The story told by the kitchen, we enjoy it

History can be studied through multiple prisms: that of madness, women’s rights, inventions, the arts. But cuisine also says a lot about an era. Food critic Alfonso Aïtor has chosen 25 historical moments, from Cro-Magnon to space, including the Commune and Darwin, and amazes us each time with the discoveries he has made. To make the menu less indigestible, he asked Jul (“Silex and the City” and screenwriter of the latest Lucky Luke films) to sprinkle the dish with humorous drawings. The duo was in Lausanne this week for a gastro-literature-drawn experience and told us about the creation of this album, “Hunger in History”, released in 2023. Which will have sequels and even a TV show.

The Covid lockdown, especially in countries like France where there was a real restriction on movement, was a source of inspiration and creativity for some. This is what happened to Aïtor Alfonso. “I was going around in circles and asking myself lots of strange questions, including this one: but what did people eat at the Woodstock festival? Since I love doing research, I dove into the documentation and learned with amazement that nothing had been planned to feed half a million people. Everything was done in a hurry and gave rise to lots of crazy anecdotes with amazing characters. I knew I had a concept and I started to observe other eras from the same angle. It gave amazing results. I wanted to make an illustrated book, I needed someone funny enough and intellectually curious. I immediately thought of Jul.”

“I constantly get calls from people offering me collaborations and I say no all the time,” explains Jul. There, he convinced me in two minutes. It was similar to the philosophy books that I wrote with Pépin. Except that Pépin started from my humor boards, while there, I was inspired by the writings of Aïtor. I don’t illustrate them, I find gags related to the time and the food. It was very enjoyable, I had never drawn a samurai or Mussolini.”

In this book, which the authors rightly describe as encyclopedic and joyful, we learn a lot of things while having fun, all presented in chronological order. “Yes, that made more sense. Sometimes you had to dig to find things. Although the Lord’s Supper is one of the most represented meals in the world, Jesus speaks very little about food himself in the Bible. Unlike Darwin, who tasted every animal he encountered.

“There are 25 eras, but we had to make choices,” admits Jul. But we have enough to make two sequels, with other eras, always in chronological order. We also have a TV show project where we will meet chefs to have them prepare period meals. It’s for public television, if it will still exist after the legislative elections.”

“You can use the concept in history, but also in fiction: eating with Harry Potter, for example. It’s endless. I had looked for Sherlock Holmes, but didn’t find much, that’s when, for that period, I came across Darwin.” The two authors are also fond of wordplay and have teamed up for chapter titles that range from “Aztecs-frites” to “saké soirée”, via “Finis ton ascète!”

A comic book character appears in the album: Averell Dalton. “He’s one of the two big eaters in the comics with Obélix. Since I was writing Lucky Luke, I took Averell. Who will experience new adventures in November related to the stomach, since there will be a question of beer shortage in the United States. And we will instead see mammoth leg in September, the 10th volume of “Silex and the City”, which Jul himself will bring to the screen in a cartoon which will be released the same month. Great news, but with him, you’re never satisfied.