Roman Influence Well. I sure hope you all learn a lot from this page.
Okay, we’ll start with a brief history of French cuisine. France was not always France. Before it was France, it was called “Gaul”. The Celts inhabited the northern part of Gaul, in a city called “Lutetia,” and their clan was called the “parisii” clan. Then the Romans came, and conquered Gaul. The Romans had extremely refined eating habits, and they dined on reclining couches. You must know that the Romans were extremely advanced; they had a system of government, and a solid religion, and this was way back then. They were advanced in their cuisine, as well. One could argue that French food was introduced by the Romans. However, since then, the French have made it their own. The Romans were much more keen on adding heavy sauces to their food, and since then, the French have changed that style. The Romans also introduced the grape vine to France.
The Dark Ages
During the Dark Ages, there was a large decline in the quality of cooking. People had limited access to clean and fresh food, and many were without teeth, or diseased, and therefore there was a limit to what they could and could not handle. People mainly fed themselves with blackened meat, soft eggs, and porridge.
After the Dark Ages
After the Dark Ages, trade sprang up, in the 8th and 9th centuries. Plums (from Damascus), figs, dates, pomegranates, Dijon mustard (in the 12th century), and grapefruits were introduced to France. Since France is bordered by two oceans, and is located where it is, there is a range of different climates throughout the country. In the north, it is more temparate forest. Near the middle, it becomes slightly warmer, and at the south near the Mediterranean, the climate is more tropical.
The Renaissance
The Renaissance marked a huge turning point when Catherine D'Medici married King Henri II. There was a definite Italian influence on French cuisine at the time. Caterine introdced the Florentine art of decorating the table. She also introduced more useful things. At the time, people (including royalty) ate with their hands. Only with their hands. There was no cutlery outside of the kitchen, but that all changed. The largest change brought about was when Catherine D'Medici introduced forks, spoons, and cutlery. People in France had never before seen such implements, and found them to be quite useful. She also introduced glass drinking cups, as they looked more classy than the traditional clay. Italien chefs were considered the best, and the ones that came with Catherine D'Medici brought recipies. These things were all that changed the French style of food until....
Varenne
In 1651, Varenne compiled the first cookbook. It was the first book to fix cooking rules and principals and thus establish order in the kitchen. It also went step by step (although it was not as user friendly as Betty Crocker) on how to prepare the recipies. One drawback was that people did not have a system of measure for food and drink, and after that, one was established. After Varenne, there was a development of sauces which became a foundation of French cooking; mayonnaise, glazes, and deglazing meat juices came to pass. But these sauces were for the rich and famous. From the time of Gaul until now, fine cuisine was reserved for royalty, nobility, and anyone wealthy enough to have a personal chef.
Then something radical happened. The first restaurant was established. Cafes started, serving coffee and tea, along with "salons de thé." This made fine cuisine more accessible to the average people, or peasants, who until now had meat only on special occasions.
The French Revolution turned out many chefs from private homes and estates and restaurants took off. It became a large source of income, and restauarant owners became quite wealthy. The Grand Vefour and the Tour D'Argent are great 19th century restaraunts in paris that are still in business today.
The 20th Century and Nouvelle Cuisine
In the early 20th century, after the introduction of the automobile, the Michelin Red Book was first published, giving stars to good restarants. One star was for a place where one can find a good meal, two stars were for a place to stop at if it's on your route, and a third star is awarded to a place so good you should make a separate trip to go there.
There was a "Holy Trinity" of French cooks in the 20th century. André Pic, Ferdinand Point, and Alex Dumaine. They tried to make food taste really good.
Then along came Auguste Escoffier, who took away all the heavy sauces and centered upon using fresh ingredients and light sauces to bring out the natural flavor of food.
On the shoulders of the Holy Trinity came Paul Bocuse, Pierre Troisgras and Alain Chapel, who established "Nouvelle Cuisine" Alain Ducasse and Joël Robuchon toda utilize luxury and make further refinement, truly bringing out the flavor in any food.
A last fact. There are three types fo cooking in France which were founded on the types of fat used to cook. Butter is used almost exclusively in the north, olive oil in Provençe, and lard-fat of pic and goose in Alsace Lorraine and Perigord. Almost all food in France is cooked in one of these oils.
Thank you for coming to my exhibition, and I hope you enjoyed it and learned a lot!