SOURCE: Brown, James W. “Alimentary Discourse in Nineteenth-Century Social Theory: Pierre Leroux, Etienne Cabet and Charles Fourier.” Dalhousie French Studies 11 (fall-winter 1986): 72-95.

[In the following essay, Brown examines the way food is treated as a marker of equality and “collective activity” in the writings of nineteenth-century utopian social theorists and also by some novelists—George Sand, Victor Hugo, and Eugène Sue—who were influenced by them.]

The years 1825-1848 witnessed the rise of Socialist thought in France and, concomitantly, many writers and novelists explored social themes in their works. Several influences contributed to the climate of these years, particularly the ideologies of social commentators such as Fourier, Saint-Simon and Lamennais. For the most part, these socialist thinkers expressed their ideas in theoretical works which usually sought a collective approach in attempting to remedy the ills of society. This interest in the collective movement led them to construct model societies or “miniature utopias” in which they would project ideal social relationships and working conditions. In nearly all these model communities, and not surprisingly, given their preponderance in French cultural mores of the period, meals and eating practices play a major role. They represent a projet, a desirable symbol for the proponents of utopias first of all because food is abundant and everyone shares in it equally, and they are constructive because in these societies every man must work to eat, i.e., there is no separation between producers and consumers. Essentially, the division between labour and capital will be eliminated in utopian societies, thus permitting everyone to participate equally in the life of the commune. Food, then, ceases to be a differentiating factor as in bourgeois society; rather, it becomes the foundation of brotherhood, and the communal meal becomes the ultimate sign of collective activity.

Actual conditions inimical to society provoked these dreams and reactions, and, as everyone knows, the Revolution of 1789 did not improve the lot of all Frenchmen. During the first half of the nineteenth century, the masses were neglected, and the proletariat began to gain an increasing consciousness of itself. The workers and the poor were abused, the prospect of social reform seemed very remote. Moreover, the existence of the impecunious was threatened daily by their two most virulent enemies, lack of food and lack of shelter. The supposed inequities of the contemporary system led many thinkers to adopt new solutions to these problems, at times by seeking solutions in ideologies which were established earlier, dating back in fact to the time of Christ. Similarly, in their attempt to achieve equality, fraternity and solidarity, many of the nineteenth-century theorists combined the principles of Christianity with socialism. During the July Monarchy the socialist movement became widespread among both workers and writers of all persuasions. Important novelists such as George Sand, Victor Hugo and Eugène Sue put their pens into the service of humanity, simultaneously enlightening the upper classes to the problems of the nation and advocating reform through socialism.

In attempting to comprehend the climate of 1848, the revolutionary zeal and the cherished hope of the masses that true change would be forthcoming, the reader must turn to those figures who contributed to the propagation of socialist ideas. Certainly, in the search for sources and causes, one may go as far back as the Revolution of 1789, but, even then, the quest would not end. For the purposes of this study, only those theorists (and their influence on novelists) who actually wrote or published their works in the nineteenth century, and particularly during the years 1830-1848, can be considered. This group of thinkers, for the most part, belongs to or is allied with that branch of intellectual history frequently called le socialisme romantique.

With so much emphasis placed on alleviating the problems of food scarcity, improper housing and unequal rights, it is not surprising to find the workers, in fact as well as in fiction, organizing themselves by instituting communal banquets. The importance of these affairs derives more from their symbolic value—the communal meal serves as an emblem of equality, solidarity and fraternity and not as a gastronomical extravaganza—rather than from their ability to feed the masses. One can only hazard a guess at the influence which the communal meals advocated by the socialist theorists had on the actual workers' banquets, but the principles of brotherhood and equality at the table implicit, and often explicit, in the theories bear a striking resemblance to those of Christ. Ultimately, the prototypes for these meals were the agapes, or Christian love feasts. The subject of this study will not permit us to examine the actual meals and banquets taking place in France during the years 1830-1848 nor draw specific conclusions about them, but it has enabled us in another study to analyze their function in the works of novelists directly influenced by the various socialist tendencies.¹ As was demonstrated in Fictional Meals, there can be little doubt as to the validity of the relationship between socialist meal theories and the eating ideals established in certain novels of Sand, Hugo and Sue, for in each depiction of fictional communal meals, the author has also chosen to comment, either directly or indirectly, on the theoretical basis for including them.

This study will be limited to those theorists who attributed a special significance to food and gastronomy in the organization of their model communities. Although he was not as gastronomically oriented as the other theorists to be discussed subsequently, Pierre Leroux is quite important for the ideological influence he had on George Sand since he was very persuasive in getting her to adopt his socialist philosophy and to popularize it in her novels. Etienne Cabet, a more ambitious thinker as regards the importance of alimentary discourse, merits attention because his Voyage en Icarie is a utopian novel which depicts the importance of food distribution and communal eating in a theoretical communistic social structure. Finally, Charles Fourier, perhaps the ultimate gastro-philosopher, figures as a central figure in this essay because he accorded to eating mores an essential role in the formation, the functioning and the institutions of his ideal society.

