Terroir

Terroir. An intrinsically French word ... and concept. A word that is variously and too simply translated as land. soil. region. None of these work. Terroir. A term that we do not have a word for in English. I hear it used in speaking about food, mostly frequently (but not only) about wine. But just what does it mean?

Honey is important in France. It isn't hard to find shops specializing in different types of honey, from different regions. Those various honeys are an expression of terroir. I saw these particular hives, on a terrace partway up the mountain, as as I was climbing to Col de l'Exil in the Cévennes. Stopping to photograph them, I quickly realized that the bees humming and buzzing was audible from where I was standing.

Terroir: a cultural concept, a word that links food to the land it comes from. Terroir: specifically defined or determined by geology; soil; weather and exposure; plants, seeds and rootstock; other plants growing nearby. Also by decisions that  farmers, make, or do not make.

Very close to Beynac-et-Cazenac, on the way to visit the castle there, I rode past this field of asparagus, growing near the Dordogne. It was tall, thick, very green. Asparagus never, ever, looks like this where I live.

Terroir: The interaction of all those things, and more, with the plant produces something specific. Regional. Local. But region or location doesn't determine terroir, although terroir is an expression partly of region and location. Terroir can vary within a region, within even a small area. I think that terroir has a great deal to do with specificity.

We all know France is well-known for its cheese, regional cheeses, many of which don't travel well. DeGaulle famously said "How can anyone govern a nation that has two hundred and forty-six kinds of different cheese." I have often seen that remark corrected, always with much larger numbers of different kinds of cheese. These cheeses, photographed through glass at the market in Nimes, are all marked by terroir.

Terroir. A cultural concept that developed in a culture that cares profoundly for its heritage, its food, its exact place, its specific existence in this particular place at this particular time. It respects diversity and variation in food.

This head of garlic was grown in the Dordogne, I bought it at the market in St. Céré. I told the farmer who grew it, and sold it to me, that it was a present for my husband, that we love garlic, and that we would plant the cloves in our garden. No, no, he told me you should not plant it, it would die. He made very sure that I understood what he was saying. This garlic will not grow well, it would die. I promised that we would eat it, not plant it, and we will. To me, that is an expression of terroir: this specific garlic must be grown in its specific terroir to thrive.

Is this being lost today with the pressures of globalization, standardization, cheap food? I don't know the answer to that but I know it is threatened. Specifically threatened by the current international trade talks, and the US insistence on free trade of US grown, GMO altered, factory-farmed meat. An agricultural system, a culture that values terroir is far different from an agricultural system based on mass produced generic foods developed for shipping qualities, developed for profit. I for one am not interested in that food, do not want to eat it, and hope the Europeans don't cave in to pressure.

Oh yes, this is a bike blog, that is politics. But politics influences bicycling, and culture influences bicycling. And certainly politics influences culture. The little roads I ride on, the small farms and agricultural lands I ride through, the local foods I enjoy, the old varieties of livestock I see while riding. These things are all threatened by the US position in international trade talks. To use two other French words I don't think have exact English equivalents, the paysage (not exactly landscape) and patrimoine (not exactly cultural heritage) of regions, are a big part of what makes cycling in France so special. They are threatened by the US position in these international trade talks.

I don't know just what the names of these critters are, but they are beautiful, and not factory raised. I bet whatever food, or foods, comes from them is delicious. And formed by its terroir.

Now, I know I am writing on thin ice, talking about a concept so central to a culture that is not my culture. So I particularly welcome any comments, corrections, explanations from readers.