6

Food as a Cultural Representation Depicted in

The Hundred Foot Journey
Chairunnisa Kartika Azza, Khalida Silva Nur Inayah, Uswatun Hasanah
Department of English Literature, Faculty of Adab and Humanities,
Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, Indonesia

Email
chairunnisa.azza15@mhs.uinjkt.ac.id
khalida.silva15@mhs.uinjkt.ac.id
hasanah.uswatun15@mhs.uinjkt.ac.id

Abstract

This article discusses how food as a cultural representation has relation with self-
identity, religion, nationality, and ethnic as pictured in the film The Hundred Foot
Journey (2014) directed by Lasse Hallstorm. Food that people consume can
describe their cultural background. As in this film, France and Indian culture
appear through their food and other elements that come within. The primary
objective of this research is to show how food can differenciate people’s cultures,
passion, and class as seen on the composition, ingredients, plating; how people
value the food; and how food as a cultural practice is related to the power. This
research used descriptive qualitative method with cultural studies approach. The
collected data will be analyzed by the concept of representation by Stuart Hall. The
result shows that the differences of culture were prominent particularly on the ways
eastern and western cuisine are served. French more focuses on the well-technique
and presentation; meanwhile, Indian is more concern on the taste. In the social
aspect, French people believe that they had superiority not only in economy but
also in food and culture.

Keywords: cultural representation, food and culture, food and power, French
culture, Indian culture

Introduction

Food is consumed not only to produce energy for human’s body, but it also
becomes a cultural practice. The way people present the food, the ingredients used,
the amount of how it served and how the food is valued, have different elements in
representing culture. Masimo Montanari (2006) stated "like spoken language, the
food system contains and conveys the culture of its practitioners". Food that human
eats has relation with someone’s identity, religion, nationality and ethnic. If food
connected with four aspects above, then its symbols would change. For example,
Muslim regard food containing pork as negative meaning. Another one, food related
 7

to someone identity like spaghetti which has been an identity of Italian food
(Civitello, 2008).

Cultural practice regarding food is depicted in The Hundred Foot Journey

(2014) movie. The film directed by Lasse Hallstrom known for his sensitive
directorial style tells about the journey of an Indian family that migrated to France.
This family is Kadam’s Family. Their business on culinary field in India went
bankrupt, so they tried their luck in France. They built a restaurant that served
Indian cuisine that is spicy. Hasan, one of Kadam’s family members, is the one who
is expert in food, so he becomes the main chef of the restaurant.

Nevertheless, the position of the Kadam’s family restaurant, Maison

Mumbai is in opposite with French luxury restaurant. This restaurant called Le
Saule Plereur, has got one Michelin star. The position of their restaurant makes both
of the restaurants are competing each other. They both are trying to mobilize every
trick to gain visitors so that they are interested to come and eat in their restaurant.
These restaurants have their own uniqueness in representing their cuisine. Le Saule
Plereur Restaurant provides food with distinctive French flavors, with its
complicated techniques, detailed plating with its aesthetical, and the pretentious
interior design with classic songs. Meanwhile, Maison Mumbai is inversely
proportional with Le Saule Plereur because this restaurant is identically decorated
with the nuances of eastern culture. Maison Mumbai serves Indian food which pays
more attention on the quantity of the food. Hasan serves the restaurant menu with
distinctive spices that really represent Indian cuisine.

From the description of the film, it is clear that food can represent India and
France culture. Ami Choi stated in Alexandra Tarr (2016) “what you want to cook
and eat is an accumulation, a function of your experience –the people you have
dated, what you have learn, where you have gone. There may be in bound element
from other cultures, but you will always eat things that mean something to you”.
Therefore, the concept of representation of food is used to analyze this film. The
relation between food, culture, and society will indicate the power shown in some
particular cultural practices.

Montari (2006) stated that “The two notion of identity and exchange, often
called up when dealing with food culture, are contrasted at times as though the
exchange, that is, the confrontation of different identities, and of the cultural
heritage that is society recognize in its own past”. In this movie, Indian food
represents India’s richness of natural resources because it contains a lot of spices in
their ingredients. Inversely proportional in French cuisine prioritizes five main
sauces such as Bechamel, Veloute, Espagnole, Hollandaise, and Tomato to serve
French classical food. It symbolizes a tradition from previous innovations that must
be mastered by a chef. We mention these matters as a culture because food is a
space where tradition and innovation intersect (Montanari, 2006).

