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This is a very very restrictive way to explain "terroir". The simplest way I could describe this word as we use it in france is "a region along with its tradit
by tuetuopay 2y ago
This is a very very restrictive way to explain "terroir".
The simplest way I could describe this word as we use it in france is "a region along with its traditions and local peculiarities". So yes, the earth is part of it, but the culture, the traditions, the people, the crops, are part of the terroir.
For example, anyone can grow ducks. But the southeast of France has a long tradition of duck breeding and food products made of ducks, and is renowned for it. There is knowledge and craftmanship involved in the notion of terroir.
Or, hunters will often turn their game into terrine (i'll let you google that), and pretty much anyone will make it roughly the same. Granted boar may be tastier in the south due to the sun and the soil, but I have really no idea. But the notion of terroir enters there because each region will add its own twist; like the cognac region often making "terrines au cognac", or normandy "terrines au calvados".
Another example is "saucisson" or dry sausage. Regions will often make produces of terroir by adding local stuff; like in savoie where you'll find saucisson with beaufort or other mountains cheese in it. Or in normandie you'll find barbecue merguez (hot sausage) with bits of camembert inside.
We tend to use the term quite loosely, and it's pretty common to hear about humans being pure products of the terroir they grew up in.
- thsksbd 2y ago(Nothing here is to cast aspersions to France or the French whom Im rather fond of) Again, English words for dirt, e.g. land, can be used for the exact same meaning. The word terroir is not elusive; rather this is just another case of upper class English speakers fetishizing French culture mixed with French cultural conceit all too eager to oblige. Italians have the exact same concept of "terra" when they explain why a little village in Umbria makes the best prosciutto (it hits the best humidity level allowing for optimal drying rate). Or why not all the land in Montalcino bear the same quality wine (mostly due to the quality of the amount of sun/shade) And the Spaniards have the same concept with their "Tierra", including to describe people's attitude from those regions (just go to Euskal Herria) In fact, your entire message is basically the definition of the EU's DOC. The idea that terroir is an elusive French concept is also incredibly Eurocentric. Im European (origin) so I only have European examples; but do you really think that advanced civilizations like the Chinese or Japanese don't have the exact same concept as "terroir"?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- mytailorisrich 2y agoNo "terroir" has not the same meaning as earth or land. It's wider and related to both the local environment and local practices. Wikipedia says: Terroir is a French term used to describe the environmental factors that affect a crop's phenotype, including unique environment contexts, farming practices and a crop's specific growth habitat. Collectively, these contextual characteristics are said to have a character; terroir also refers to this character.
- adammarples 2y agoYes, he clearly knows that, he gave multiple specific examples of local environment and local practices. I agree, terroir is not an elusive and untranslatable concept, it's a well understood and widely translated concept.
- mytailorisrich 2y agoExcept he provided an inaccurate translation so it seems to me that the concept is not so well understood... IMHO it is indeed untranslatable in the sense that there is no single word in English with the same meaning so that a translation requires a description (illustrated by my quote from Wikipedia that spends a whole paragraph explaining what it means).
- kergonath 2y agoThe concepts are not hard to understand and it is not uniquely French, far from it. That said, I cannot think of a single-word equivalent in English.
- adammarples 2y agoI can't think of a single-word translation for schadenfreude either, but that doesn't mean anything