Others contend that French gastronomy perpetuates national
identity both within and outside French boundaries. Within French
boundaries, the issue of a national cuisine refers to a “mundane
nationalism, that is to say a set of routinized practices, actions and
values developed by the members of a national community in order
to daily perpetuate the identification relative to the nation” (author
translation) (Martigny, 2010, p. 41). Yet, outside French boundaries,
Martigny (ibid) argues that “[French cuisine] allows France, through
the promotion of French taste, to occupy a dominant symbolic
position and illustrates the French reaction to globalization
perceived as ‘acculturating’ or ‘Americanizing’” (author translation).
Overall, he views French gastronomy as relating both to a
set of symbolic values with positive connotations such as taste,
quality, and health, as well as to a set of spatial dimensions such as
the village, terroir, and countryside. These referents reinforce the
important role of space and place in national identity as well as
contributing to the deification of the French art de vivre (art of
living)