The selection of senses, tastes, emotions, and exposures is shaped by

culture. Indeed, food is fundamental to survive; but what is more necessary is the
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way we eat (Tarr, 2016). Each country has its own characteristics because people
adhere different religions, and ethnic groups. Thus, the way they symbolize food
will be different. This diversity shapes the culture and identity of a country
represented through food. Food can determine people's way of though. For
example, in France, escargot is expensive and only suitable to serve in fancy
restaurants. People's way of thought, passion and class determines someone's taste.
The taste has been built since childhood and it is influenced by the culture the
people live in. Then, the taste of the food itself could indicate social class. The food
that someone chooses can determine who they are and where they come from. These
are the focus of this research.

Method

This article used cultural studies approach which attempted to see how a
cultural practice had a strong relationship with power (Rosida, 2018). The method
used in this research is descriptive qualitative. Therefore, we collect the data by
watching The Hundred Foot Journey (2014) film. The data collected are related to
content that are the representation of French and Indian culture in food. The data
obtained were categorized and analyzed using representation theory by Stuart Hall.

Results and Discussion

Every country has their own particular food that belongs and becomes its
identity. The uniqueness leads of the variety of food that can be found when
travelling to other countries. Its varieties can be seen through the flavor, taste,
serving and any other aspect. The differences of food lies in the soil types, climate
and taste of people in each country. Moreover, Food is highly influenced by
religious and cultural choices. Thus, food is a cultural product that represent the
culture of that specific country. Food and culture cannot be separated because food
is an integral part of daily life. More then that, the food that someone consumes
could that represents the identity.

Food is neither good nor bad in the absolute, though we have been taught to
recognize it as such. But apparently, taste is a cultural product that is constructed
by historical experience of food. The taste here is different from the meaning of
flavor but taste can also mean knowledge. The evaluation of good or bad begins in
the brain before it reaches the palate. It mixed with cultural experience to find the
“value” of society and naturally shape one’s appetite (Montanari, 2006).

The first result we found in the film related to our research question is about
food. Indian food which prioritize the taste of spices will not necessary considered
as delicious to French people who enjoy their food with a pure taste without using
a lot of ingredients. French who is willing to pay top dollar to enjoy escargot in fine
dine ridicule the Asian who consider snail as pest to their paddy field. One person’s
haute cuisine is another person’s pest. Furthermore, it is also found that taste in
plating oppose French and India culture. French cuisine is not only known because
of their delicious taste but it is a presentation that they considered as an art. It is
 9

shown in Picture 1 that represent French cuisine which pleased the eye with
beautiful food order handled with careful touch. In addition, through this
representation French cuisine displays more on the impression of elegance,
expensive and exclusive compared to Indian cuisine.

Then, in Picture 2 show Indian cuisine served completely in different way

compared to French cuisine. Indian cuisine served in a big plate with a whole fish
on top of it and scattered messy garnishes. They eat without using any utensil but
their hand. Through this representation it can also stated that Indian food is lacking
in civilization because civilized people are used utensil to eat. Moreover,
Civilization has been used as a reason for vegetarianism—not eating meat elevates
humans and separates them from “savages” (Civitello, 2008) meanwhile Indian
cuisine served their whole fish which is oppose the vegetarianism. With the way
the movie image Indian food, it is also show that western society did not favor any
other culture outside Europe or the one who did not follow their lifestyle then they
considered Indian culture inferior than them.

Picture 1: How French People Plating Picture 2: How Indian People Plating

The second result we found from the presentation of the food . There are
two pictures above that show the difference between Indian and France culture as
can be seen in the way Le Saure Plereur and Maison Mumbai serves their food. The
way food being served is called as plating. Food plating is the process of arranging
and decorating food to enhance the presentation of the food itself. Improving the
presentation of a dish adds value to the dining experience, and provides room for a
higher mark-up on the food (The Art of Food Plating).
The first picture shows a food that served by Le Saure Plereur which is a
France restaurant. It is vegetables that being cut into small, and decorated with a
little garnish to make it beautiful. Garnish is a small amount of food that use for
being a complementary. Le Saure Pleureur Restaurant is really concerned about the
appearance of their food until the smallest part of it. In classical French cooking,
garnishes were more than just visual or complementary flavour items: they were far
more substantial. They were accompaniments to the main food item, what one used
to call “the trimmings”, or side dishes. They were definitely part of the meal
(Garnishes). The food also served with a classic white and clean plate. At Le Saure
 10

