Humanity's footsteps. Season 1 Episode 10 The Gallic banquet / directed by Agnès Molia and Clémence Lutz.
Sur nos traces : die spur du steine, Le Banquet Gaulois réalise per regie Agnès Molia & Clémence Lutz

Format:

Video

Contributor:

Molia Agnès, director.

Lutz, Clémence, director.

Heritage Broadcasting Service, issuing body.

Language:

English

French

Subjects (All):

Gauls--Food habits--5th to 10th century.

Gauls.

Gauls--Social life and customs--5th to 10th century.

France--History--5th to 10th century.

France.

Genre:

Documentary films.

Feature films.

Nonfiction films.

Documentary film.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (1 video file (26 minutes)): sound, color

Place of Publication:

[Strasbourg, France] : ARTE France, [2012]

[Eugene, Oregon] : Heritage Broadcasting Service, [2012]

Language Note:

In French with English subtitlers.

System Details:

digital

Summary:

The French love for their cuisine dates back to the Gauls! The famous banquets which close the adventures of Asterix and Obelix were in fact a central Gallic institution. However, such communal feasts were not as often imagined, with wild boar devoured and alcohol consumed voluminously, accompanied by gargantuan excesses. The real Gallic banquet was codified and ritualized. Guests were placed by rank. Nothing of the food, drink and accessories was left to chance. Such feasts closed religious ceremonies, warlike and political assemblies, and final homages to the dead. The essential foods were meats, from pigs, oxen and sheep. Alcohol was honored for the trance states it induced, getting celebrants "closer to the gods." Archaeological traces of beer are rare, but myriad ancient amphorae are evidence for the Gauls' wine consumption. Apart from festivities, what was their daily culinary life? Experimental archaeology is now answering this question.

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from title screen (viewed on July 11, 2025).

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.