Breton bread ovens of the Petit Nord: the archaeological landscape of foodways in the French fishing stations of Newfoundland

Godbout, Genevieve (2008) Breton bread ovens of the Petit Nord: the archaeological landscape of foodways in the French fishing stations of Newfoundland. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

From the sixteenth century to the early twentieth, French fishermen came to the Petit Nord, a region of northern Newfoundland, to harvest and process cod. After 1713, international treaties prevented them from overwintering or settling on the Petit Nord, and fishing rooms typically comprised ephemeral and minimalist structures, with the interesting exception of large bread ovens. French fishermen built such ovens in Newfoundland at least since the late eighteenth century, during the decades surrounding the French Revolution. During that time, a growing symbolic association of bread with cultural identity participated in the development of French nationalism. French people, regardless of their social situation or occupation, yearned to consume bread of a good quality, apparently including fishermen engaged in migratory fishing expeditions to Newfoundland. The French bread ovens of the Petit Nord suggest the socio-economic importance of bread in the fishing crews' lifeways and in the expression of their identity in the landscape.

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