PIERRE LEROUX

Pierre Leroux was one of the most influential socialist theorists on the French novel between 1830 and 1848. Part of this influence is due to the unique position he occupies in the history of socialist thought: Leroux was the only theorist who was simultaneously a philosopher, a partisan of democracy and, even more important for our purposes, a literary critic. Among those novelists influenced by him were Sainte-Beuve, Eugène Sue, and particularly, George Sand and Victor Hugo. Leroux's thinking began to act upon French novelists as early as 1831, just about the same time his particular brand of socialism received its most complete expression in the articles he wrote for la Revue Encyclopédique. Since 1824 he had been working at the Globe with Sainte-Beuve, and both men were inciting the great figures of Romanticism to incorporate the social movement into their works. Furthermore, he gave them a specific guideline in the form of a definition: he coined the word Socialism, which, in its earliest applications, seems to refer more to allied movements which displeased Leroux rather than to a positive definition of his particular philosophy: “Je voulais caractériser, par ce mot la doctrine ou les doctrines diverses qui, sous un prétexte ou un autre, sacrifiaient l'individu à la société et, au nom de la fraternité ou sous prétexte d'égalité, détruisent la liberté.”² Certain elements of Leroux's doctrine must be retained if the reader is to understand his influence on the novelists. In addition, one must bear in mind the relation between Leroux's ideology and the kind of communal meals advocated by Sand and Sue. Foremost among these ideas is the necessity to ally social reform and the change of institutions with communities aiming at a moral regeneration based on Christian principles. For Leroux, the concept of social unity, characterized by the old notion of communauté, disappeared with the Middle Ages and, believing that “… le fond de la religion est éternel,” he concluded that the world was evolving toward a more perfect union. At the base of Leroux's thinking lies a fundamental belief in Progress and Continuity.³ His optimism became contagious because it placed the potential for perfectibility in man's own hands, and it envisioned the democratic system as the only viable means of transformation. His aim, like that of Fourier, was to achieve a state of social harmony without resorting to violence or revolution. This goal necessitated the emancipation of the proletariat and the conversion of the Christian ideal into action.

Pierre Leroux was unequivocally the spiritual guide of George Sand and, to a lesser extent, of Victor Hugo. Leroux's influence became most evident in the novels Sand wrote between 1839 and 1848, especially her romans champêtres (Le Péché de Monsieur Antoine, Le Meunier d'Angibault, Le Compagnon du Tour de France, Jeanne) and her romans idéalistes (Spiridion, Consuelo, La Comtesse de Rudolstadt). In these novels she actually exposes Leroux's doctrine to the reading public and incorporates them into the very structure of the novel in her eating scenes. Nearly all George Sand's depictions of meals emphasize the Christian values of charity, hospitality and brotherhood, especially as they are manifested in rural and peasant customs. She seems to orient her public toward a natural simplicity based on unity at the table and stresses the need for the rich to break bread with the poor. She also places the meals of workers organized in secret societies and accentuating their bonds of solidarity. Among other things, Sand's meal scenes, highlighting both the socialist and religious elements of dining, place her undeniably in Leroux's particular tradition of socialism.⁴

ETIENNE CABET

The intimate link between communal meals and their importance in a real or theoretical community becomes even more apparent in Etienne Cabet's Voyage en Icarie. Cabet, a communist, advocated a regime wherein property belongs to all. Unlike Leroux, however, he needs no spokesman. His Voyage en Icarie (1839) is an attempt to construct a fictional theoretical community where the citizens live in absolute equality and where the governing body is elected by universal suffrage. Conforming to communist economic theories, its government has abolished money and individual ownership.

In his preface to the theoretical Icarie, Cabet asserts the importance of equality and fraternity. Unlike the contemporary socio-economic system, the communauté icarienne is “basée sur l'éducation et sur l'intérêt public et commun, constituant une assurance générale et mutuelle contre tous les accidents et tous les malheurs, garantissant à chacun la nourriture, le vêtement, le logement. …”⁵ From the very outset of his novel, Cabet has affirmed the importance of food for all, and in the first part of Voyage en Icarie he reiterates this point by devoting an entire chapter to food and meals. In this chapter entitled “Nourriture”, Cabet utilizes both a sentimental and an ideational approach to the depiction of meals in Icarie. He begins the chapter with an appeal to romantic sensibilities:

Je raconterai plus tard les moyens imaginés et pratiqués par la République pour faciliter ces excursions et ces dîners champêtres, dont les Icariens sont très avides, depuis le printemps jusqu'en automne.

Nous partîmes tous, les uns à pied, les autres sur de jolis ânes, ou des mulets, ou des chevaux, les autres dans des omnibus, et nous allâmes à une fontaine charmante et célèbre, qui se trouve à deux lieues d'Icara, sur le penchant d'un délicieux côteau qui domine la ville.

(Voyage en Icarie, 51)

Cabet is careful to establish his community far from the city, so often metaphorized as the inferno in the novels of Balzac, Sue and Hugo. This pastoral setting, in particular the fêtes champêtres, reminds the reader of Rousseau's lieux charmants and might also constitute a possible influence on George Sand's evocations of rural feasts and Eugene Sue's model farm. Cabet also makes nature and political ideology correspond in his presentation of the spectacle of the outdoor meal:

… je ne pourrais non plus décrire ni la ravissante beauté de la vue, des gazons, des bosquets et de la fontaine où l'art et la nature avaient prodigué tous leurs embellissements, ni les délicieux tableaux que présentaient des centaines de groupes dînant sur l'herbe, chantant, riant, sautant, courant, dansant et jouant à mille jeux.

(Voyage en Icarie, 51)

Furthermore, Cabet places the ability of the Icarians to enjoy these elegant dinners in beautiful natural surroundings in direct relation to their socio-economic system. The narrator recounts this concept in the voice of a young Icarian female: “Elle nous expliqua que tous ces lieux charmants, qui font aujourd'hui les délices du Peuple entier, servaient exclusivement autrefois aux plaisirs de quelques seigneurs, qui les enfermaient dans les murs ou les fossés de leurs châteaux et de leurs parcs.” (Voyage en Icarie, 51)

In spite of the apparent joy and freedom of the pastoral meals, Cabet's system entails a very detailed regulation of food and eating practices. The essential points of his description of the Icarian eating habits are presented in the form of a letter from a French visitor to Icarie as he reports them to a Friend in France. This narrative device permits Cabet to contrast the eating habits of the French with those of the Icarians and, hence, to show the superiority of the latter: “O mon cher Camille, que j'ai le coeur navré quand je pense à la France et que je vois la félicité dont jouit ici le peuple d'Icarie!” (Voyage en Icarie, 51) In Icarie, everything is regulated by law; nothing is left to chance. Food itself is subjected to close scrutiny, and the most beneficial and nourishing foods are encoded and categorized:

Un comité de savants, institué par la présentation nationale, aidé par tous les citoyens, a fait la liste de tous les aliments connus, en indiquant les bons et les mauvais, les bonnes ou mauvaises qualités de chacun.

