Gastronationalism on the Ground

This chapter uses an ethnographic lens to explore how gastronationalist sentiments crisscross the social worlds, landscapes, and local economies of the French regions that celebrate foie gras production. It underscores the affective relationships that both producers and consumers have toward this food, and also analyzes tensions over foie gras's moral disapprobation as a modern and contested industry. The chapter asks how micro-level practices of production and consumption articulate with the more macro-level politics of identity, especially in places where foie gras “traditions” are classified as heritage; if the heritage being celebrated is a dissonant one; and how the people involved in the production of foie gras experience the dissonance of nostalgic romanticism and the industry's empirical realities.