Podcast: Bullshit jobs, vegan eggs, women's lib appliances

Does French work culture tolerate bullshit jobs for the sake of work/life balance? Developing a vegan egg in a country with no strong vegan culture but an egg-heavy cuisine. How Moulinex helped free French women from their culinary shackles.

Spotlight on France, episode 68 © RFI

When American anthropologist David Graeber coined the term 'bullshit jobs' in a 2018 book, his definition rested on self-reporting: if someone feels their job is pointless, then it is. His argument was that bullshit jobs are a product of capitalism, which requires everyone to work. The concept took off in popular culture around the world. But Franco-German journalist Nicolas Kayser-Bril (@nicolaskb), who has worked his share of bullshit jobs, noticed it had not been picked up by academics. So he researched and wrote his own book, Imposture à temps complet: Pourquoi les bullshit jobs envahissent le monde (Full time imposters, why bullshit jobs are taking over the world), in which he refined Graeber’s definition. Turns out bullshit jobs are 'opaque' and 'unclarifiable', and France is full of them. (Listen @3'20'')

France is known more for its butter croissants and egg-based creams than for its vegan cooking, but a startup is hoping to change that. Two female scientists have developed Le Papondu (Not laid), an entirely plant and mineral-based egg that cooks just like a chicken egg. The market for vegan and vegetarian food in France remains small, but it is growing, as are allergies in children which partly motivated the young scientists to hatch their vegan alternative. And how do they taste? (Listen @21')

On 16 February 1932, French industrialist Jean Mantelet patented the ‘moulin-legumes’, a food mill intended to help his wife in the kitchen. His company went on to create the first electric appliances in France, and in 1957 it became Moulinex, which advertised itself as 'liberating women in the kitchen with the press of a button'. (Listen @16'48'')

This episode was mixed by Cecile Pompeani.

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, iTunes (link here), Spotify (link here), Google podcasts (link here), or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).