Soufflé – JOURNAL
Soufflé cake
Images Courtesy of Andrei Koscina (Public Domain)
Marie-Antoine Carême (1784 - 1833), Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)
Synopsis
Soufflé was introduced in French Cuisine by Vincent La Chapelle, a master chef who worked for European aristocrats in the early eighteenth century (Murdoch). Then the recipe was developed lavishly and famously by Marie-Antoine Carême (Mallet).
French Imperialism ruled many parts of Africa, America, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands from the early 16th century to the late 19th century (Page). During that time, the source of sweetness for food could be found only in honey, which was quite expensive and sometimes difficult to find. During that era, the French empire found sugar cane plants, another source of sweetness that could be grown in the warm climates of Africa, Southeast Asia, and especially the Caribbean Islands, where the French used slaved labor to manufacture sugar for export. These “sugar islands,” were the most important suppliers of sugar in the world, and a major source of economic development to European colonialist countries, especially France and Britain (Tomich).
During its imperial period, France was already powerful enough to access the knowledge, culture, food, and supplies that they needed to create their own identity through “French Cuisine”. Throughout human history, we have adopted and adapted many things, including knowledge, to suit our needs, lifestyle, food, and culture. France not only adopted cultures but also invaded and stole many lives and resources through their power of colonization.
Importantly, many parts of the world that French imperialists have invaded since colonial times from the early 16th century onward were also important contributors to the development of modern “French Cuisine.” Some ingredients have been imported and traded from different places and countries, each with a different history of cultural exchange and colonial relationship. The “French Cuisine” without this history would be so different today. Although French cuisine was developed in France, the original source of its main ingredients were from other places, such as the sugar that was imported from the French colonial system and the flour that had been developed by the Romans (Hansen). So, I think that Soufflé is only half “original” and “French.”
Even though Thailand has never been colonised by the French (or any other European powers), the French influence was very important to other Southeast Asian countries’ culinary arts and cuisines. In Thailand, we combined our local culinary knowledge with Persian, Indian, and Chinese influences to develop modern Thai food. So, I asked two interviewees in Thailand about this specific Soufflé recipe. How can they identify something that was first developed in another part of the world? What is the process for us of naming and describing something we don’t know?
Slaves working on a plantation - Ten Views in the Island of Antigua (1823), plate III - BL, Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)
Pakjira Meechai
Pajira Meechai 48, is a former sweatshop factory worker and a founding member of the Bangkok-based dignified-labor workers cooperative called “Dignity Returns.” She now owns and operates a small noodle restaurant 14 miles outside of Bangkok’s city center.
Pakjira has no experience traveling abroad, and has no background in French Cuisine. She has some knowledge of European culture from media, magazines, and the nonprofits that she has worked with as an activist.
Sakarit: What is Souffleé to you? Have you heard this word before?
Pakjira: No, I have never heard of it. It’s a very strange name. It sounds to me like a place, somewhere with an icy temperature that is very cold. And I also think it might sound like the name of a brand? I think it sounds so soothing. Perhaps, it’s the name of a confident and strong European woman?
Sakarit: Actually, Soufflé is a French dish. Can you tell me the ingredients by guessing and looking at the photo I sent you?
Pakjira : Flour 500g, Sugar 64g (½ cup), 5 Eggs, and 1 Cup of butter.
Priyawadi Thanpongwipu
Priyawadi Thanpongwipu, 38, is a Bangkok-based freelance freight forwarder who has a bachelor’s degree in business management. She has traveled to almost every continent, but rarely has experienced French Cuisine.
Sakarit: What is Souffleé to you? Have you heard this word before?
Priyawadi: Soufflé is a French dessert with sugar and chocolate. I think that the ingredients are 2 eggs, sugar 50g, and flour 80g.
Source
Murdoch, Tessa. “A Performance for the Service of a Table”: New Light on Eighteenth-Century Dining.” Getty Research Journal 14.1 (2021): 181-190.
Mallet, Gina. “Classic Cuisine and the Egg.” Last Chance to Eat: The Fate of Taste in a Fast Food World, Mainstream, Edinburgh, 2006, pp. 54–58.
Page, Melvin Eugene, and Penny M. Sonnenburg. Colonialism: an international, social, cultural, and political encyclopedia. Vol. 1. ABC-CLIO, 2003.
Tomich, Dale W. “Sugar and Slavery in an Age of Global Transformation, 1791 – 1848.” Slavery in the Circuit of Sugar Martinique and the World Economy, 1830-1848, State University of New York Press, Albany, NY, 2016, pp. 51–70.
Hansen, Roger D. “The Roman Flour Mill at Barbegal.” (2019).
