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Faustine Re´gnier
same time, the curiosity, the research of something new, the desire for variety, and especially the seduction of something different, all lead consumers to go beyond their fear of the unknown.
IV. THE SEDUCTION OF FOREIGN FOODS IV.A. Desire for new products Indeed, two attitudes constitute what Fischler (1990) calls ‘the paradox of the homnivore,’ fear of and the desire for innovation – or ‘ne´ophobie’ and ‘ne´ophilie.’ We also find in women’s magazines discourses valorizing the difference in exotic foods as compared to French or German foods. The origin of the seduction of exotic products relies much more on this difference. Consuming exotic foods means to experience charming and strange products, unexpected flavors, colorful dishes, and new ways of cooking. This is why, while conforming to French or German food habits, foreign culinary practices must remain a little mysterious, as expressed in Modes et Travaux (1987): ‘Magic of the perfumes, savors and colors, the spices will blow on your kitchen a wind of exoticism, mystery and wonders.’ In consequence, foreign foods are better than one’s traditional food and here is the singularity of exoticism (Todorov, 1989). Exotic foods are opposed to the national daily and familiar food practices, and appear to be in opposition to our common habits. In consuming exotic foods, it is possible to vary one’s daily habits, to fight against the boredom (of eating the same foods), or to renew a food tradition. Exotic products make it possible to leave the ordinary behind. Consequently, exoticism is related to leisure, feasting, sensuality, and sensuousness (Todorov, 1989).
IV.B. Traveling during a meal The consumption of exotic food is also seductive because it gives the illusion of travel during a meal, e.g. creating during a dinner the mood of the holidays and traveling abroad, or a way of anticipating the pleasure of a trip to come or of recalling memories of a past holiday (Chiva, 1993; Re´gnier, 2005). In this sense, culinary exoticism is a way to discover foreign countries, in contrast to regional foods, which are a way to discover the treasures of local (i.e. French) culinary practices (Csergo, 1996). Thus, the consumer can be transported on the road to India, for example, thanks to an exotic Indian meal prepared at home. Cooking an exotic product is therefore a form of tourism that is far easier to achieve by cooks who remain in their own kitchen. The consumer of exotic food can also travel through time, thanks to a kind of ‘historical exoticism’ (Verdier, 1979), which is only anecdotal, but