The Culinary Heritage of Bretons of France: Traditions and Symbols

Abstract

The article discusses three elements that have in a way become the fame of Breton cuisine. Known for long among the population of Brittany, they rest on traditional cooking technologies which generated in their own turn particular utensils, recipes, and customs. Pancakes, cider, and butter had been for ages both everyday and holiday, as well as both ritual and symbolic, food. With the weakening of “traditional” cuisine and coming of the fashion for bourgeois cuisine, they gained the status of the less “prestigious” for some decades; however, in the 1960s, following the reemergence of interest in Breton culture, the situation started changing. Presently, the number of new dishes including the elements of the “triad” has been rising, while the use of pancakes and cider is increasing in the food serving industry.