Haute Cuisine is a foodie film following career path of Hortense, a chef hired by the president. It explores her ability to showcase her identity through the production of food. This is highlighted by the dishes, techniques and produce. It allows for an exploration of how at the time French cuisine was transitioning from home cooked foods to theatrical meals with intense focus on detail.
Hortense transgressed from these notions of theatre in French food, and instead was hired to provide homely foods. For most people, this is focused on cheap meals that are filling and tend to follow family recipes. For Hortense, homely foods are using ingredients that come from place with a story. She sources her produce from friends and family, origins that she connects with and then highlights these ingredients in her dishes. Despite the concept of simple dishes, Hortense’s ingredients tend to be rich and expensive, such as the use of truffles. This highlights regional diversity and local produce.
Her character arc transgresses common social conflicts at the time, such as the role of gender in professional realms. Facing harassment and undermining of her skill in her given role due to being a woman. This, alongside her inability to express autonomy as a chef, she finds herself leaving her job and following a different path as a chef.
Hortense talks through her methods, this alludes to the codification addressed by Parkhurst, in which cultural identity is embedded through the codifying of recipes. Although not written, by providing language to the actions, it immerses itself in a codifying process for those around her, an act intrinsic to her cooking.
Cheap European Dishes 