Plereur restaurant, plating is one of the most important things, they always try to
make their food looks tasty and aesthetics with the touch of art.
The food that served in France is only in a small portion. In France culture,
they do not only treat food only as a necessity. France is a country where eating is
seen as pleasure rather than just giving the body what it needs to get through the
day (The French Eating Habits the World Should Learn From, 2016). So, eating
with a small portion is not a problem because it is related to their taste in food.
The second picture show a food that served in Maison Mumbai that is the
Indian restaurant. They served the food in a tray, there is a traditional Indian bread
called naan. Naan is a bread that made of flour and it has a flat shape. In the picture
above, the bread is cut into small pieces. The tray is filled with a lot of traditional
Indian food that should be eaten together with the bread. The food also has a lot of
variations that can be chosen to complement the bread. In India food is meant to be
a whole sensory experience. An eating habit in the traditional Indian culture is to
consume Indian foods such as curry, rice and naan bread by picking it up using the
hands (Fuller, 2018). There are a lot of bread variations that they eat because India
being the second largest producer of wheat, has a great saga of traditional flat breads
with different tastes and texture (Parimala & Sudha, 2015). The breads are chapati,
puri, tandoori roti, parantha and parotta, naan, bhatura, etc.
In India, there is a thing called thali. Thali is traditional Indian plated meals,
Thalis are a wonderful way to try many different things at once. Most thalis will
have lentil curries, seasonal vegetables, chutneys galore, breads, rice and dessert:
all served at once. The food can be served on round steel plates or on banana leaves.
Thali meals contains spectacular combination of flavors, textures and aromas
(Bhide, 2013). So, the second picture is the represents of Indian traditional food
called thali which is a combination of dishes.
The amount of food serving is clearly different with Le Saure Plereur. In
Indian restaurant they served the food in a big portion because, Indian culture is
different with France that consider eating food as a pleasure. From the looks, it also
can be seen that Indian food contents more ingredients than France food. Indian
food recognized as rich of spices, there are a lot of spices that uses for only one
recipe. Indian food contains a lot of spices because in their country there are a lot
of spices are available. Spices were a key component of India's external trade with
Mesopotamia, China, Sumeria, Egypt and Arabia, along with perfumes and textiles
- as far back as 7000 years ago - much before the Greek and Roman civilizations
(Origin of Indian Spices).
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Picture 1
Masala box filled with indian spices

Picture 2
Mother sauce of french culinary

Indian traditional cuisine recipes have never been written down. They use
their feelings to achieve the taste for universal standards. Indian spices are
determined by the available ingredients of the region, this can vary enormously
within the space of a few kilometers (Ashokan, 2008). For instance, Peanut oil is
used in Andhra and Maharastra regions. Mustard oil is more commonly used in
north and northeastern part of India. Coconut oil is used widely along the western
coast, especially in Kerala (Indian Cuisine).

For Indian, food without spices holds little meaning, and no Indian dish is
complete without a smattering of spices. Spices like turmeric or haldi powder,
cumin seeds or jeera, red chili powder or lal mirch powder, coriander, garlic,
ginger, and madras masala are essential in every masala box. As you can see in
picture 1, Hassan bring his masala box that contain spices which has been
mentioned before. The way spices collected in masala box is through the process of
dry roast and grind. This technique is not using any other ingredients so it is
different from the French ‘mother sauce’ (Indian Cuisine).
Meanwhile, French people enjoy the tradition of eating outside. They hold
this tradition until now that is why many French restaurants are competing to get
Michellin stars to attract visitors. Michellin star is a guidebook that contains reviews
of a restaurant so that the stars that used as a mark in the book will describe the
 12

integrity of the restaurant. Beside Michelin stars book, the History of French Food
which is neatly written in their history books makes it the only food that is
recognized as a world heritage by UNESCO (Samuel, 2010).
French cuisine is famous for the use of cooking methods which focus on
five main cream sauces. In picture 2, you can see 5 main sauce that france people
use in every food they made. Along with complicated techniques in the process of
cooking, French main sauces (Béchamel, hollandaise, tomato, espagnole, veloute)
are the other factor that will enrich the taste of French cuisine. Hassan, who wants
to master france food, tried to study france food history to make this mother sauce
because their technique to make the sauce is different and hard in compare to indian
spices.

