How to Peacefully Promote the Culture

BY CHRISTINA PASSARIELLO, WSJ

PARIS—Over a feast of foie gras, crispy pig ears and white Burgundy, a group of epicurean French politicians recently added a new twist to a debate over national identity: You are what you eat. By that definition, being properly French means dining on croissants, brie and duck confit.

The call is a sign of rising culinary nationalism amid fears that the pre-eminence of French cuisine has evaporated. It has also reframed the continuing question of what it means to be French: Couscous and other foreign foods cooked by the country's millions of ethnic and religious minorities aren't on the menu.