Bread and Puppet Theater's use of performing objects offers an aperture to contemplate complex assemblages that blur lines between the human and the nonhuman. Drawing upon cultural studies, feminist materialism, circus studies, and puppetry studies, I consider both the bread and the puppets as they intersect with various assemblages and fields of interpretation. These configurations demonstrate how the objects embody (non)human, material, and conceptual aspects. Because of this ability to exist within the meshes of binaries, performing objects are well suited to challenge and expose other binaries and hierarchies through three categories of analysis — movement, difference, and intra-action — based on Karan Barad's work on matter. In addition to the theoretical framework, I conducted ethnographic interviews and rely on my own experience as an apprentice at Bread and Puppet in 2004, considering myself as co-constitutive actant within the scope of analysis. I examine the way the theater uses sourdough bread and puppets as performing objects to create meaning, express ideology, apply tension within constructs of power, and demonstrate a model for co-dependent living between humans and objects / Doctor of Philosophy / Objects, despite their connections to daily life, which includes times of celebration and insurgency, remain overlooked as political actants. Bread and Puppet Theater, through performances, protests, and everyday living, places bread and puppetry as central to home and public live for puppeteers and performers. This dissertation asserts that bread and puppetry at Bread and Puppet Theater exemplify a co-creative relationship between people and things. This partnership creates tension in places of power, literal locations and within modes of thinking; simplifies and makes more accessible ideological messages; and evokes solidarity through performance. By considering bread in relation to Bread and Puppet Theater, we can see how bread becomes a fulcrum balancing between those with the most wealth and those with the least. Bread, as a symbol, is used to articulate demands. Its presence alone at protests suggests a list of demands regarding redistribution of wealth, fair wages, and food. As a symbol that touches the lives of all, it becomes an object that can evoke solidarity as a symbol but also as a product that is consumed and shared. Puppetry is exemplary of shared creation between people and objects. The rod puppets used at Bread and Puppet are especially suited to blurring demarcations between these two actants. Embodying this in-between space allows puppets to interrogate and blur other sets of binaries — the sacred and the profane, the religious and the secular, rich and the poor, state power and people, war and peace, and so on. This liminal, blurred space primes puppetry to challenge structures of power during political performances and protests. Ultimately this project considers how objects become central to political action and how, if thoughtfully mobilized, could operate as counter actants within times of turmoil.

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Rye bread has shown potential as a health-beneficial component in the diet, especially in relation to non-communicable diseases. To have a beneficial effect in reality, however, it also needs to be available, chosen and eaten. Less research has focused on rye bread from a consumer perspective. The main aim was to investigate consumption patterns, health-related and sensory qualities and consumer perceptions of bread, more specifically commercial rye bread. In Study I, secondary analysis was performed on bread consumption data from a national dietary survey (n=1,435, 18-80 years). In Study II, commercial rye breads (n=24) were characterized by sensory descriptive analysis; the in vitro measurement fluidity index (FI) was used to predict glycemic properties, and chemical acidity was measured. Study III was a consumer test (n=398, 18-80 years), where acceptance and perceptions of nine rye breads were investigated. Study IV was a web-based and postal sequential mixed-mode survey (n=1,134, 18-80 years) with open-ended items covering health-related perceptions of bread. Consumers with the lowest intake of whole grain and rye bread were from younger age groups, families with children and groups with lower educational levels. Health-related and sensory properties of commercial rye bread varied widely. The FI indicated more beneficial glycemic properties in half of the samples and this was associated with a chewy, dry texture and sour flavor. The younger consumer group (18-44 years) differed in their liking compared to the older group (45-80 years) and displayed a preference toward bread with less whole grain and rye, although different clusters were identified. Rye bread liking was associated with bread type consumed in childhood, food choice motives and educational level. Most (75%) knew of bread they considered healthy. Coarse, whole grain, fiber, sourdough and rye were perceived to be good for the stomach, bowel and, to have good satiation and glycemic properties. Few health claims have been authorized, making it challenging for consumers to identify bread with these properties. Front-of-package label indicating rye bread was sometimes found on breads with very little rye flour. Sensory attributes, foremost textural and flavor, e.g., sourness, correlated with beneficial FI values and could thereby help guide consumers.

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Les microorganismes sont essentiels au maintien et au fonctionnement des écosystèmes. Dans certains produits alimentaires, la communauté microbienne, composée principalement de levures et de bactéries lactiques, fermente les sucres, affecte positivement les qualités organoleptiques du produit et augmente sa durée de conservation. C’est le cas du levain de panification. Cette thèse visait principalement à décrire les patterns de diversité des levures de levains français produits à partir de farine issue de l’agriculture biologique et à conserver une partie de cette diversité. Grâce à des méthodes d’analyses culturales et non culturales de la diversité des levures, nous avons mis en évidence une diversité spécifique caractéristique de chaque levain étudié. Nous avons aussi montré la dominance du genre Kazachstania et la convergence des souches isolées de levain pour la capacité à consommer du raffinose et du saccharose. Bien que la densité et la composition en espèces varient entre deux levains, aucune structuration spatiale de la diversité n’a été mise en évidence. Les pratiques de panification et leurs effets sur la diversité des communautés microbiennes ont également été analysés. Deux typologies de pratiques de panification (plutôt « intensives » et plutôt « extensives »), affectant l’espèce dominante des populations de levures, ont été révélées. / Microorganisms are essential for the maintenance and functioning of the ecosystems. In some food products, microbial community, mainly composed by yeasts and lacid actic bacteria which ferment sugars, positively affects organoleptic qualities and shelf life of the product. It is the case of bread sourdough. This PhD aimed at describing yeast diversity patterns of organic French bread sourdoughs and conserving a part of this diversity. Using cultural-Based and non-Cultural based analyses of yeast diversity, we highlighted a unique specific diversity of each sourdough. We also shown the predominance of Kazachstania genus and a convergence of sourdoughs’ yeasts isolates for the ability to consume raffinose and sucrose. Although density and species composition varied between sourdoughs, no spatial pattern was highlighted. Bread-Making practices and their effects on microbial communities’ diversity were also analyzed. Two bread-Making practice typologies (quite « intensive » and quite « extensive »), affecting dominant yeast species were also revealed.