A Gastronomic Meditation: on Mcdonald's Colin James Sheringham a Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2008
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A Gastronomic Meditation: On McDonald’s Colin James Sheringham A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2008 University of Western Sydney © C. Sheringham, 2008 Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my daughter Kate. I hope food helps bring you a life filled with significant pleasure and provides you a constructive vehicle for an examined existence. ii Acknowledgements I particularly wish to acknowledge: My supervisors, Professor Bob Hodge, for his valuable guidance, the enjoyable wide-ranging conversations and, importantly, his patience; Dr Lesley Kuhn for her valuable assistance in the final stages of the thesis, and Dr Jim Bergen, who helped start the process. The library staff at the University of Western Sydney, particularly Maureen Hunt, for all their help. Friends and colleagues who good-naturedly listened as my ideas developed. All those who have participated in the Australian Symposium of Gastronomy and the Research Centre for History of Food and Drink, Adelaide University. Both have been valuable forums for the serious and pleasurable discussion of food. This thesis is offered, in the spirit of Rabelais, ‘to drinkers of wine rather than oil’. iii Statement of Authentication The work presented in this thesis is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, original except as acknowledged in the text. I hereby declare that I have not submitted this material, either in full or in part, for a degree at this or any other institution. Colin James Sheringham iv Table of Contents Abstract....................................................................................................................... 5 Preface......................................................................................................................... 6 Part 1--Foundations ................................................................................................. 14 Chapter 1--Ambiguity of order in classic structuralism. ................................. 15 The use of binaries by Claude Lévi-Strauss .................................................. 16 The culinary triangle........................................................................................ 19 Constructing order -- a social dialectic .......................................................... 22 “Dirt”: understanding disorder...................................................................... 24 ‘Deciphering the meal’..................................................................................... 30 Reading the English meal – mapping order .................................................. 34 Food as signifier of a way of life...................................................................... 36 Conclusion......................................................................................................... 38 Part 2--Key stages in the history of a meditation on Western food..................... 42 Chapter 2--The slow triumph of the bourgeoisie .............................................. 43 History, process and change in a ‘hot’ society............................................... 43 Theorising social change – The civilising process .......................................... 44 The structure of order ..................................................................................... 46 Self-control, violence and order...................................................................... 50 Dining out – self-control and order ................................................................ 52 Change is inherent ........................................................................................... 54 Order creation by upward pressure............................................................... 55 Disorder and the creation of order................................................................. 58 Nouvelle cuisine as an example of disorder ................................................... 60 Dissatisfaction and disorder............................................................................ 63 Disorder and the examined life....................................................................... 64 Conclusion......................................................................................................... 66 Chapter 3--Prophet of disorder – Mikhail Bakhtin.......................................... 68 Introduction...................................................................................................... 68 Carnival – festival of disorder......................................................................... 70 A challenge to order: Bakhtin and Rabelais and his World.......................... 73 Bakhtin’s Rabelais and his World as counter-narrative ............................... 77 The role of food – Bakhtin’s theory of banquet images in Rabelais............ 83 Conclusion......................................................................................................... 89 Chapter 4--the meanings of Carnival................................................................. 92 Introduction...................................................................................................... 92 Reading Rabelais – Rabelais as an open text................................................. 93 Rabelais – why Rabelais is important ............................................................ 95 Food in Rabelais............................................................................................... 97 The role of food in the novel: an expression of bourgeoisie order............... 98 Decoding the complexity of food usage in the writing of Rabelais ............ 100 The use of food as an ordering device in the writing of Rabelais .............. 105 The use of food to create disorder in the writing of Rabelais .................... 110 Conclusion....................................................................................................... 117 Chapter 5--high priest of reason....................................................................... 119 Brillat-Savarin – father of French gastronomy........................................... 120 The creation of gastronomic order –the aphorisms.................................... 121 Gastronomy--a challenge from below? ........................................................ 123 Brillat-Savarin’s definition of gastronomy .................................................. 124 1 Gastronomy--a product of its terroir ............................................................ 126 Gastronomy and the individual .................................................................... 128 The restaurant as an expression of the new social order............................ 130 Gastronomic time – a duality of order ......................................................... 132 The meal as order........................................................................................... 134 Hospitality – an act of order and disorder................................................... 135 Gastronomy--inclusive or elitist?.................................................................. 136 Gastronomy--reasoned comprehension or pleasure of the flesh................ 137 Table talk – mind/body dialectic................................................................... 141 Conclusion....................................................................................................... 143 Part 3--the McDonald’s phenomenon .................................................................. 146 Chapter 6--McDonald’s as social meaning ...................................................... 148 Ethnography – a meal at McDonald’s.......................................................... 148 McDonald’s as a product of its terroir--meeting changing needs. ............. 151 The McDonald’s restaurant – dialectic of order and disorder .................. 155 The McDonald’s meal – order and disorder. .............................................. 162 McDonald’s, social class and ambiguity. ..................................................... 165 Conclusion....................................................................................................... 170 Chapter 7--McDonald’s – The image factory.................................................. 172 Introduction.................................................................................................... 172 McDonald’s selling imagery.......................................................................... 172 McDonald’s – food as entertainment and spectacle.................................... 175 The hamburger as sign. ................................................................................. 177 McDonald’s as an image of its own time...................................................... 180 McDonald’s – their use of carnivalesque ..................................................... 182 McDonald’s as sign for a utopian dream ..................................................... 184 The use of humour by McDonald’s .............................................................. 186 McDonald’s and grotesque imagery............................................................. 189 Ronald McDonald – clown, symbol of order or disorder?......................... 191 Conclusion....................................................................................................... 194 Chapter 8--the political economy of McDonald’s ........................................... 196 Behind the social institution that is McDonald’s--the