Furthermore, the mother sauces are base for any other western culinary
makes it accentuates French main sauce as an important ingredient in industry.
While Indian cuisine has a more complex flavor because the cuisine uses a lot of
spices that grow in India such as cinnamon, coriander, garlic, masala salt and others.

So in a brief glance, the difference between French and Indian cuisine seen
in their taste whether in the way they enjoy the food or the way of plating. French
cuisine gives art in their plating represent its people intellect who uphold art while
Indian cuisine shelve the aesthetic plating to accentuate the taste of spices which is
the priority of their food.
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Picture 1: Front look of Le Saure Plereur Picture 3: Interior decoration of Maison

Mumbai

Picture 2: Interior decoration of Le Saure Plereur Picture 4: Front look of Maison

Mumbai

The other results that we found is the differences is decoration of the

restaurants. The pictures above clearly show us that there is a big difference
between both of them. The first picture shows Le Saure Plereur’s interior design,
they have a lot of luxury things started from the lamps which made of crystals, the
curtains, the mirror and white tablecloth that made of fabrics. From the usage of
luxury things as their design interior, it is clearly seen that they wanted to show
their class and prestige. The second picture shows that Le Saure Plereur‘s exterior
is so simple yet classic, they do not use a lot of decorations. French people have a
flair for refined yet effortless decoration. They are classic but with a modern edge
(Savoie, 2018)

The third picture shows Maison Mumbai’s design interior, it is full of lamps
and lanterns. They also use the ordinary tablecloth made of plastics that keep the
restaurant look nice and simple. The last picture shows the exterior of Maison
Mumbai restaurant, they have an eye-catchy decoration which resembles the
famous Taj Mahal and again, it is equipped with a lot of lamps. The ambiance you
create for Indian restaurant decoration are giving a contribution, because Indian
cuisine covers a wide geographical and chronological area, you may wish to focus
on a particular region or even a particular era of Indian history when selecting
artwork, colors and uniforms (Redman, 2017). The decoration that resemble Taj
Mahal building is installed to give an ethnic touch to Maison Mumbai restaurant.

As a result, it could be concluded that Le Saure Pleurer as a France

restaurant choose to show their prestige or class through the decoration, whereas
 14

Maison Mumbai as Indian restaurant tend to accentuate their India’s ethnicity on

the decoration.

Another findings also said that the food served by someone can reflect the
origin or culture of the person as well as this can be seen in the clothes used by
players (chef) in this film.

Picture 1 Picture 2
The unifrom used by French chef The clothes used by Indian people when cooking

In picture 1, French’s chef clothing (long-sleeved white shirt and matching

headgear) worn by chefs as a part of regulation in French culinary and its reflected
French culture. The use of chef uniform occurs a long time ago. Formerly, chef was
reputed as an educated class because they have to read about book cuisines.
Unfortunately, when Greek empire want annihilate the educated class that is artists
and philoshoper, they also got effects. All the chefs then seek for protection to the
Greek Orthodox Church and get along with monks by using such of monk uniform.
However, if monk used black and grey as the color, the chefs prefers to use white
color and headgear. Headgear become must-use item because it is functioned to
avoid hairfall drops into food as in settled during King Henry VIII era in English
Empire. And then, the regulation of chef uniform applied in France in 1800 by chef
named Marie Antonie Careme (Chang, 2012).
French people are very fixated on the hygiene of their cuisine that is why
chef's clothing is support in producing clean and healthy food. The use of long
sleeves as a function to avoid sweat, headgear used as a function to avoid strands
of hair fit into the food while the apron is intended to avoid food splashes or spills
to not directly afflict the clothing. Therefore, French people are very careful in
cooking because they consider that the quality of cuisine is not only produced from
the selection of good ingredients but also hygienity, one of them is through the use
of this chef's clothing.

Unlike India, as described in picture 2, they do not emphasize specific

regulations for clothing that must be worn while cooking in the kitchen because the
use of chef clothing is not as popular as in France. This really represents the culture
of cooking in India because the chefs tend to wear a clothe they casually wear in
everyday life.
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Other than that, the technique used for seasoning is also one of feature that
can represents someone’s origin because every chefs from every countries has
different technique in seasoning their food. Technique is a method used to make
something as well as making food. As in 01.09.53 – 01.09.58, when Om Puri or
Hassan’s father has a little argument with Madame Mallory. He about to
underestimate French cooking technique:

“If you have a spice, use it! Don’t sprinkle it. spoon it in!”

