Paper short abstract

Using data gathered on communal meals held during summer village feasts in the Quercy (France), I discuss community building and agonism. I pay special attention to the semiotics of the food served at these meals and to the metagastronomic discourses complementing the meaning of these meals

Paper long abstract

In the area of South West France known as Quercy, summer is epitomized by a succession of feasts in many of the villages: they last about 3 days and always culminate in a communal meal on the Monday night. Social actors and commentators claim that these feasts and the communal meals are festive affairs. Indeed they are, but underlying tensions within villages are particularly obvious during the preparation and consumption of the communal meals where features associated with community building coexist with mild rivalries and agonism. Keeping this in mind, and using data gathered over the last 30 years in the Quercy, I am discussing the central role played by these communal meals in community building, but also in the reinforcement of agonism between villagers and villages. I am paying special attention to the semiotics of the food eaten during these meals, sustained as it is by metagastronomic discourses that complement the meaning of these meals.