Calf's Head and Politics: "It is divisive but is neither right nor left" according to a historian

When we talk about calf's head in France, we think of Jacques Chirac. But in a fascinating and less light-hearted book than it seems, Pierre Michon reminds us that the relationship between this dish and politics began well before the man who presided over France from 1995 to 2007.

Born in 1987, Pierre Michon holds a doctorate in history and is the editor of Senate debates. "A Short History of the Calf's Head" is his first published work.

Aside from your strong and avowed penchant for calf's head, what prompted you to embark on this work?

The goal was to publish a somewhat light-hearted book on a perfectly serious subject. And then, there's a well-known link, already detailed in numerous books, between gastronomy and politics, between cooking and diplomacy.

As in politics, calf's head is a divisive dish. You either love it or hate it, not to mention the disgust it can provoke.

That's true, even if it was a popular recipe among radical socialists, the antithesis of division. But calf's head is neither left nor right. Asking a guest, "Tell me if you eat calf's head, and I'll tell you who you vote for," doesn't work.

Despite French chauvinism, calf's head is international.

Already in France, several provinces are making it their own, notably Lorraine and Limousin. Perhaps French gastronomy has given it its letters of nobility, but it can be found almost everywhere in the world. I discovered it myself while embarking on my research; it's the pleasure of learning. It's served breaded in Austria, combined with rabbit and chicken in the Italian Piedmont, in a soup in England, and sült, a calf's head cheese, is a Christmas Eve classic in Estonia. It is also widely consumed in North Africa.

It was a sought-after dish in ancient Rome, as evidenced by Petronius's "Satyricon", or on Egyptian mortuary frescoes which prove that it was on the table of the pharaohs.

The calf's head is the head of Louis XVI. It is therefore good policy to eat it on January 21st.

The repulsion towards calf's head is not reserved for vegetarians.

Calf's head is intimidating, it's true. It's worth remembering that it's now served in a more presentable manner, whereas a century ago, if you ordered one, it would have been brought to you whole on a platter. You had to have a strong stomach to look at this dish. Apparently, some restaurants still serve it this way, but I haven't checked it myself.

It refers to a collective imagination and evokes decapitation. Generally speaking, tripe and offal provoke this same movement of recoil. Calf's liver and kidneys are less consensual than other recipes. And you reach the top when you ask for brains! But gourmets and chefs love them because they are cuts with a real identity and a pronounced taste.

After 1789, it became a revolutionary dish.

Calf's head is the head of Louis XVI. It is therefore good policy to eat it on January 21, the anniversary of the king's beheading. That said, not all revolutionaries were fans of calf's head. Some warn against the image royalists might attach to revolutionaries as head cutters or blood drinkers, discrediting the republican message.

At the same time, it is also an anticlerical dish.

This is part of the provocative side of the calf's head. In the ^19th century, anticlericals enjoyed eating one on Good Friday or during the Lenten fast.

"The quarrel between gribiche sauce and ravigote sauce spices up its history a little."

Thanks to Charles X, calf's head could have been the new chicken in the pot.

In March 1830, a few months before his fall, King Charles X signed an ordinance authorizing tripe merchants to sell calf's head, a privilege reserved for butchers. This was an immediate democratization of calf's head. The working classes ate very little meat, mainly mutton but little cattle and even less poultry, which was then a luxury dish.

It also became the favorite dish of coachmen, who were the taxi drivers or truckers of our time. The true golden age of calf's head was around 1900. It was found almost everywhere, to the point that it became off-putting for some gourmets. Fortunately, there was the quarrel between gribiche sauce and ravigote sauce, which, if I may say so, spiced up its history a little. As in politics, there would be a synthesis, each of the two sauces borrowing from the other.

Conversely, is there a decline in calf's head?

I place it in the 1980s. There was a generational shift, women were staying home less and less and working more and more. You had to have time and desire to cook a calf's head. Culinary habits were evolving, even becoming Americanized to the detriment of the offal industry.

Mad cow disease also caused considerable harm to calf's head and the entire beef industry. The movement was already underway, and mad cow disease accelerated the process. Conversely, Covid and the lockdown have given people a renewed desire to take their time cooking delicious meals. I also think that cooking shows have brought calf's head back into the spotlight. It's found in many restaurants, sometimes with original recipes.

It is impossible to talk about calf's head without mentioning Jacques Chirac.

Jacques Chirac was known for his extraordinary appetite and he genuinely loved calf's head. Above all, he had the intuition to understand how this dish gave him a popular and provincial image, even though he himself was a Parisian grande bourgeois, a graduate of the École nationale de l'administration (ENA). Calf's head allowed him to differentiate himself from Giscard or Balladur, who seemed more distant from the people. But Chirac ended up getting indigestion from calf's head because everyone was serving it to him to please him. It's understandable that in 1995, he chose an apple as his emblem.

He was also mayor of Paris. Parisian, calf's head!

We don't know how the expression came about. Who knows why, veal represents stupidity, pretension, and softness. I don't think there's any gastronomic significance. In fact, the full expression is "Parisian, dog's head. Parisian, calf's head."

“A Short History of Calf’s Head – When Gastronomy Becomes Politics,” by Pierre Michon, Tallandier, 224 p., €19.90.