Spreading Race

Dr. Nicolas Kayser-Bril

doi:10.5771/9783748963080

Summary

As imports of oil and oilseeds from Africa and Asia intensified in the 19th century, fat – almost always in short supply in Europe until then – became overabundant. This trade inherited many of the structures of the former trade in human beings, including its colonial and racial ideology. How did the ideas of race which underpinned the vegetable fats industry suffuse French and German everyday life? The book examines the food systems of both countries, from import structures to commercialization and cookbook writing, combining approaches from economic, cultural and art history. It provides nuanced answers by exploring visible clues, e.g. adverts, as well as strategies in silencing.

Keywords

Search publication

Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2025
ISBN-Print: 978-3-7560-3344-7
ISBN-Online: 978-3-7489-6308-0
Publisher: Nomos, Baden-Baden
Series: Konsum und Kultur – Geschichte und Gegenwart
Volume: 2
Language: English
Pages: 431
Product type: Book Titles

1. Table of Contents No access
1. 1.1 The two lives of Fort Ouidah No access
2. 1.2 Research question No access
3. 1.3 Grounding in cultural studies No access
4. 1.4 The importance of fats in human lives No access
5. 1.5 Links with current research No access
6. 1.6 Choice of period No access
7. 1.7 Between France and Germany No access
8. 1.8 Methodological approach No access
9. 1.9 Overview of sources No access
10. 1.10 Plan of the investigation No access
1. 1. 1. Narrow racism No access
    2. Wide racism No access
  2. 1. The construction of racial myths No access
    2. Analyzing the rassifiers No access
2. 1. 1. The imperial ideas No access
    2. Transimperialism No access
  2. 1. 'Commodity racism' No access
    2. Advertising's own agenda No access
3. 1. 2.3.1 'Eating the Other' No access
  2. 2.3.2 Colonial food and daily life No access
  3. 2.3.3 Miscegenation through food No access
4. 2.4 Interim conclusion No access
1. 1. 1. Sources on production No access
    2. Sources on consumption No access
  2. 1. Germany No access
    2. France No access
  3. 1. Industry, medicine and food No access
    2. Scarcity and plenty No access
  4. 1. Fat in the religious calendar No access
    2. More fat in the diet No access
2. 1. 1. France No access
    2. Germany No access
    3. Butter and fatness No access
  2. 1. Gruel and hard bread No access
    2. Bread and butter as the new normal No access
    3. Potatoes, the bread of the poor No access
  3. 1. Relative prices No access
    2. Falsifications No access
    3. Price and prestige No access
3. 1. 3.3.1 Butter quality No access
  2. 3.3.2 Poor people's butter, rich people's butter No access
4. 3.4 Interim conclusion No access
1. 1. 4.1.1 A story of ignorance No access
  2. 1. Travelogues in the 19th century No access
    2. From delicious to disgusting No access
  3. 1. A coherent group No access
    2. Choosing what to import No access
2. 1. 1. Legitimate commerce No access
    2. Racialisation No access
    3. Symbiosis with other colonial projects No access
  2. 4.2.2 Positive reviews No access
  3. 4.2.3 Eaten without afterthoughts No access
3. 1. 1. Pre-colonial trade No access
    2. Exploitation on three continents No access
    3. Mixed feelings No access
  2. 1. First attempts No access
    2. Palmin, Végétaline and the others No access
4. 4.4 Interim conclusion No access
1. 1. 1. Margarine and its context No access
    2. Artificial butter from beef No access
    3. Margarine after hydrogenation No access
  2. 1. More than a butter substitute No access
    2. Margarine geographies No access
    3. Similarities in looks and taste No access
    4. Mixtures No access
    5. Undetectable No access
  3. 1. Cheaper than butter No access
    2. Made for the poor No access
    3. Consumption patterns No access
    4. A rising tide left unseen? No access
2. 1. 1. Industrial products need clear definitions No access
    2. Squeezing margarine out No access
    3. Bounded rationality No access
  2. 1. Stoking fear No access
    2. An education in taste No access
    3. The idealisation of butter No access
  3. 1. Hamburg and Breslau No access
    2. Paris No access
3. 5.3 Interim conclusion No access
1. 1. 1. Black servants in European art No access
    2. Colonial characters No access
    3. An 'indistinguishable jumble' No access
  2. 6.1.2 Whiteness as a result No access
2. 1. 6.2.1 The mass media of the early 20th century No access
  2. 1. Vitello (1898–1915) No access
    2. Végétaline (1914–1930) No access
    3. Schwan im Blauband (1924–1929) No access
  3. 6.2.3 No trace of race? No access
3. 1. 1. Végétaline No access
    2. Palmin No access
  2. 1. Palm trees No access
    2. Rufisque No access
4. 1. 6.4.1 Building a data set No access
  2. 6.4.2 Race on promotional stamps No access
5. 1. 6.5.1 Colonialism for the youth No access
  2. 1. A colonial magazine: 1909–1915 No access
    2. Losing its edge: 1924–1933 No access
6. 6.6 Interim conclusion No access
1. 1. 7.1.1 What's a cookbook? No access
  2. 1. Nation and class No access
    2. Race No access
2. 1. 1. An analysis of over 300 cookbooks No access
    2. Methodology No access
    3. Testing the data set No access
  2. 7.2.2 Near-total silence No access
  3. 7.2.3 Discreet mentions No access
  4. 7.2.4 War cookbooks No access
  5. 7.2.5 Cookbooks for schools No access
  6. 7.2.6 Hedwig Heyl No access
  7. 7.2.7 A vegetarian exception No access
  8. 7.2.8 Silence without ignorance No access
  9. 7.2.9 Fattier books No access
3. 1. 7.3.1 Selective adoption No access
  2. 7.3.2 Forgetting vegetable fats No access
4. 7.4 Interim conclusion No access
1. 8.1 A paradox No access
2. 8.2 Transimperialism No access
3. 8.3 Reflection on digital methods No access
4. 8.4 Studies in silence No access
5. 8.5 Back to Ouidah No access
9 Acknowledgements No access Pages 371 - 372
1. 10.1 Correlation between unit prices and income No access
2. 1. 1. By German authors No access
    2. By French authors No access
    3. Positive assessments of vegetable fats No access
    4. Neutral assessments of vegetable fats No access
    5. Negative assessments of vegetable fats No access
  2. 10.2.2 Travelogues reviewed (South-East Asia and Oceania) No access
3. 1. 1. Books digitised by libraries No access
    2. Books from personal collection No access
    3. Optical character recognition No access
    4. N-gram viewer No access
  2. 1. In French No access
    2. In German No access
1. Printed sources No access
2. Literature No access