Culinary Education, Food and the Tv Studio Kitchen in the 1950s French Children’s Cooking Show Le Goûter

Abstract

AbstractDrawing on the example of the French children’s cooking show Le Goûter (RTF, 1957–1958), this article examines the role of television in making cooking a question of public education for children. It links history of media perspectives on early television, on children’s diet and on culinary education. The show follows the cultural-pedagogical logic of early television by teaching cooking techniques to girls and boys. However, it promoted gendered roles in the kitchen and focused on culinary heritage. The multiple technical challenges inherent in putting children in a studio kitchen show that moving in front of cameras and in a kitchen, also, is the result of a learning process conducted by the adults. Finally, the educative aim of the programme is weighed against the recipes the children prepared, which both mirrored (sugar) and contradicted (alcohol) public child nutrition discourse, especially that delivered in schools.KEYWORDS: Cookerychildren's cooking showTV studio kitchenfoodhealthFrance AcknowledgementsThis article has benefited from the ideas and suggestions of many people, especially the editors Tricia Close-Koenig, Alex Mold, Lukas Herde, Philip Stiasny and the BodyCapital team.Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 Sarah et les Marmitons, Arte (2009); Junior Bake Off, BBC (2011–2016), Channel 4 (2019–); Kids Baking Championship (Food Network (2015–).2 See Ariès, L’enfant et la vie ; Rollet, Les enfants au XIXe. Histoire de l’enfance; The Routledge History of Childhood in the Western World; Gutman, “The Spaces of Childhood”.3 Children’s level of participation in domestic tasks depending on their social background.4 See Apple, Mothers and Medicine; Cowan, More Work for Mother; Strasser, Never Done.5 On the moral literature Quellier, Gourmandise. See for example the classic French children’s book, Les Malheurs de Sophie, La Comtesse de Ségur, 1858. On the early child psychology works, see for instance the parent’s guide translated from German Petits gourmands, petits voleurs (Greedy children, thieving children) published in France in 1955.6 Oliver, Adieu fourneaux, 9.7 The first French cooking programme Les Recettes de Mr. X. was not successful. Roger, 28. Late 1955, 74% of French audience watched Art et Magie de la Cuisine. Roger, 92.8 Cohen, “Les émissions culinaires,” 168.9 Other versions were subsequently produced like La cuisine pour les hommes (Cooking for men) (1959–1961) for a male audience or Bon appétit (Enjoy your meal) (summer 1966) for outside and holiday cooking. Roger, 56.10 The first programme “Cooks Night Out” was broadcast by the BBC in 1937. Other early shows, include, in the USA, “In love to eat” in 1946; in Great Britain “Cookery” in 1946; in West Germany “Bitte in zehn Minuten zu Tisch” in 1953. See Collins, Watching What We Eat; Schmelz, Kochen im Fernsehen; Cohen, “Les émissions culinaires”; Roger, “Les mises en scène”; Tominc, Food and Cooking.11 For example, Children’s Television, BBC (1953–1955) with Jacqueline Rose, or Happy Cooking Children, ATV (1958–1963) with Fanny and Johnnie Cradock. Many thanks to Kevin Geddes. See Geddes and Tominc, “Nurturing Distinction”.12 Bourdon, Du service public, 13; Gaillard, La télévision, 35; Cohen and Lévy, La télévision, 7.13 Poels, “De Televisius à Gulli,” 105; Neveu, La Télévision pour enfants, 38–39.14 Borge, Close-Koenig, and Schnädelbach, “The Science of Television”.15 Veillon, “Aux origines,” 35. Rollet and Luca, “La vulnérabilité des enfants,” 263–279. See Drouard, Les Français. Fischler, L’Homnivore.16 The episodes of Le Goûter were filmed and broadcast afterward, contrary to the majority of programmes, which were live in the 1950s. The films entered the RTF television film archive created in 1952 as confirmed by the production documents. Hoog, L’INA, 7–19.17 INA: Production papers: Le Goûter, 1957–1958 / RTF. Consultation at l’INATHEQUE under exemption. Fonds Catherine Langeais. Emissions culinaires. 00027411 0036 Dossier 72. Archives Nationales: 19880562/1 “Rapports d’analyse du courrier des téléspectateurs (1953–1964)”.18 I was able to interview Arnold Boiseau, aged 72 in September 2020, after he contacted me via the University of Strasbourg MedFilm database where analyses of some of these episodes have been published: https://medfilm.unistra.fr. Arnold Boiseau participated in the show as a 10-year-old boy with his sister in 1958. Oral sources should be used with precaution by the historian who often comes up against the uncertainties and the remodelling of memory, directly linked with the interview context.19 The first French cooking show which invited viewers to bring a recipe to the TV studio was La recette du spectateur (The viewer’s recipe) in 1961. Roger, 74.20 Roger, 56.21 The law of 1882 made elementary school secular and obligatory in France and herein, Thursday was dedicated to religious education outside of school. In 1972, this was shifted to Wednesday. Cohan, “Laïcité et signes religieux”.22 It was broadcast