italian; the Department of Rural Sociology in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences; the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems; the Department of Anthropology; the Genetics/Biotechnology Center; and the Department of Consumer Science in the School of Human Ecology. The conference is made possible with funds provided in part by the Anonymous Fund. The conference is free (with the exception of an optional lunch, see below) and open to the public but seating is limited. Pre-registration is required for morning and afternoon sessions. Some ticket holders may be seated in an adjacent conference room with live video hook-up. Lunch, in the Fluno Center dining room, is $16, including beverage, tax and tip. (Make checks payable to CASB -- Center for Advanced Studies in Business.) Lunch reservations and pre-payment required by August 28th. Send to: Ronnie Hess, Public Affairs Officer, International Institute, 321 Ingraham Hall, 1155 Observatory Drive, Madison. Phone: (608) 262-5590 or E-mail: rlhess@facstaff.wisc.edu. The conference hotel is the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel, near the UW-Madison campus, at 525 W. Johnson Street, Madison, WI 53703. There are no special conference rates. For information, call (608) 251-5511. Rooms are also available at the Fluno Center, 601 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706. For information, call (800) 292-8964 or go to: http://www.uwexeced.com/fluno. For general information on the City of Madison, including hotels, restaurants and attractions, go to: www.visitmadison.com Parking for the conference is available at the Fluno Center. Enter the parking area on Frances Street between University Avenue and Johnson Street. Additional parking is available at the Lake Street parking ramp, half a block north of University Avenue on Lake Street. The Fluno Center is in downtown Madison, in close proximity to the university, and a short walk from the Wisconsin State Capitol and State Street's pedestrian mall. The Center is located in the 600 block of University Avenue, between Lake and Frances Streets, and about 20 minutes from the Dane County Regional Airport. "Taste,
Technology and Terroir: A Transatlantic Dialogue on Food as
Culture"
7. FOOD FOR THOUGHT FESTIVAL - The Second Annual Food for Thought Festival, sponsored by a coalition of area food and agriculture groups, including Research Education Action Policy (REAP), will be held the evening of Friday, September 8 and all day Saturday, September 9. The festival features keynote speaker Frances Moore Lappe, author of "Diet for a Small Planet," plus food-related activities along Wisconsin Avenue, off the Capitol Square, Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. For information: http://www.foodshed.wisc.edu/reap
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