Culture, politics, and modernization in Paris provisioning, 1880--1920 (France)

This dissertation examines Paris provisioning between 1880 and 1920 and the institutions and ideas underpinning the French capital's food supply. These years mark a period of transition under the Third Republic when vital food industries and commercial circuits became increasingly out-dated while reform movements for modernization of food supply systems gained momentum. This dissertation argues that disruptions in the Paris food supply and changes in consumer habits in the First World War, when seen in the larger context of urban provisioning institutions and policies of the prewar and postwar eras, demonstrate that the persistent debates in provisioning reform focused on reconciling traditional French food culture with changes that twentieth-century life styles demanded.; The design and management of Paris provisioning before 1914 affected the capital's ability to respond to food supply emergencies during the First World War. Public authorities had not adapted the nineteenth-century provisioning methods to economic and social changes in Paris. One result was higher prices for the most sought-after fresh foods, especially meat. As food prices rose vertiginously, the high cost of living (la vie chere) endangered both individual and social well-being.; Throughout the period covered in this dissertation, modernization and economic regionalism were often partners in attempts to reform food industries and commercial circuits in France. Before the war, provincial markets and industrial abattoirs challenged traditions in French provisioning, which the centralized Parisian institutions (Les Halles and La Villette) represented. New forms of retail commerce, including chain stores and cooperative societies, increased the consumer's choice and voice in food shopping. Before 1914, foodways across the socio-economic spectrum reflected widely-shared cultural attitudes about eating and commensality, habits of shopping and cooking, and a belief in the primacy of the table in the French ideal of the good life.; The First World War and the postwar era brought new difficulties in urban provisioning, ushering in a decade of heightened public anxiety over the rising cost of living and the security of French food supply systems. Beyond the practical consequences, doubts about French agricultural abundance threatened core notions of national and cultural identity during and after the war.