Philippe Pétain at the table

Two worlds meet in Pétain's life. On one side, the military mess tin: the collective meal of the troops, frugal, simmered in large field cauldrons, organized around a single dish of meat and root vegetables that sticks to the ribs. On the other, the bourgeois and peasant table of Artois and Flanders, his native land: a robust Northern cuisine of beer, butter, and brown sugar, punctuated by a bitter chicory drink and sweets sold at ducasses (village fairs). There is no separation into starter-main-dessert: you share a large stew pot, drink hot, and sweets come as a festival or snack pleasure.

The sweet bitterness of roasted chicory root and the soft brownness of cassonade (vergeoise) are the gustatory signature of Artois and Flanders, the country of Cauchy-à-la-Tour where Pétain was born. Sobriety and terroir: exactly the peasant values he liked to claim.