In Part 2 of The Book of Salt, Binh expresses frustration while grappling with the many forms of “chicken” preparation that French natives expect him to be familiar with. “La Coquelet” for young male chicken or “La Poulard” for young female chicken… Binh is fed up with the “obsessive assortment of words the French have devised for this animal…”
The domestication of the chicken dates back to 2000 BC (although sources dispute this… some say as far back as 8000 BC) and its genealogical origin traces back to Southeast Asia. Evidence of domesticated chickens in South America suggests that South Pacific Islanders made contact with America long before Columbus. Chickens, while valuable sources of nutrition, were kept early on as “gamecocks” or fighting birds, providing cheap entertainment. Selective breeding of fowl lead to variability in breeds while also maximizing nutritional potential from the farm animal. Once Europeans came to the Western world, chicken would be spread throughout the world where each culture fine tuned its recipe to their liking.
In the text, Binh struggles with the elitist language that he must understand to properly perform his job. As an immigrant to France, he is forced to assimilate to their culture and language to protect his livelihood. As he describes in the same chapter, likening himself to French culture and speaking proper French were critical to securing potential patrons/employers. It just so happens that the French, fortunate enough to appropriate the chicken dishes of their various colonies, have developed an extensive naming system for all the potential chicken food stuffs. Binh’s job as a cook has him in the crosshairs of French elitist expectation and his identity as a Vietnamese immigrant provokes French natives into questioning his knowledge of all that matters – French culture, food and society.
Works Cited
The History of Chickens
https://www.cappersfarmer.com/farm-and-home/history-of-chickens-ze0z1412zdeh/
Truong, Monique. The Book of Salt. 2003; Houghton Mifflin Publishing.