College of Charleston Students Learn French Through Food

^{Above: Lauren Ravalico and Chef Bintou N’Daw speak to students about the class immersion experience and menu. (Photo by Max Vittorio)}

Sampling delicacies seen in French films, a visit to the Gibbes Museum of Art and couscous cooking demonstrations are all part of Lauren Ravalico’s new First Year Experience course, Beginning French Through the Culture of Food. The course integrates French and African foodways into the curriculum, making it an engaging way to take French 101.

“FYE courses are typically topics-based courses that allow for experiential learning and other high-impact experiences. That is very much my jam, and I had this idea to teach French 101 through the culture of food, which is something that I have a lot of experience in doing and a particular passion for,” explains Ravalico, an associate professor of French/Francophone studies. “My idea was to integrate food studies into the beginning of a French student’s learning of the language – to merge learning a new tongue with the sensory experience that eating brings into our mouths. To learn language through food culture is to literally take in the world, to embody it.”

The course held two major events focused on local chefs in the Charleston area. Each one gave students the opportunity to cultivate a sense of belonging within Charleston’s Francophone community. 

The first foodways event was held at Bintü Atelier, a Senegalese restaurant in Charleston run by Chef Bintou N’Daw from Saint Louis, Senegal. Students got to try Moroccan vegetable tagine (a vegetarian couscous dish), Senegalese yassa lamb (a slow-cooked lamb with caramelized onions) and sorrel juice (from hibiscus flowers).

“Chef Bintou moved here from Saint Louis, partly because Charleston reminded her of her African hometown. She taught us about West African foodways, how certain foods came to West Africa, how the history of French colonization is related to that and her own personal background – all in French! Students listened to Chef and smelled the spices while using their new French skills to write about the ingredients,” says Ravalico. “Then they got to taste, talk and craft reflections, all while enjoying the restaurant’s excellent African music playlist.”

Allison Campbell, a student in the course, says that the event introduced her to new things: “This experience brought me out of my comfort zone and exposed me to new flavors and language on my palate.”

Libby Drotar, another student in the course, says the excursion made her feel closer to her classmates.

“I really felt like the food brought us all together, like family,” she says. “Chef Bintou’s food really did taste like she made it with love.”

Students were also able to visit the Gibbes Museum of Art for a French descriptive-writing activity.

“It’s really just so deep and meaningful to observe the students looking through the museum, taking their notes, choosing the works of art that they like, asking me questions and talking to each other,” says Ravalico. “Those experiences that link them to the French language, to a greater cultural context and then to the magnificent city that they’re living in for their college experience – that’s what it’s all about.”

And students in the class appreciate the experiences, too.

“I genuinely love this class so much. I think it’s really cool how she lets us do immersive activities as a class,” says Adela Snelgrove. “I really enjoy it because it helps me actually want to learn French.”

The second foodways event was divided into two parts. Students first got to watch the French film The Taste of Things, about two chefs in love who, in many scenes, are preparing classic French dishes. The next part took place at the local French restaurant Bistronomy, with chef and owner Nico Romo from Lyon, France. Students got to sample dishes from the film, including vol au vent (French chicken pot pie), pot au feu (braised beef and vegetables) and omelette norvégienne (baked Alaska).

It was, says student Gabby Garcia, like “a mini–study abroad here, because we get to actually taste authentic plates. I took French all of my high school years, and never did I really get to indulge in the culture like I have now.”

Reflecting on the course as a whole this semester, Ravalico says, “Using experiential learning to infuse the culture of food into the study of French is really a way to infuse a sense of purpose into why you’re learning French in the first place. You’re using another tongue, and you’re also using your tongue to experience what this culture is. Culinary food traditions bind people more tightly than any other tradition.

“I have loved being able to introduce students to both the technical aspects of beginning to speak a world language and at the same time getting to bind it together with an element of culture that is so fundamental to how societies understand themselves,” she continues. “The FYE program has given me an amazing opportunity to show students how their general education studies are serving a larger purpose that has to do with the broadness and openness and multidimensional understandings of a liberal arts education.”