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Etching of Dietary Inequalities of Absolutism
This etching is a satirical print depicting an unnaturally large Louis XVI and his family enjoying a grand feast while the French citizens are small, exhausted and only working to sustain royal indulgence. This depicts how the French viewed Louis XVI as tyrannical and food was the most tangible way to depict this power. Food and bread transcended all social orders and could communicate this tyranny and resonate with all orders, specifically given the famine that led to the French revolution. -
John Dauglish and the mechanization of Bread Production
This lithograph depicts the aerated bread machine created by John Dauglish(1824–1866). John Dauglish figured out how produce aerated bread by injecting carbon dioxide, rather than fermentation by yeast. By 1856 he had mechanized his process, allowing for greater sanitation. He represents how the industrial revolution improved quality of life: he took a household necessity and improved its sanitation and increased its production, which allowed for more nutrition and the development of capital. -
'Othering' in Indochina through French culture
This 1912 etching was created by André Joyeux in his book "La Vie Large des Colonies" which depicted French colonialism in French Indochina. This etching shows colonists eating obviously French food and embracing French culture. The Indochinese man appears in direct contrast and his distinct non-french characteristics are villainized to perpetuate the 'othering' process and his 'less-than' status. This othering process often occurred through the promotion of bread over rice in European colonies. -
Poem: The Bagel Hole and Two Brass Buttons
This Yiddish poem written by Eliezer Shtaynbarg (1880-1932), published posthumously, depicts a bagel hole arguing with brass buttons. It asks "Do you think the bagel’s more important than its essence? Are you running from the spiritual idea? Its presence is indeed the central core and cause of every entity." The spiritual nature in which the Jewish identity and the bagel are intertwined is symbolic for Hassidism the solidification of the Jewish identity amid the rise of European nationalism. -
Poem: The Bagel Hole and Two Brass Buttons Cont.
This entry is only to include the second page of the Yiddish Poem.