Il a fait plus: parmi les bons, il a indiqué les nécessaires, les utiles et les agréables, et en a fait imprimer la liste en plusieurs volumes, dont chaque famille a un exemplaire.

(Voyage en Icarie, 51)

Some of this information is useful, especially the lists devoted to foods which might be dangerous—but some of the other areas of evaluation smack of gastronomical censorship. A committee, for example, decides on qualities and matters of taste. One of Cabet's innovations in this respect is to suggest a kind of national cookbook containing the best recipes for certain sorts of foods, thus leaving the Icarians with limited choices and varieties: “On a fait plus encore; on a indiqué les préparations les plus convenables pour chaque aliment, et chaque famille possède aussi le Guide du cuisinier.” (Voyage en Icarie, 51) Nowhere in this chapter does Cabet actually forbid certain foods or manners of preparation, yet he does emphasize that food itself is governed by law.

Probably the most important contribution Cabet makes with regard to the role of food and meals in a socialist community relates to the socio-economic basis of the system itself. Like Fourier, Cabet stresses the entire process of producing, preparing and procuring food along with the problems of socialization which might occur at mealtime. The laws governing production and distribution seem quite severe:

La liste des bons aliments ainsi arrêtée, c'est la République qui les fait produire par ses agriculteurs et ses ouvriers, et qui les distribue aux familles; et comme personne ne peut avoir d'autres aliments que ceux qu'elle distribue, tu conçois que personne ne peut consommer d'autres aliments que ceux qu'elle approuve.

(Voyage en Icarie, 51)

An essential point of contrast between France and Icarie concerns the citizens' rights to consume certain foods, or more precisely, their right not to endure gastronomical discrimination:

Chacun a donc une part égale de tous les aliments sans distinction, depuis celui que nous appelons le plus grossier jusqu'à celui que nous qualifions le plus délicat; et le peuple entier d'Icarie est aussi bien et même mieux nourri que les plus riches des autres pays.

(Voyage en Icarie, 53)

In Icara, food ceases to be a differentiating factor. Cabet implies that the prevailing emphasis on equality will enable everyone to eat like kings, as the cliché goes, but he entirely neglects problems of individual taste and of the availability of certain items. From a practical standpoint, his system is not feasible; its interest is primarily ideological, but its viability seems doubtful.

The rigidity of Cabet's system is extremely apparent in the area of meals themselves. The committee has even devised a set of rules and regulations determining their distribution throughout the day, their duration, the courses served:

Ce n'est pas tout: le comité dont je t'ai parlé tout à l'heure a discuté et indiqué le nombre des repas, leurs temps, leur durée, le nombre des mets, leur espèce et leur ordre de service, en les variant sans cesse, non-seulement suivant les saisons et les mois, mais encore suivant les jours; en sorte que les dîners de la semaine sont tous différents.

(Voyage en Icarie, 53)

Cabet sees a need for four meals a day. Always occurring at the same time, they vary according to location: the six a.m. breakfast is a communal meal; the nine a.m. second breakfast finds the workers eating in their workshops, the women and children eating at home; the two p.m. luncheon takes place in a restaurant républicain; the nine p.m. evening meal is taken at home with the entire family. At all these meals the same toast is made: “… le premier toast est à la gloire du bon Icar, Bienfaiteur des ouvriers, bienfaiteur des familles, bienfaiteur des citoyens.” (Voyage en Icarie, 54) Certainly the most elegant meal in Icara, and one which does not occur on a regular basis, takes place on special occasions. It is a ceremonial meal, but even more importantly, it represents the epitome of communal dining, the art of socialist living raised to the level of affluence:

Mais le dîner commun, dans des salles superbes, élégamment décorées, contenant mille à deux mille personnes, surpasse en magnificence tout ce que tu pourrais imaginer. Nos plus beaux restaurants et cafés de Paris ne sont rien à mes yeux, comparés aux restaurants de la République. Tu ne voudras pas peut-être le croire, quand je te dirai qu'outre l'abondance et al délicatesse des mets, outre les décorations en fleurs et de tous autres genres, une musique délicieuse y charme les oreilles tandis que l'ordorat y savoure de délicieux parfums.

(Voyage en Icarie, 54)

In his final section on Icarian meals, Cabet shifts his emphasis to meal customs and attitudes, a strategy which permits him to criticize contemporary French practices. From an economic perspective, he finds wedding feasts impractical and costly; a different kind of nuptial ceremony is established in Icarie:

Aussi, quand des jeunes gens se marient, ils n'ont pas besoin de manger leurs dots dans un mauvais repas de noce et de ruiner d'avance leurs enfants à naître; les dîners que le mari trouve dans le restaurant de sa femme, la femme dans celui de son mari, et les deux familles ensemble chez chacune d'elles, remplacent les plus beaux repas des autres pays.

(Voyage en Icarie, 54)

Icarians can enjoy a continual feast because communal meals are less costly than individual ones; hence, the quality of each group dinner can be increased. Here again, Cabet seems ignorant of man's basic psychological need for diversity and avoidance of routine; uniformity would soon dull the palates and the manners of the Icarians. It is quite evident in Cabet's statement on the purposes and goals of such meals that he sacrifices individuality to the principle of equality:

Tu concevras aussi que cette communauté de repas entre les ouvriers et entre les voisins a d'autres grands avantages, notamment celui de faire fraterniser les masses, et celui de simplifier beaucoup, en faveur des femmes, les travaux du ménage.

(Voyage en Icarie, 54)

Cabet's system might provide a possible influence on the meals in the novels of George Sand and even more on the concept of the model farm which Eugène Sue explored in Les Mystères de Paris. Yet, one of the primary limitations of meals depicted in novels is that if the novelists are partisans of the socialist movement as advocated by the theorists, then their novels will reflect only the fictional (and still only theoretical) equivalents of communal meals.⁶

CHARLES FOURIER

Charles Fourier was by far the most original and the most comprehensive theorist as regards the role of meals and gastronomy in the life of a society. The majority of his writing on the subject had been completed by 1830, so many of our theorists and novelists obviously had the opportunity to read him and to borrow from his ideas. Since in any socio-economic system he accords a major role to gastronomy, or “gastrosophie” as he calls it when it is elevated to the level of a science, it is not surprising to find that many writers who fell under his influence were inclined to include sections on the culinary arts in their own works. Especially important in this respect was Fourier's interest in the entire process of food production, from agronomy to the finished product on the table.

