ABSTRACT

On the rise since the mid-2000s, the gastronomic bande dessinée merges two quintessential French art forms—cuisine and comics—prompting inquiries into the relationship between the visual, haute cuisine, and high/low culture in the French imaginary. Among the earliest gastronomic BD artists, Guillaume Long suggests that his work ‘democratises’ France’s culinary legacy by rendering quality home cooking accessible to a greater number of individuals. This article probes the possibilities and limitations of this ideal through Long’s four-part À boire et à manger. I argue that Long accomplishes ‘democratic’ culinary access through the creative devices particular to the BD, such as closure and direct address, which construct reader participation through cooking and reading. Additionally, Long’s modelling of gender ‘play’ through his self-titled character affirms culinary participation across the gender spectrum while reinforcing masculinity as the creative norm. However, the series’ uneven treatment of non-European cooks denies their full participation in Long’s democratising project. À boire et à manger joins efforts aiming to popularise haute culture but defining participation along the lines of French/foreign, supporting agonistic political reasoning that democracy requires the constant renegotiation of the bounds of inclusion.

摘要

自 2000 年代中期以来兴起的美食班德 dessinée融合了两种典型的法国艺术形式——美食和漫画——促使人们探究法国想象中的视觉、高级美食和高/低文化之间的关系。在最早的美食BD艺术家中，纪尧姆·朗表示，他的作品通过让更多的人可以享用优质的家庭烹饪，使法国的烹饪遗产“民主化”。本文通过 Long 的四部分À boire et à manger探讨了这种理想的可能性和局限性。我认为 Long 通过BD特有的创意设备实现了“民主”的烹饪访问，如闭包和直接地址，通过烹饪和阅读构建读者参与。此外，Long 通过他的同名角色对性别“游戏”的建模肯定了跨性别范围的烹饪参与，同时强化了作为创作规范的阳刚之气。然而，该系列对非欧洲厨师的不平等待遇否认他们完全参与了龙的民主化项目。À boire et à manger加入了旨在普及高级文化的努力，但按照法国/外国的方式定义参与，支持民主需要不断重新谈判包容边界的激烈政治推理。