ORIGINS OF THE RESTAURANT IN FRANCE.   Term Paper ID:28711 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Discusses French expertise in cooking; historical & cultural aspects of 1st French restaurants in 18 & 19th Centuries. Auguste Escoffier & haute cuisine. Food as a fine art.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Discusses French expertise in cooking; historical & cultural aspects of 1st French restaurants in 18 & 19th Centuries. Auguste Escoffier & haute cuisine. Food as a fine art. Paper Introduction: THE ORIGINS OF THE RESTAURANT IN 18TH AND 19TH CENTURY FRANCE French expertise in cooking had been the talk of the world, or at least of Europe, for a couple of centuries or more by the time of the French Revolution in 1789. Still, until then, most fancy food, or haute cuisine, had been the preserve of wealthy nobles who could afford to hire private chefs for their palatial estates. The revolution, however, put a crimp in that extravagant lifestyle, if only temporarily, and it necessarily reduced employment opportunities, as well. Chefs began looking elsewhere for their bread and butter (so to speak), and a trend toward restaurant dining that had been slowly surfacing before the revolution emerged full-blown in its wake. In truth, prepared food had been available dating back to the 1300s in shops, roadside stands and town markets. In the late Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. In truth, prepared food had been available dating back to the 13 s inshops, roadside stands and town markets. Beyond that, restaurants, in effect, democratized the privilege offine dining, making feasts of truly princely quality and elegance availableto anyone with a few francs. However, the restauranthad a broader democratizing impact than just allowing the common folk toget a good meal. Indeed, Escoffier revolutionized the professionalkitchen by streamlining production and inventing a new system in which eachcook is responsible for one item on the finished plate. Interestingly, however, this new American type of food service alsogrew out of social upheaval. Chefs began lookingelsewhere for their bread and butter (so to speak), and a trend towardrestaurant dining that had been slowly surfacing before the revolutionemerged full-blown in its wake. "Only much later would people go inside a building [that was not aninn, hotel or private estate] to be served a meal" (Trubek 3). Escoffier was undoubtedly a visionary at all levels of the restaurantbusiness. Indeed, French chefs of the 19thcentury were at times fervently imbued with the notion of spreading theircuisine to the rest of the world. That notion, however, would not havestood, even then, let alone now, had not their "haute cuisine" been of suchtruly outstanding quality. 1994): 11-49.Julian, Sheryl. He recalls at one point during thelate 187 s "sending entire meals to England, 'a delicate task, as one hadto take into account the toll that a possible rough crossing of the Channelwould take'" (Trubek 39). [and] the [new] à lacarte menu allowed individual choice ... "'The need for this kind of guide became moreapparent every day to address the problems of rapid service now becomingcurrent ... Unfortunately, the similarity probably endedthere, for especially in those days little thought was given to enhancingthe taste or variety of the cuisine. Indeed, small menus and monotonywere, in effect, the order of the day. Petersburg. I myself have often been forced to make profound changes in myrestaurant service to meet the needs of the ultra rapid pace of modernlife'" (Trubek 26). Thus,even as restaurants were agencies for democracy, they also createdopportunities for new forms of social distinction. Forinstance, there were the more informal café-restaurants that served buffetlunches; there were guingettes, small restaurants with music and dancing,and even gargottes, which loosely translated means greasy spoon. Ironically, women were not excluded from thepaying side of the cash counter. Asa result, some restaurateurs sought to improve the quality and variety oftheir food. The style emerged as far back asthe 192 s in the form of barbecue and hamburger stands, the most prominentof which became the chain known as White Castle. THE ORIGINS OF THE RESTAURANT IN 18TH AND 19TH CENTURY FRANCE French expertise in cooking had been the talk of the world, or atleast of Europe, for a couple of centuries or more by the time of theFrench Revolution in 1789. Patronage as their lifeline tosurvival had ended. Indeed, Escoffier himself never worked as a private chef for aperson of the nobility - though over the course of his long career henumbered such Royals as Kaiser Wilhelm and King Edward VII as among hismost dedicated and loyal customers. Others, with inspiration from a newly-surfacing breed ofentrepreneurs, moved in the direction of speed, quantity and mass appeal. However, even then, restaurants were opening in a variety of formsaimed at serving specific and distinctly different clienteles. The legendary Auguste Escoffier came into the new era as it reached ahigh point. " (Trubek 36). Works CitedCarlino, Bill. Throughout the 19th century,there is no record of a woman working as a cook or chef in a fine diningrestaurant or grand hotel anywhere in France. An early engraving depicts aman and woman walking arm in arm as they enter one establishment. The spread of such fine stuff tothe population at-large was as inevitable as the rest in the wake ofsociological, political and military change. Very soon, it could be stated without fear ofcontradiction that if the French Revolution failed in the short term todemocratize the