Fourier, like other theorists and reformists, advocated a new socio-economic system which would eventually lead to universal transformations and result in a state of harmony. This is not particularly unusual in the light of events and political currents following the Revolutionary era. For the extravagance of his theories (and one must not underestimate Fourier's irony or his sense of humour), he has been called everything from a lunatic to a prophet. In part, both viewpoints might be explained by his insistence that his system would result in universal transformations and, therefore, form the basis of a new cosmogonie. On the more earthly level, Fourier understood that a society must guarantee work and food for its members. This concept is extremely important among socialist novelists and theorists and may be summarized by the gagner son pain formula: providing for oneself and for others leads to personal dignity and mutual co-operation among the members of the social unit. It is appropriate to note that in order to portray social differentiation within contemporary French society, many writers and theorists, including Sand, Sue and Hugo, to name but a few, all express social inequality and hostility by means of the “devouring metaphor”:

L'aigle enlève le mouton qui est l'image du peuple sans défense. Ainsi que l'aigle, le roi, tout roi qu'il est, est obligé de dévorer son peuple par les impôts, presque toujours outrés et écrasants pour l'industrie populaire.⁷

Fourier consistently emphasized the importance of the collective movement as an agent of social transformation. At the core of his system lay the Phalange, the basic social unit of organization; on the psycho-philosophical basis of his system rests the concept of pleasure. His emphasis on fulfilling the passions, on not contradicting the attractions, constitutes his originality and also comprises that part of his philosophy which was most denigrated. Fourier looked at man and decided that three passions govern his behaviour: (1) a desire for luxury, (2) a desire to organize in groups, and (3) a desire to adhere to a series. By following his passions, man will eventually evolve to a state of Harmony. Regressing along the chaîne passionnelle, Fourier finds that man's most basic pleasure is gastronomical fulfillment; this must become the starting point in the process of transformation, the centre of life in the phalange.

For Fourier, gastronomy is politics; it is the basis of all major institutions in society, or as the author so aptly puts it, it is “… la base de l'édifice.” Fourier alludes constantly to the interrelationship between socio-political organization and gastronomy, so much so that the concept permeates all his writings, but possibly his most cogent argument for the politics of gastronomy occurs in his Théorie des Quatre Mouvements, in the chapter devoted to la Gastronomie Combinée. It is here that the author offers his general theories regarding the subject and introduces the reader to their importance in society. Among the areas which intermingle with the culinary arts the reader finds psychology, “Pour faire connaître avec quelle sagacité elle a préparé nos plaisirs, je vais parler de la bonne chère qui règnera dans L'Ordre combiné”, socialization, “La bonne chère n'est que moitié du plaisir de la table; elle a besoin d'être aiguisée par un choix judicieux des convives …”,⁸ sexual discrimination in matters of taste, “… les dames civilisées témoignent beaucoup d'insouciance pour les plaisirs de la table … les hommes sont plus exigeants sur la délicatesse des mets” (Mouvements, 160), and philosophy, “… je vais parler de la bonne chère qui est la base de l'édifice” (Mouvements, 160). Fourier's concept of food encroaches upon the very institutional and sociological composition of society. It embraces nearly every major area of human thought, hence the primary governing body of the nation consists of the members of the concile gastronomique:

C'est donc l'industrie seule et surtout l'hygiène, gastronomie ou sagesse qui est l'objet du rassemblement des conciles et, d'après le lustre immense qui est attaché à leur suffrage, c'est la gastronomie qui est le principal champ d'honneur, car elle est de la compétence de tout le monde.⁹

Having attributed the primary role in the socio-political functions of his Harmonie to gastronomy, Fourier gives one of the most comprehensive analyses imaginable of the various phases relating to food and meals. His system attempts to instill many new eating habits and attitudes in the minds of the people. It also emphasizes the need to change agricultural methods in order to improve production and to achieve variety and abundance. To those skeptics who would affirm that everyone could not have equally good wine because the best grapes in the world can be found only in France, Fourier replies that in addition to improved wine for all, “J'en cite trois en divers genres, en amer, doux et acide; ce sont le café, le laitage et la limonade, qui seront généralement plus exquis ce que les rois peuvent se procurer de plus parfait en ce genre, et cette supériorité sera due à des moyens d'exploitation, transport et préparation, que ne peuvent pas avoir lieu dans l'Ordre actuel. …” (Mouvements, 169) As if this were not enough to convince the critics of his theory, he assures them that nature also conspires in the productive welfare of man by slowly increasing gradations in temperature which culminate in “… la naissance de la couronne boréale et l'entière culture du pôle.” (Mouvements, 169)

Improved agricultural methods do not always suffice to attract the masses to new systems aimed at improving their living conditions, so Fourier decides to show the results of these methods on the material and varietal goods the harmoniens will receive. Perhaps the most appealing aspect designed to attract those presently threatened with starvation is the promise of a superabundance of food:

Comme les récoltes de l'Ordre combiné seront immensément supérieures aux moyens de consommation locale ou extérieure, la surabondance deviendra fléau périodique, comme aujourd'hui la disette, et tout en prodiguant aux animaux les comestibles de l'homme, on sera obligé de jeter fréquemment à la mer et aux égouts une masse de produits qui pourraient être présentés aujourd'hui sur les meilleures tables.

