Say you live in Paris and you are making your first trip to Iowa, in this case to pick up the Grinnell Prize, a top honor in the social responsibility world awarded by Grinnell College. 

Perhaps you’d like to share some French culture with the students and staff at Grinnell, where students come from 39 countries. 

For recent Grinnell Prize winner Melanie Marcel, founder of SoScience, that meant whipping up some boeuf bourguignon and gratin dauphinois, thinly sliced potatoes baked in milk in a dish that comes from the Dauphiné region of southeast France. Around here, we call it beef burgundy and au gratin potatoes.