on a weekly basis until the end of 1957 and then became fortnightly. During the summer of 1958 the programme took a long break.23 12 episodes (1957–1958), RTF.24 Confirmed by Arnold whose mother apply for him and his sister and by certain letters sent to Langeais which were written by adult female viewers.25 Lebeaume, L’enseignement ménager.26 Planka, “Ordnung in der Puppenküche,” 38; Hache-Bissette, “Quand je serai grand(e),” 35.27 10 applications letters from February-April 1958 in the private archive of Catherine Langeais.28 Roger, 70.29 ‘Le diplomate’, RTF, 21.11.1967.30 Laurenceau, “Raymond Oliver,” 227–236. Indeed, most of the episodes were filmed at the Gaz Company headquarters in Paris. Many chefs of the time supported the interests of gas or food companies. On the British TV cook Fanny Cradock, see Geddes ‘Above All, Garnish’ or Raymond Oliver with bananas, see ‘La banane française’.31 ‘Caramel’ (‘Toffee’), RTF, 13/12/1958. ‘Les meringues’ (‘Meringues’), RTF, 19/12/1957.32 Rambourg, Histoire de la cuisine; Cohen, “Les émissions culinaires”.33 She tells about her son in the episode ‘Mousse au chocolat’ (‘Chocolate mousse’), RTF, 02/01/1958.34 Hache-Bissette, “Quand je serai grand(e),” 35.35 See Ariès, L’enfant et la vie.36 ‘Chausson de bananes’, RTF, 20/12/1958.37 ‘Banane flambée’ (‘Flambée banana’), RTF, 16/01/1958.38 Roger, 57.39 Even if a dolly is mentioned in the production papers, travellings are quite absent from the montage. There were mainly two shooting angles: a bright shot filming the two young competitors with the kitchen in the background—and a close shot showing a precise gesture on the work surface.40 ‘Frites Fanchonettes’ (‘Fanchonette dessert’), RTF, 18/10/1958. ‘Omelette à la confiture’.41 ‘Mousse au chocolat’.42 This technical problem explains, for example, the disappearance of Arnold for several minutes in ‘Biscuit de Savoie’.43 Neveu uses the term ‘craft’ to describe early children’s television until the 1960s. Neveu, La Télévision pour enfants, 39.44 She looks toward a clock in the episode ‘Crêpes’.45 This technical challenge was also present in Art et Magie de la Cuisine. Roger, 57.46 ‘Coupe Chantilly’ (‘Chantilly cream bowl’), RTF, 13/03/1958.47 Transmitters were first installed in big cities according to l’Annuaire rétrospectif de la France (1948–1998), Paris, 1990. Rate of household television equipment raised very rapidly during the 1950s: less than 1% in 1954, 6% in 1957 and 13% in 1960. Cohen and Lévy, La télévision, 8.48 ‘Charlotte à la framboise’ (‘Raspberry charlotte’), RTF 13.02.1958. A mother appears at the end of the episode. In other episodes, Langeais refers to rehearsals organised at home.49 Nutritional considerations were also absent from children’s cookbooks of the time. Hache-Bissette, “Quand je serai grand(e),” 36; Roger, 67.50 Nourrisson, A votre santé, 95.51 For example, the fruit salad is flavoured with anisette and the banana mousse with rum.52 “Enquête 1955 sur les boissons consommées par les écoliers. Compte-rendu statistique (Seine exclue)”, Bulletin d’information du Haut Comité d’étude et d’information sur l’alcoolisme, 1958, n° 16, 12–21. Quoted by Fillaut, Tous en piste ?, 16.53 Fillaut, Tous en piste ?, 11–34.54 Nourrisson, A votre santé, 53.55 Pancakes are made with a large glass of beer and a ladle full of rum. ‘Les crêpes’, RTF, 12/12/1957. Same recipe is used in ‘Bûche de Noël et crêpes’ (‘Yule log and pancakes’), Art et Magie de la Cuisine, RTF, 20/12/1954.56 Hache-Bissette, “Comment on raconte,” 434.57 As comparison point, in 1976, in the children’s cooking show La Cuisine Voyageuse (Culinary travel), the same cake has only 140g of sugar for 100g of flour. ‘La Savoie : le gâteau de Savoie’, La Cuisine Voyageuse, FR3, 16/01/1976.58 Charny, Le sucre, 69. De Iulio, “De la peur de manquer,” 149.59 See note 15.60 Csergo, “Le sucre,” 259.61 Circulaire n°233 du 26 novembre 1954.62 For example, the film Le sucre, richesse nationale (Sugar, national wealth) (1954) was available in the catalogue of the school film library (Cinémathèque Centrale de l’Enseignement Public). It was produced by the national sugar lobby, ‘Centre d’Etudes et de Documentation pour l’Utilisation du Sucre’ (Center of Studies and Documentation for the Use of Sugar), accompanied by an educational booklet, which proposed teachers to insist on the nutritive qualities of sugar.63 ‘Salade de fruits’.64 ‘Caramel’.65 Langeais speaks about the bread (‘tartines’) that viewers were certainly eating while watching the show in the episode ‘Caramel’, revealing the gaps between the show and reality. Arnold Boiseau underlines the gap between the recipes proposed on television and his own usual daily snacks.66 Nutrition et hygiène, 100. Legeais Du biberon, 139–140.67 Loisel, Couvreur, De la transmission.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by H2020 European Research Council [grant number 694817].Notes on contributorsAmélie KratzAmélie Kratz, Département d’Histoire des Sciences de la Vie et de la Santé, SAGE UMR7363, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France; E-mail amelie.kratz@gmail.com