Regis Wargnier’s epic about French Indochina — from the years of French colonial imperialism to the days when American presence made itself felt and the country became known as Vietnam — is a story of romance and separation told through the backdrop of a country in turmoil.
The film centers on the relationship of the beautiful and imperious Eliane (Catherine Deneuve), a French rubber-plantation owner, and Camille (Linh Dan Pham), her adopted Indochinese daughter. The mother and daughter are very close until a diffident naval officer, Jean-Baptiste (Vincent Perez) enters their lives. Eliane is in love with him, but Jean-Baptiste and Camille become attracted to each other and fall in love. Thinking that she is doing Camille a favor, Eliane arranges to have Jean-Baptiste transferred to the far-away Tonkin Islands. But Camille flees the plantation to go to the man she loves. As she travels the country, she gains a greater knowledge and respect for the people of her homeland. When the government tears her from Jean-Baptiste and their infant child and arrests her for crimes against the state, she becomes politicized and becomes a supporter of the communists in the country’s civil war. As the country rocks in turmoil, Eliane becomes a personification of France, coolly walking amid her peasant workers, neither bowed nor afraid, grimly looking westward. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
And here’s today’s food item feature:
Chewing Gum–Bubble Gum
Read through the article below to find out the connection between rubber and the invention of chewing gum by Thomas Adams…
The Chewing Gum and Bubble Gum Story
People have enjoyed chewing gum-like substances in many lands and from very early times. Some of these materials were thickened resin and latex from certain kinds of trees. Others were various sweet grasses, leaves, grains and waxes.
For centuries the ancient Greeks chewed mastic gum (or mastiche pronounced “mas-tee-ka”). This is the resin obtained from the bark of the mastic tree, a shrub-like tree found on the island of Chios, Greece. Grecian women especially favored chewing mastic gum to clean their teeth and sweeten their breath.
From the Indians of New England, the American colonists learned to chew the gum-like resin that formed on spruce trees when the bark was cut. Lumps of spruce gum were sold in the eastern United States during the early 1800s, making it the first commercial chewing gum in this country. In about 1850, sweetened paraffin wax became popular and eventually exceeded spruce gum in popularity.
After he was defeated by the Americans in Texas, Mexican General Santa Anna was exiled to New York. Like many of his countrymen, Santa Anna chewed chicle. One day he introduced it to inventor Thomas Adams, who began experimenting with it as a substitute for rubber. Adams tried to make toys, masks, and rain boots out of chicle, but every experiment failed.
Sitting in his workshop one day,tired and discouraged, he popped a piece of surplus stock into his mouth. Shortly, he opened the world’s first chewing gum factory making Adams New York No. 1.
After the success with pure chicle gum, Adams tried to add flavor to it. He created a licorice-flavored gum called Black Jack. It was the first gum to be sold as a stick not in chunks, and was popular with the public. The gum had one drawback; it could not hold flavor.
The flavor issue was not fixed until 1880. A man named William White experimented with flavors after receiving a shipment of chicle. He solved the problem by adding sugar and corn syrup to the mix. The first flavor he used was peppermint and it stayed in the gum during chewing.
Gum made with chicle and similar latexes soon won favor over spruce gum and paraffin gum. It made possible a smooth, springy, satisfying chew that the others lacked, and it held flavors longer and better. By the early 1900s, with improved methods of manufacturing, packaging and marketing, modern chewing gum was well on its way to its current popularity.Info Source
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As we all know there are countless chewing and bubble gum brands in the market today. However, there are a few market leaders, ever wonder how the brand WRIGLEY has stayed strong, find out about the very clever marketing strategies of Mr. Wrigley…
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