The Cheeses of France

The cheeses of France present EAT ART the french cheese culture The cheeses of France present EAT ART the french cheese culture Brie, Maroillles, Neufchâtel, Tania & Vincent, Cniel The Cheeses of France and the Art of French Eating French culture embodies a long and varied history, seeks to try all of the cheeses will have to fully explore and French art has deep roots that have evolved our many regions, from rugged mountain hillsides to throughout the two last millenniums. The French lush green valleys to seaside villages, to discover all culinary arts, as well, have a rich and distinguished the diversities of the French landscapes and people past, with monumental occurrences happening nearly that help make the French cheese plate so diverse. every century. In the 17th century, Louis the XIV and his famous chef, Francois Vatel, made eating an “art” The French are very proud of their cheeses, and we in France. Even earlier, in the 13th century, the frst value our cheeses so highly that France is the only collection of recipes was published -- the “Viandier” country in the world where we have created a specifc by Taillevent, a book on the Art of creating pleasure course devoted to cheese. The famous Plateau de through tasting food. Fromage, the Cheese Plate, that is served between the main course and dessert is an essential moment In this same creative vein, the art of making and eating within a meal, an interlude between the warm and cheese holds a very high and esteemed position in the savory part of the meal and the chilled and sweet French culinary arts. In every valley in France, people end of a meal. Even today, in every home throughout are proud of the cheeses produced in their region, as France, and for every meal, the French continue to eat the cheeses are tied so closely to their local culture the same way: an appetizer frst, followed by the main and have helped form their unique identity over many course, then the Plateau de Fromage, and fnally the decades or centuries. dessert. Different aspects and forms, different favors, different colors and textures, and different techniques have This unique aspect to the way the French eat has been been developed, honed and perfected throughout the registered at UNESCO, recognizing the non-tangible last twenty centuries to make up the French cheese element of French culture and French gastronomy plate of today. Most of the cheeses take their name that belongs to the World Heritage. In short, eating from small villages, such as Camembert, Roquefort, cheese has become for the French part of the Art of Epoisses or Pont-l’Evêque, or from the name of a Living. Pont-l’Evêque county such as Comté or Brie, or from a valley like Beaufort or a province like Cantal. Doctors now recommend that the French continue to eat this way, to avoid the obesity epidemic that Although France is refered to “the land of a 1 000 has spread all over the world, but less in France than cheeses”, nearly 1 200 cheeses are made today and everywhere else. Is it because the French eat cheese many of these cheeses are available within France that they are healthier and thinner? Many people and throughout the world. The adventurous eater who believe so, and scientists attribute this to the diversity Plateau de fromages - The cheese plate, N. Carnet, Cniel of thousands of natural nutrients, micronutrients and created the “Eat Art” movement and who some years bacterias that coexist within each cheese, interacting later opened The Food Culture Museum, an informal each other to become a unique food that is not only museum preserving diverse popular food culture delicious, but supports physical and mental health. throughout the word; and fnally Krai, an artist from Cheese is good for the body, and good for the spirit. Thailand currently residing in Paris, who adapted his art of carving tropical fruits to the French culture and When we eat, we are not only consuming the product is now the only sculptor on cheeses in the world. itself, but the culture that surrounds a specifc food. These artists’ performances are focused on: 1) the art When you eat a piece of Camembert, you are also of French cheese, 2) the cheese being a support of tasting a part of Normandy and of the deep history of their art, or their art being a support of the cheese and that region. You only have to close your eyes and you 3) French cheese being the support of a food culture. can feel the landscape and the specifc favor of this part of France. And this is exactly the same with any These artists will make us think about what we eat, cheese. A piece of Roquefort on your tongue, and the how we eat, and why eating is so important. Most landscape of the Massif Central comes alive