Claude Lévi-Strauss at the table

Rather than the French starter-main-dessert grid, I order these dishes according to the framework I myself proposed for reading all the world's cuisines: the culinary triangle. At its three poles: RAW (food in its natural state), COOKED (transformed by fire and culture), and ROTTEN/FERMENTED (transformed by time). A meal, in any society, is composed by leaning toward one or another of these poles. Here: fish cooked over a campfire (cooked), dried cassava flatbread for the road (between raw and preserved), Burgundy wine (fermented), and pressed tropical fruit (raw and fresh).