Venus Bivar delves into the global nature of the business of food in France, an industry often portrayed as a purely artisanal endeavor. She takes to task the leisurely and refined stereotype of the French countryside, portraying French farmers as businessmen involved in global trade and mass production.
“Organic Resistance” touches on economic modernization, organic farming, agricultural protests and the rise of environmentalism. Vivar presents the story of how French farming conquered the world, spreading a set of ideas about place and purity with an origin story that goes beyond gastronomic refinement to a place darker than one might suspect.