Beurre, œuf, fromage (butter, egg, cheese; BOF)[1] is an old French acronym by the food trade from the central food halls of Les Halles[2] to creamery retailers that sold the three staples of the French diet—butter, eggs and cheese—and were referred to as Les BOF.[3] Its meaning became a pejorative term in France during the German Occupation in World War II and the following years after the war, when ration cards were much sought-after on the black market.[4]
By extension, BOF came to designate a person making money on the black market during this period. The Jean Dutourds novel The Best Butter (Au bon beurre), considered the best known and most-cited work on the black market in occupied France,[5] features the satirical adventures of a BOF couple, the Poissonard family[6] who work in a Paris dairy shop during the German occupation and think only of getting rich.[7]
In the immediate post-war period, the black market's capture of food shortages continued, triggering demonstrations throughout 1947, notably that of November 12 in Marseille,[8] during which a young 19-year-old worker, Vincent Voulant, was shot dead[9][10] and four other demonstrators, also victims of gunfire from the same night bar, were seriously wounded, two of whom underwent surgery and were still in critical condition the following day.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "BOF". Dictionnaires Bilingues. Larousse. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
- ^ Lottivian, Herbert R. (11 October 1970). "Les Halles Sans Les Girls: A New Life in a New Setting". The New York Times Company. The New York Times. p. 402. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
- ^ Mouré, Kenneth (23 March 2023). Marché Noir: The Economy of Survival in Second World War France. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 79. ISBN 978-1-009-20767-6.
- ^ Ardagh, John (1969). The New French Revolution. New York: Harper & Row. p. 99.
- ^ Mouré, Kenneth (2014). "Black Market Fictions: "Au bon beurre, La traversée de Paris", and the Black Market in France". French Politics, Culture & Society. 32 (1): 47–67. doi:10.3167/fpcs.2014.320104. ISSN 1537-6370. JSTOR 24517624.
- ^ Grenard, Fabrice [in French] (2008). La France du marché noir (1940-1949) [Black market France (1940-1949)] (in French). Paris: Payot. pp. 166–181. ISBN 978-2-228-90284-7. OCLC 213490047.
- ^ Grenard, Fabrice [in French] (2008). La France du marché noir (1940-1949) [Black market France (1940-1949)] (in French). Paris: Payot. pp. 8–9. ISBN 978-2-228-90284-7. OCLC 213490047.
- ^ Desanti, Dominique (22 April 1976). L'Année où le monde a tremblé, 1947 (in French). Albin Michel. p. 178. ISBN 978-2-226-23345-5.
- ^ Horn, Gerd-Rainer (19 March 2020). The Moment of Liberation in Western Europe: Power Struggles and Rebellions, 1943-1948. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 233. ISBN 978-0-19-258286-7.
- ^ Verne, Jean-Michel (12 May 2022). Les Nouveaux mystères de Marseille (in French). Groupe Robert Laffont. p. 129. ISBN 978-2-221-25683-1.