patrimoine culturel et gastronomique oder épouvantable cruauté?

Konkurrierende Narrative und Konzeptualisierungen in der französischen Debatte um die Stopfleberproduktion

Abstract

Hardly any symbol of French gastronomy is on the one hand so strongly anchored in culinary customs and on the other hand evokes such strong public controversy as foie gras: for some it remains the ultimate Christmas delicacy, for others the gavage is the prototypical example of cruel, per se unethical exploitation of animals. The article analyses two sub-corpora from the French-speaking world, on the one hand key documents of foie gras producers, who not only praise the culinary qualities of their product, but also conceptualise its production as a process close to nature, and on the other hand the strategic communication of opponents, who use the argument of animal welfare in particular to reject foie gras production, in many cases also any form of meat consumption or animal products in general. The focus will be on the different metaphorical conceptualisations as well as the respective argumentation strategies. In this context, we will also examine the extent to which high-value concepts of the ‘natural’ are subject to different catchphrase programmes and cognitive framings.