COLLECTIVE: "Inventory of France's culinary heritage. Guadel - Lot 143

COLLECTIVE: "Inventory of France's culinary heritage. Guadeloupe. Local products and traditional recipes." Paris, ed. Albin Michel - CNAC, February 1998, ORIGINAL EDITION, in-8, hardback, color photo cover, 382 pp, black maps, table of contents, glossary, bibliography, addresses, tables of products and traditional recipes. In 1989, on the initiative of Jack Lang, then Minister of Culture, a research program was launched to take stock of our country's culinary heritage. At the time, gastronomy and all the heritages that go with it were given pride of place at the Ministry of Culture. To coordinate this inventory of France's culinary heritage, a structure was created: the Conseil National des Arts Culinaires (CNAC). A steering committee of "national experts" was set up, including two ethnologists, Laurence Bérard and Philippe Marchenay (CNRS, field surveys department), an agronomist, Jean Froc (agronomist at INRA, who died in February 2009) and two historians, Mary and Philip Hyman (historical research department). This ambitious project resulted in the publication of twenty-two volumes between 1990 and 2003 by Editions Albin-Michel. Twenty-two volumes that now form a prestigious collection, well known to French gastronomes. Unfortunately, the CNAC had to cease its activities at the end of the 1990s, while three regions remained to be covered: Auvergne, Centre, Réunion (and Mayotte). The Institut Européen d'Histoire et des Cultures de l'Alimentation, based in Tours, could not be satisfied with seeing this exceptional program remain incomplete. The Conseil Régional du Centre also recognized the importance of this project and gave it its unreserved support. In 2009, a major survey began, which has now enabled the work to be completed. Very good condition.