Through his brief statement, we could say that India seasoning technique is
represented through the technique of "stirring". Indian food is rich in spices so it is
possible to stir the dishes to make the food mixed well. Another case with France
that represented through the technique of "sprinkling" in cooking. They tend to
sprinkle it as balancer of taste and visual of the cuisine.

Instead of cooking techniques, each country also has a different perspective

in interpreting food. In this film, Indian interpret food as 'living things' as if they
have a soul and giving them a learn. As stated by Hassan’s mother in 00.04.16 –
00.04.33:

“But to cook, you must kill. You make ghosts. You cook to make ghosts. Spirits that live
on in every ingredient.”

On the other side France considers that reputation is a very meaningful

thing. France thinks that the overall value of a restaurant (both from food, service,
indoors and outdoors) is measured by the Michelin star they have. As stated by
Marguerite, the chef assistent in Le Saule Plereur in 00.26.17 – 00.26.38:

Marguerire: “In France, all that matters to a chef is the Michelin Stars. “
Hassan : “Michelin? I found a Michelin book in the kitchen.”
Marguerite: “Yeah, that a bible. The stars are holy here, so, one is good, two is amazing,
and three is, umm.....there is only for the gods.”

As what already explained in the previous result, Micheline star is very

important for French people. Micheline Star is one of the prestigious awards for
restaurants that have been recognized throughout the world. This Michelin Star is
an award given to the best restaurants. Initially Michelin Star came from the
Michelin Guide which is a travel guide book specially made by Michelin for its
customers.

The first issue began in the 1900s. In the beginning the Michelin Guide
contained a list of restaurants that travelers could visit when passing certain routes.
Beside restaurants, they also included a list of hotels, petrol stations, workshops and
Michelin tire stores in the book. To include restaurants in the guide, Michelin
formed a special team known as the inspector. These inspectors are anonymous, so
restaurants would not know when they come. Each inspector comes to review the
 16

restaurant, they will make a memo which will then be discussed with other
inspectors to determine which restaurant they will give award (Anggraini, 2016).

Michelin one-star system begun in 1926.An large with the additions of the
second and the third stars in 1931 and in 1936 the definitions of the stars started to
be
used.
 Three stars: for exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey.
 Two stars: for excellent cooking, worth a detour.
 One star: for a very good restaurant in its category. The symbols used in the
Michelin Guide, provides a general informatin about the conditions and the
menues about the restaurant in the guide (Ucak & Kose, 2014).

This make senses why Madame Mallory obssesed with Michelin Star
because Michelin stars values a restaurant both in quality and quantity, the more
Michelin stars they gets, the higher reputation of the restaurant they would have and
vice versa. The application of the Michelin Star in this restaurant is really
representing French culinary culture as what this film has illustrated.

Food and culture is two things that interrelatedly matters. The food we made
tells our background, the habitual when we eat also shows where we belong. the
presentation of food, spices, plating, consumption, technique in cooking, and
decoration shown in the film are only small parts pointed out shown in the movie.
We’ve been knew most of the clips potrayal in the film shown that French has a
dominant impacts and somewhat degraded Indian. It is historically drawn because
of the Europeans colonization in Asia—to obtain raw materials, to make use of
cheap labor, to establish markets and settle excess population, to secure military
advantage, and to increase national prestige (Esterik 2008).

Conclusion

In conclusion, food represents someone’s cultural background as portrayal

in the film The Hundred Foot Journey (2014). There are many cultural differences
between French and India shown in this film. First is food. In food, it is shown how
Indian and French cultures are presented from plating, portions, and spices. Second,
through the appearance of the restaurant especially the decoration. If France is
identical with its simple and classic decoration, in the other hand India is more
concerned with ethnicity. Third, the cultural differences through the clothes they
used when they were cooking. While they were cooking, French chefs mostly
concern to hygiene so that they use chef uniforms which are currently part of the
regulation in the French culinary, while India has no rules in dressing in the kitchen
because historically they do not have them. The fourth, cultural differences is
through their seasoning technique. The French have sprinkling technique while
India stirs their spices as the seasoning technique. So from the differences, it is
found that French much pointing on the well-technique and presentation meanwhile
Indian is more concern from their taste side. From the social aspect, French people
show their superiority not only in economy but also in their food presentation.
 17

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