(Mouvements, 163)

Certainly, such gastronomical plenitude could be very wasteful, but Fourier obviates waste in part by encouraging culinary variety, the ever changing, ever increasing dishes passed before the gastronome: “Quant à la variété des mets qui régnera aux tables du peuple, on ne peut pas l'estimer à moins de trente à quarante plats, renouvelés par tiers tous les jours, avec une douzaine de boissons différentes et variées à chaque repas.” (Mouvements, 166) The step between the production of food and its distribution entails a policy based on how it is to be used: superabundance and variety are not the only consequences of improved technology, but they are the primary ones which promote gastronomical quality: “Ainsi tout ce qui tendrait au médiocre est détruit dans sa naissance, et dès lors le superflu de comestibles abandonné aux animaux se trouve au moins égal aux productions que nous admirons et qui figurent sur la table des grands et des rois.” (Mouvements, 165) In short, Fourier makes use of the contemporary symbol of gastronomical distinction without sacrificing the concept of culinary excellence; the new system assures both abundance and quality.

The second phase of Fourier's culinary system comprises those aspects of food relating to the kitchen or the cooking process. Understandably, in a social structure whose socio-political basis rest on gastronomy, the kitchen reigns supreme:

On pourra sur la première des conditions (la cuisinerie ou préparation) objecter que les saints de l'harmonie seront donc des cuisiniers et cuisinières. Pourquoi non, la cuisine est de tous les arts le plus révéré dans l'harmonie; elle est le pivot de tout le travail agricole et le salon.

(Nouveau Monde, 131)

In theory, and often in practice, every harmonien is simultaneously a cook. It follows that the culinary arts become a natural part of the curriculum in the education of the young, and this educational philosophy entails both the theoretical and practical elements attached to cooking:

En outre il est de règle en harmonie qu'on doit joindre la théorie à la pratique. Toute l'éducation suit cette marche et tend à rendre les enfants théoriciens et practiciens à la fois, sauf à eux à opter, par la suite, ils sont donc tous cuisiniers dès l'enfance.

(Nouveau Monde, 131)

A great part of the practical side of the culinary education is associated with the preparation of food and the means of varying it.¹⁰

Fourier's theories on the composition of dishes and meals show that he was extremely aware of individual tastes and preferences, thus he devised the système bi-composé. In order to make this system comprehensible to the reader he uses the example of those gastronomical partisans of volailles trop jeunes as opposed to those who prefer volailles vieilles (the reader will note the manifestly comic sexual pun). There are many gradations of taste between the two extremes, so his system must allow for individual preferences:

Il faut aux harmoniens, à table comme ailleurs, des stimulants qui unissent les coeurs, les esprits et les sens. Or, cette régalade bizarre d'un coq entre deux vieilles poules établit entre les co-sectaires de Chrysante une foule de liens fondés sur l'affinité des goût et d'action sur les menées d'amour-propre tendant à accréditer leur mets favori. …¹¹

Reducing the differences and affinities of the two groups to four categories, Fourier is able to have them associate harmoniously in spite of their individual taste:

Dès lors ce chétif régal crée entre des inégaux un quadruple lien de coeur, d'esprit, d'amour-propre et de sensualité. Brillant effet d'une transition artistement ménagée, comme elles le sont toutes dans l'état sociétaire.

L'assemblage de ces quatre liens (deux suffiraient) produit un composite redoublé ou bi-composé, qui exige double plaisir des sens et double plaisir de l'âme. Que de merveilleuses propriétés chez une vieille poule adaptée aux coûtumes d'Harmonie sériaire!

(Unité Universelle, 384)

The second aspect of gastronomy centering in part on the kitchen concerns the eating regime and its underlying principles. In speaking of meals and fêtes in contemporary France, Fourier admonishes the Frenchman's practice of eating excessively, which would ultimately produce a nation of unrefined gluttons:

Telle est en harmonie la première base de sagesse gastronomique. Il sera de règle qu'un vrai sage doit avoir toujours appétit et cependant un vrai sage devra s'établir neuf fois par jour aux 5 repas et aux 4 intermèdes.

(Nouveau Monde, 133)

The concept of appetite becomes central to Fourier's theory, which presupposes that the transformations within the new order will simultaneously stimulate the appetite. The nine meals in Harmonie (five major, four minor) will obviate the need to overindulge in food, and will also be sparse enough to allow the diners to eat each successive meal. Appetite will also be stimulated by means of le régime des variantes:

L'harmonie obigée de spéculer sur une forte consommation, atteindra donc sont but en perfectionnant le régime des variantes et de même qu'après un grand repas bien suffisant à nous rassasier, nous retrouvons de l'appétit au dessert pour les confiseries, etc. …

(Nouveau Monde, 134)

The aesthetics of a refined gastronomy are constant preoccupations of Fourier. Although he rarely resorts to composing actual menus for his readers, he frequently alludes to the need for proper combinations of foods which will appeal to the palate as well as the eye. He establishes a carefully spaced equilibrium between the nine daily meals, and he frequently refers to them in musical or theatrical language (majeur, mineur, intermèdes, entr'actes, etc.). Fourier never underestimates the importance of alternating light with heavy dishes, beverages with the solid foods, manner of preparation with the individual temperaments of the harmoniens. Like the maître du feuilleton who creates a feeling of anticipation in his reader at the end of each chapter, the culinary expert will know how to pique the curiosity of the gastronome by completing the meal with a dish which will make him await the next phase in a state of expectation. For Fourier, gourmandise is the essence of wisdom, and to enable all harmoniens to become veritable gourmands, he must cultivate the art of good taste. Here again the transformation of contemporary culinary attitudes is a necessity because France, and especially Paris, is guilty of a gastronomie mercantile: “A l'appui de ce double grief, observons que Paris, qui est le foyer des beaux-arts, est aussi le foyer du mauvais goût en gastronomie. Lès Parisiens consomment indifféremment le bon ou le mauvais.” (Nouveau Monde, 225) In other words, if the public is indiscriminate with respect to taste, it will encourage the bakers, the cooks and the restaurant owners to produce their products in the cheapest way possible, committing what Fourier so aptly calls la gastro-ânerie.¹²

Gastronomy forms the basic institution in Harmonie. Its influence is nearly limitless, for it also permeates many of the other social and cultural institutions. In the first place, the economics of the phalange operate on principles closely associated with food production. Fourier declares that the present economic system in France produces laziness on the part of some members because of the division of labour and capital. In Harmonie, on the contrary, participation in production is an encouraging factor:

Dans l'état sociétaire la gourmandise joue un rôle tout opposé: elle n'est plus récompense de l'oisivité, mais de l'industrie; car le plus pauvre cultivateur y participe à la consommation des denrées précieuses.