in your importantly, they will help us discover how eating is mouth and soul. an Art, and is part of both our local and world cultures. Let’s enter into the Art of the Cheeses of France... The “Eat Art” movement was created by Daniel Spoeri in the early sixties, and was part of the Fluxus Laurent Damiens movement that created interaction between art and Director of the Milk Factory Gallery, Paris food. This art movement from the sixties, which was developed later by the famous artist Antoni Miralda to a Food Culture movement, could to miss the Art of the French cheeses. For the frst time ever, during the Miami Art Basel Fair, the Milk Factory, a Parisian Art Gallery specializing in the “Eat Art” movement, will create a happening with three “Eat Art” artists: Dorothee Seltz, known as the “Eat Art” baby, who began work as an artist in the late 1960s; Antoni Miralda, who with Daniel Spoeri Cheeses - Pièce montée, Kraï, AD Ich & Kar, Photo J.J. Pallot, Cniel Livarot, Camembert, Pont-l’Evèque, Tania & Vincent, Cniel Eat Art, a state of mind In this era of Fooding and other creative culinary experiences targeting our taste buds, Eat Art seems a noteworthy trend that many claim to have started, simply because they share food as a starting point. While Eat Art is subject to all claims of membership and unifying values, few people, however, truly know what it is. Eat Art was born well before the current craze for food – more than 50 years ago, from an exclusive relationship with artist Daniel Spoerri, its creator, theoretician and main agent. It emerged with links to New Realism, a movement Spoerri was involved in, and developed with a happening approach reminiscent of the artist’s links with theatre production and later Fluxus. Eat Art’s name alone speaks volumes. way, everyday life was elevated to the rank of works Eat Art frst of all describes the use of food as a of art, while the artist was simply the humble servant medium for artistic creation, thus doing away with a of chance petrifying his own meals in the privacy of formal representation of food. A chapter is closed in a hotel room. This state of servitude became such the long pictorial tradition of the still life, making way a burden to Daniel Spoerri that he had to create for a tridimensional, tangible form that is no longer “developments” of this initial principle. Eat Art was a brilliant copy of reality but, in accordance with the one of them. precept of New Realism, reality itself. Previously a thespian and dancer, Spoerri decided to Eat Art is expressed in two different, sometimes set the scene for the snare-picture, showing all the complementary, forms: works of art and happenings steps leading to the fnal result. From 1963 to 1965, where food is actually present, more often than not Chef Daniel transformed art galleries into restaurants, edible. At the heart of this 1960s experimental art, where he cooked the food, assigned spectators the Daniel Spoerri decided to turn his focus to food and role of unwitting creators of snare-pictures, and our eating habits. By allowing spectators to create sometimes invited art critics to wait on the tables. new links with their most mundane environments, he urged them to refect on these cultural habits while Then gradually Eat Art banquets broke free of the questioning the very essence of art. snare-picture and developed around themes obliging the spectator-agent to react and act. While this new concept was only labelled by Daniel For example, in 1970, with Henkel Bankett (Henkel Spoerri in 1970, it originated 10 years earlier in Banquet) and L’Ultima Cena (The Last Supper), Daniel the tableau-piège (snare-picture), as well as the Spoerri invited spectators and artists to “digest” exhibit “L’épicerie” (the grocery store) organized 1960s art, both literally and fguratively. In 1983 in in Copenhagen in 1961. For this exhibit, Spoerri Jouy-en-Josas, the ritual of Déjeuner sur l’herbe (The transformed a gallery into a grocery store where Luncheon the Grass) led to the burial of the snare- spectators could buy cost-price food products picture. Arm und Reich (Rich and Poor) gave chance stamped with the words “Attention: Work of Art – the upper hand and offered a slice of life with social perishable food”. The exhibition Catalogue Tabou, and cultural differences, as seen in eating habits and was made of bread rolls flled with household refuse. traditions. The Menus Travestis (Disguised Dinners), on the other hand, fooled guests as to the nature of Already, the snare-picture concept (which captured the prepared dishes, demonstrating that taste was the momentary state of a table after a meal, becoming also conditioned by cultural codes.

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