From Obelix’s wild boars to Popeye’s spinach, the Smurfs’ sarsaparilla to Naruto’s ramen, the Bidochon family’s Villageoise wine to the natural wines produced in Les Ignorants, comic strips are full of food and drink, some more refined than others!
Through the illustrations of a hundred or so comic book authors, the exhibition provides a fascinating insight into how the 9th art portrays our relationship with food, gastronomy and wine.
Co-produced with Angoulême’s Cité internationale de la bande dessinée et de l’image, this new exhibition explores a new facet of the French gastronomic meal and the place of food in our society, through the eyes of comic strip authors and illustrators.
A 6-part exhibition
Tell me what you eat, I’ll tell you who you are
Many cartoon heroes are characterized by what they eat or drink. Examples include Asterix and his magic potion, Obelix and his wild boar, Popeye and his spinach, Gaston and his strawberry cod…
The taste of the time
Alongside more contemporary heroes, stories and cartoons tell the story of our times, through, for example, the front pages of Charlie Hebdo, Fluide Glacial or The New Yorker. In Les Bidochon, a couple of average Frenchmen influenced by consumer society are mocked.
I eat therefore I am
Enter the world of intimate comics, where food tells our stories and takes us back to our memories and travels… In À la recherche de Jeanne, the author, who has just lost her grandmother, sets off on an initiatory quest to Israel, based on her recipe book.
We make a meal of it
Food and cooking have often been a weapon of emancipation for comic book heroes. Thanks to food, the hero can defeat the forces of evil or find their own way. It’s also in this room that we’ll find many popular mangas such as Les gouttes de Dieu.
A taste for others
This fifth part shows how, in the wake of Etienne Davodeau and his Ignorants, comics (often reportage) have taken an interest in producers, winemakers, chefs…
The author transforms himself into a “Tintin reporter”, slipping into the kitchens of top chefs to accompany farmers and winemakers in their daily tasks.
Bouchées doubles
To accompany the exhibition, the curators wanted to create a book that would raise questions about the future of food. So they teamed up 7 comic authors with 14 chefs to reflect on the cuisine of the future. The creations were published in a single volume and presented in the final part of the exhibition.