(Nouveau Monde, 253-254)

For Fourier, the relationship between gastronomy and industry is more profound than one might imagine. It derives from the so-called attraction industrielle, one of man's natural passions that draws him into a systième sériaire:

Dieu aurait-il asservi si impérieusement les humains à cette passion, s'il ne lui eût assigné un rôle éminent dans le mécanisme est celui de l'Attraction industrielle, ne doit-elle pas se lier intimement avec l'attraction gastronomique dite gourmandise? En effet, c'est la gourmandise qui doit former le lien général des Séries industrielles, être l'âme de leurs intrigues émulatives.

(Nouveau Monde, 253)

Fourier uses the famous example of the melon to illustrate this relationship between cultivation and gastronomical participation. In contemporary society, he maintains, the melon is held in such high esteem because not everyone has free access to it, so it becomes a commodity venerated for its delightful taste and vivid colour. The very act of buying a melon assumes the aspect of a ritual as only the men are entrusted with the task. In Harmonie, however, the serial system permits all members to enjoy the melon: “Ainsi pas un homme, pas un chat, ne peut être dupé sur le melon, fruit si perfide pour les civilisés, parce qu'ils le règlent par l'ordre distributif selon la méthode sériaire voulue par Dieu. …” (Unité Universelle, 49) The digression on the melon is too long and too intricate to analyze all the subtleties and gradations of Fourier's serial affinities between production and consumption, nevertheless, the example does serve to illustrate this important connection which the author returns to three or four times:

La gastronomie ne sera louable qu'à deux conditions: 1° lorsqu'elle sera appliquée directement aux fonctions productives, engrenée, mariée avec le travail de culture et préparation, entraînant le gastronome à cultiver et cuisiner; 2° lorsqu'elle coopérera au bien-être de la multitude ouvrière, et qu'elle fera participer le peuple à ces raffinements de bonne chère que la civilisation réserve aux oisifs.¹³

Children are first taught the theoretical and practical aspects of the system in the kitchen. Gastronomy is a natural point of departure according to Fourier because it is a “… semaille d'attraction plus efficace que toute autre …” since all children are born gluttons. The task of the educators in Harmonie will be to utilize this natural disposition for practical purposes by transforming, by means of a rigid culinary education, gluttony into gourmandise. A pre-requisite of gastronomical education demands that each child be trained in les quatre fonctions du goût, at least as Fourier understands them, namely, cultivation, preservation, cooking and gastronomy. Fourier transforms the kitchen into an atelier d'éducation intended to stimulate the child and induce him to study other things since he will have already learned the nuances of serial work as they are manifested in the four functions of culinary service.¹⁴ Fourier's ultimate aim is to raise the children to become gastrosophes, or experts in all four branches of the gastronomical field. The program of instruction, moreover, relies heavily on the natural passions of the youngsters. Consequently, it seems most logical to begin with the child's inclination to eat: “L'enfant mordra d'abord aux hameçons de cuisine et gastronomie, et bientôt après à ceux de culture et conserve.”¹⁵ The final product, of course, will be a gastrosophe, an individual thoroughly trained in all the culinary functions as well as a participatory member in all the other serial operations of the society.

If gastronomy forms the foundation for political, economic and educational institutions, it also plays an important role in the religious life of the society. So far, this analysis has been limited to la gourmandise en matérielle, the four elements constituting le goût. A gourmandise en politique also acts as a basis of gastronomical wisdom, or sainteté majeure, which comprises three branches: (1) gastrosophie pratique: la préparation ou cuisinale en gamme de tempérament; (2) gastrosophie théorique: la digestion accélérée et copieuse ou hygiène positive; (3) gastronomie mixte: la direction sur les 2 premières et par conséquent la connaissance des 810 tempéraments et des proportions de chaque produit de cuisine. (Nouveau Monde amoureuse, 126) The orthodoxy here does not coincide with most religious doctrines known to the reader, least of all with contemporary religious practices. Fourier's orthodoxie gastrosophique must be interpreted in terms of other social functions, particularly those of education and politics. Hence, the culinary debates for determining the various nuances of preparation constitute the only occasions when the sages (gastrosophes) assemble.¹⁶

In Fourier's system, gastronomy permeates minor sociological areas of interpersonal contact. One such field consists of a gastronomie hygiénique, which joins culinary expertise with the medical and pharmaceutical sciences:

Une fâcheuse lacune en ce genre est de n'avoir pas su lier la médecine avec le plaisir, et surtout avec celui du goût. Chaque année voit éclore de nombreux systèmes de médecine, dont pas une, excepté celui de la médecine du coeur, n'a cherché à sortir de l'ornière. Une carrière bien neuve, mais peu fructueuse pour la faculté, serait la médecine du goût, la théorie des antidotes agréables à administrer dans chaque maladie.

(Nouveau Monde Industriel, 260)

Fourier also allies gastronomy with pharmacy on the basis of certain transmutations which occur either during cooking or the mixing of chemical substances. From this standpoint, the reader might also recall Fourier's tendency to equate gastronomy with science, and even with philosophy, “… c'est qu'en régime sociétaire la gourmandise est source de sagesse, de lumières et d'accords sociaux” (Nouveau Monde Industriel, 260)

In the domain of psychology Fourier attributes an astronomical importance to the role of gastronomy. His system depends on following one's passions as they are manifested in a network of universal attractions, and it is not by chance that gastronomy is not only the most basic passion but also the most permanent one.

D'autres passions, l'amour, l'ambition, exercent sur les âges adulte et viril beaucoup plus d'influence; mais la gourmandise ne perd jamais son empire sur les divers âges: elle est la plus permanente, la seule qui règne du berceau jusqu'au terme de la vie.

Dieu aurait-il asservi si impérieusement les humains à cette passion, s'il ne lui eût assigné un rôle éminent dans le mécanisme auquel il nous destine?

