ABSTRACT
This article examines the “tasting place” practices of the jury terroir: a tasting panel consisting of trained, volunteer tasters from the Comté chain and the wider Franche-Comté region of eastern France, who have met under the direction of food scientist Florence Bérodier for the past twenty-five years in order to describe the sensory characteristics of Comté cheese. Drawing from participant observation and interview research, the jury is approached as a ritual practice in order to examine the social and collaborative dimensions of sensory perception. The article focuses on the rules and structures of the jury’s mise en commun, or the moments when participants share sensory perceptions, and argues that they reflect and maintain, first, a sense of interrelation that transcends mundane social hierarchies and, second, the civic values and practices of Comté’s robust cooperative structure.
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Christy Shields-Argelès
Christy Shields-Argelès is a Franco-American food anthropologist currently working on the "tasting place" practices and languages of the Comté cheese chain.