(Nouveau Monde Industriel, 253)

The reader will also appreciate other elements of the psychology of gastronomy, especially as they are revealed in terms of sexuality. One finds, for example, that the purely culinary attributes of a good meal need to be complemented with planned social activities and diversions: “On devra ménager aux invités pendant toute leur journée et leur séjour les plaisirs qui pourront les tenir en appétit, voire même ceux de la concupiscence car selon Sanctorius un coït modéré, dilate l'âme et aide à la digestion.” (Nouveau Monde amoureux, 136) According to this principle, gastronomy also becomes tantamount to a politics of socialization, and, quite appropriately, no pleasure capable of contributing to the effect of the whole is denied.

Fourier's minutious concern for the pleasures and comforts of dinner guests might appear humorous to the reader, but for the father of Harmonie, sex and sexuality were paramount issues. Fourier himself was an early advocate of women's liberation and attempted to destroy most distinctions between harmoniens which were based on sex. In speaking of the decaying concept of taste in the nineteenth century, Fourier condemns society for conditioning women to fend off this passion, certainly a dangerous démarche for females in Harmonie:

Un autre genre de dépravation particulier à la France, et qui est encore d'origine parisienne, c'est le dédain du sexe féminin pour la gastronomie, dédain qui va croissant. Ce sera un très grand vice au début de l'harmonie; car on ne peut pas se passionner vivement pour les cultures, épouser avec ardeur les intrigues des séries agricoles, si on ne se passionne pas en gastronomie, voie initiale d'Attraction industrielle.

(Nouveau Monde Industriel, 256)

On the contrary, Fourier attempts to resolve the problem by encouraging females to become gastronomes by participating in the series, that is, having both males and females cultivating garlic, heretofore a strictly male task. Similarly, he suggests that the kitchen staff, contrary to contemporary practices, should consist primarily of women and children because they are more suited to lighter work by virtue of their physical constitution.¹⁷

The ultimate achievement in a system such as Fourier's entails attaining the level of gastrosophe, the epitome of political, economic, social and philosophical wisdom. Fourier has carefully delineated the realm of gastrosophie both by elaborating all its principles and requirements and by contrasting it to more plebeian forms of the culinary arts as practised by his contemporaries. First, gastrosophie is the haute sagesse gastronomique desired by all harmoniens and attained by several because of the all-pervasive importance of gastronomy in his educational system. Second, gastrosophie requires each aspirant to wisdom to become an expert in the four branches of culinary knowledge: cultivation, preservation, cooking and gastronomy. The latter branch, of course, constitutes the highest attainment within the field, but it is entirely dependent upon all the others, hence, Fourier defines gastronomy as an équilibre des passions, or conformity to the laws of attraction which govern all men (desire for luxury, desire to belong to groups, desire to adhere to series) and which are all made to operate in the four branches.

Anyone who fulfills all the requirements within the discipline of gastrosophie becomes a gastrosophe, the wisest and most venerated member of Harmonie. A member will not be considered for the title of gastrosophe until he has reached the age of eighty years, but he can become a gastronome when he is forty or fifty:

… car on peut bien être gastronome à 40 ou à 50 ans, c'est une fonction d'amusette qui n'exige que de la gourmandise un peu affinée, mais l'emploi de gastrosophe dans lequel il faut réunir les 3 branches de connaisance (pratique, théorique, mixte) indiquées et l'exercice théorique et pratique dans toutes les parties de l'agronomie et de la médicine et de la cuisine, cet emploi ne peut guère s'exercer avant 80 ans qui n'est point vieillesse mais début de l'automne. … (author's italics)

(Nouveau Monde amoureux, 256)

Fourier contrasts this eminence with the seemingly small achievements of contemporary Parisian cooks, whom he denigrates by calling them gastrolâtres, or cooks versed in only one of the four branches of culinary wisdom. By contrast, no area relating to food is left untouched in Harmonie, nothing is arbitrary in harmonian kitchens since all matters of taste, of preparation, of dishes are placed under the jurisdiction of the experts:

La détermination de ces nuances d'apprêts adaptées à chaque tempérament deviendra un sujet d'immense débats gastrosophiques pour lesquels il faudra mettre en campagne des armées de 2 et 300.000 âmes rassemblées de plusieurs empires qui iront sous la direction des conciles décider expérientalement ces grandes questions.

(Nouveau Monde amoureux, 140)

These enormous gastronomical debates are a fitting tribute to the gargantuan role which food and cooking play in the harmonian system, and they also serve to illustrate the socio-politico-philosophical part played by la bonne chère in the construction of utopian societies.

The socialist writers examined in this essay, for whatever reasons they include meals in their works, point to a deficiency in the society which has provoked them to react. Any theoretical treatise in the utopian tradition implies a criticism of the present social structure, on the one hand, and a hope for future synthesis and harmony on the other. This attitude is not so much a return to the “Golden Age” as it is the intellectual projection of a new harmonious era, less mythical, perhaps, but more feasible in human terms. In this sense, their spirit of optimism is progressive and anthropomorphic. The enormous task of carving out a future lies in man's own hands; he must both create and assume responsibility for the future.

Theoretical social values have validity only when present conditions are shown to be wanting: all the theorists in this study make either an implicit or an explicit contrast between contemporary misery and the possibility for human happiness in the future. Since the most wretched conditions are apparent at the socio-economic level, that is, the division of society into the rich and the poor, the most formidable impetus to change is the blatant elaboration of these deficiencies, an attempt to increase the public's awareness of injustice by flaunting it. Recognizing that the major areas of concern were food and shelter, the theorists constructed idealized societies which would alleviate these problems.

The utopian ideal is particularly attractive to the humble because it projects the image of bounty and plenitude, especially as regards food. Frequently, the theorists use rhetoric which will appeal to the starving individual who feels that his country has betrayed him. They impel him, either directly or indirectly, to transform the extant structure, and they goad him into action by assuring him that their systems will enable him to “eat like a king.” The theorists' concern for food is understandable in light of the immediacy of the dilemma of starvation. Perhaps even more important than the reduction of social differentiation is the more ubiquitous problem of feeding the masses. The theorists' sympathy for the starving becomes manifest in their concern for developing efficient and viable systems for food production, distribution and consumption: all the theorists create social structures in which everyone participates.

Ultimately, the theorists envisage a society where all distinction ceases to exist. This radical reversal of structures is foreseeable only in socialist terms because socialism, coupled with Christianity, rests on a foundation of equality and brotherhood. It is the integrating, assimilating tendency of this philosophy which leads theorists like Fourier, for example, to call his society Harmonie. In spite of the economic implications (that is, equal access to all material goods of the society), the social goals are even more desirable because the theories depend on synthesis and equilibrium. In essence, the theorists rejected former modes of social interaction because the spheres of affiliation represented only partial contacts: groups existed at the expense of other groups, differentiation (manifested primarily in practices, attitudes and manners relating to food and the table) was rampant, assimilation was denied. In the utopian system, however, the sharing of material goods which have been produced by all permits the members of the society to solidify their bonds through mutual effort and unimpaired, unlimited socialization.

Notes

1. See my Fictional Meals and Their Function in the French Novel, 1789-1848 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984). Subsequently cited in the text as Fictional Meals.

2. David Owen Evans, Le Socialisme romantique: Pierre Leroux et ses contemporains (Paris: Librairie Marcel Rivière et Cie., 1948), pp. 26-27.

3. David Owen Evans emphasizes Leroux's idea that the human race is evolving according to a rhythm of progress destined to achieve perfection, hence, the notion of a dynamic continuum.

4. For a detailed analysis of the depiction of socialist and communal meals, see my chapters entitled, “The Meal as Symbol of Ethical Distance between the Classes: Gastro-Alimentary Antitheses in the Novels of George Sand”, and “An Alimentary Portrait of the Ghetto: The Meal as a Signal for Reform”, in Fictional Meals. D. O. Evans points out that Sand became Leroux's spokeswoman during the 1840s. Calling herself a Communist, she popularized other theorists' ideas, especially those of Louis Blanc and Etienne Cabet.

5. Etienne Cabet, Voyage en Icarie (2nd edition) (Paris: J. Mallet et Cie., 1842), p. iii.

6. For fictional communal meals, see the chapters in the reference to Fictional Meals. For actual communal meals, see Jules Prudhommeaux's study entitled, Icarie et son Fondateur: Etienne Cabet (Paris: F. Rieder et Cie., 1926). This study is particularly interesting because it points out the disparity between the idealistic theoretical meal structure as advocated in Voyage en Icarie and the harsh realities of food production and distribution in an experimental commune. The fictional Icarians, for example, enjoyed a great abundance of food because their socio-economic system was so effective, but the real Icarians, situated in a remote area of Texas, often had difficulty in supplying food for the table. Even the inviolable rule of Icarian gastronomical philosophy, that is, the sacred policies of equality and sharing, revealed inconsistencies when put into practice. Prudhommeaux's study shows that, in fact, gastronomical equality did not exist and that available food did not necessarily go to those who produced it, but rather to those who needed it. Paradoxically, the real Icarians were not always free to choose what they ate because their system—or their unsuitable geographical location—did not enable them to provide food in abundance.

7. Maxime Leroy, Histoire des Idées sociales en France: de Babeuf à Toqueville, Vol. II (Paris: Librairie Gallimard, 1962), p. 259.

8. Charles Fourier, Théorie des Quatre Mouvements, in Oeuvres Complètes de Charles Fourier I (Paris: Editions Anthropos, 1967), p. 160.

9. Charles Fourier, Le Nouveau Monde amoureux, in Oeuvres Complètes de Charles Fourier, VII (Paris: Editions Anthropos, 1967), p. 384.

10. In all phases of the elaboration of his gastronomical system, Fourier, like many of the theorists, makes several allusions to contemporary French food practices in order to contrast them with those in Harmonie. These digressions are very informative but much too long to analyze in the body of this essay. Let it suffice to say that, in general, where Fourier describes the variety of foods in Harmonie, he usually makes an argument against the lack of variety in contemporary France.

11. Charles Fourier, Théorie de l'Unité Universelle, in Oeuvres Complètes de Charles Fourier, IV (Paris: Editions Anthropos, 1966), p. 384.

12. Fourier cites three gastronomical abuses of this sort in a footnote. The first claims that Parisian bakers do not cook their pâtisseries thoroughly in order that they retain their water, hence, they may be preserved and sold the next day. The second concerns the anglomania of tea drinking, a poor substitute for wine but quite capable of making the tea merchants wealthy. Finally, he cites the abominable vogue for vermicelli, an omnibus dish which has become popular because it also has the virtue of saving the cooks considerable time in preparation.

13. Charles Fourier, Le Nouveau Monde Industriel et Sociétaire, in Oeuvres Complètes de Charles Fourier, VI (Paris: Editions Anthropos, 1966), p. 259.

14. In a long digression on the role of the kitchen and the cook in contemporary France, Fourier denounces the practice of separating gourmandise or gastronomy from other alimentary functions and of making cooks into mercenaries.

15. Charles Fourier, Manuscrits publiés par la phalange revue de la science sociale: 1851-1852, in Oeuvres Complètes de Charles Fourier, I, II (Paris: Editions Anthropos, 1967), p. 152.

16. Fourier describes the requirements for achieving the eminent status of saint majeur, an honour which is conferred by the highest gastronomical council in Harmonie. See Le Nouveau Monde amoureux, p. 138.

17. Later, socialists such as Enfantin repeat and extend Fourier's culte de la femme. Enfantin and several other social reformers founded a small community at Ménilmontant where they practised the distribution of jobs (that is, the abolition of domesticity). Like Fourier, they believed the ideal social “individual” ought to be a couple, a male and a female. For further information on the co-operative effort at Ménilmontant as exemplified at mealtime, see Sebastien Charlety's Histoire du Saint-Simonisme (Paris: Paul Hartmann, 1931).