nation, it did without question democratize the kitchen -though with at least one notable exception. What's more, in that so-called age of equality, workers, at least in restaurants, became inevitableadvocates for exclusivity. "All are components of thelarger cuisine" (Trubek 26). Theapprenticeship system, in which young men hardly into their teenage yearswent to work for little more than room and board, gave poor boys a peekinto life outside their families" (Julian E1). Thus, fine works ofart, books, even knowledge itself, had been closely held commodities, theprivate domain of a wealthy and privileged few. In the late 14th century, in hisCanterbury Tales, Chaucer wrote of the "victualling trade," though hardlyin a flattering way, addressing the British proprietor thusly: Many a pilgrim's cursed you more than sparsely When suffering the effects of your stale parsley Which they have eaten with your stubble-fed goose; Your shop is one where many a fly is loose. Most were the creations oftraditional Traiteurs, or caterers, who "transformed dining" by offering amenu or bill of fare. "Kitchen workers formed thebridge between the working class and the wealthy patrons. 2 , third ed.: E1.Trubek, Amy B. By 18 4, the French restaurant, with its elegant dining room, well-trained waiters, fine wine cellar, style of menu and customer-drivenchoices, was definitively established in the opening of La Grande Tavernede Londres in the Palais-Royal section of Paris. eat at any time ... Thus, they were professionals now, setting the standards for themethods, ingredients and presentation of professionally prepared food.What's more, "this was the first hint that chefs were about to becomecelebrities" (Julian E1). Still, until then, most fancy food, or hautecuisine, had been the preserve of wealthy nobles who could afford to hireprivate chefs for their palatial estates. As indicated earlier, by the time of Escoffier's birth, the transitionof haute cuisine from the private to the public arena was virtuallycomplete. Lateron, there is an abundance of drawings that show many women customers seatedin large and elegant public dining rooms. American-style fast food relied heavily on systemization andproduction-line techniques. The revolution, however, put acrimp in that extravagant lifestyle, if only temporarily, and itnecessarily reduced employment opportunities, as well. Born in 1846, by the age of nineteen, Escoffier was at LePetit Moulin Rouge in Paris, where he worked off and on for a dozen years.After 1878, his career was dedicated to bringing haute cuisine to the grandhotels of Europe - and to leaving behind a legacy of unsurpassable recipesand techniques as published in at least two famous books in the late 18 s. The fact that the French virtually alone among Europeans had developedover centuries the cooking and presentation of edibles to the level of fineart is both remarkable and mysterious. This camewith the growth of the middle class, or bourgeoisie, and the development ofthe new "urban citizen," especially in Paris, which by the 176 s resultedin the opening of a handful of restaurants. "75 Years: the Odyssey of Eating Out." Nation's Restaurant News (Jan. The social upheavals that led to the wider availability of fine foodparalleled the dissemination of other, arguably more important, items.Indeed, exclusivity - and its inevitable concomitant, exclusion - had beenthe hallmarks of European civilization for centuries. The 192 s American experiment with alcoholicbeverage Prohibition forced many restaurants to look for new ways toattract customers. "The [chain's] bite-sizedhamburgers were attractively priced at 5 cents, and ... It was astyle known as table d'hôte. In addition,recipes consistently refer to one another, and a system is espoused inwhich no dish can be prepared in isolation. This included the whole range of food preparation, from cookingitself to presentation - displaying and serving food in elegant style.Thus, by the mid-17th century, French chefs were being "exported" to royalcourts and noble houses across Europe, making a lasting impression oncooking and serving techniques from London to St. After all, theywere no longer servants, mere domestics. By the 15 s, the Frenchhad gone a long way to perfecting techniques that would be the envy of theworld. As books and fine art movedout of the noble estates into great public libraries and museums, so hautecuisine became the property of public eating places known as restaurants.That the French should be the first to do it was as inevitable as thesunrise. Workers at all levels felt the effects of therestaurant's inherently cosmopolitan nature. France, however, was a very different story. HAUTE CUISINE, HOW THE FRENCH INVENTED THE CULINARY PROFESSION. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, 2 . Indeed, while the number ofnoble kitchens declined in number, the number of citizens who knew how toeat rose rapidly. One might argue that Escoffier's changes were precursors to a muchfaster form of food service, called fast food, in a much faster-paced partof the world, called the United States. Writing fully one century ago, he called his Le Guide Culinaire"a practical guide for future chefs of large restaurants," and declaredthat after three decades of cooking, even he had had to make changes to hisbeloved haute cuisine. [they] soondeveloped an accompanying advertising slogan, 'Buy 'em by the sack'"(Carlino 13). "The traditional menu had simply informed thecustomer of the dishes to be served and the cost of the meal." Now,however, "the diner could ... The new consumers were their new source of income, andindeed by 19 the typical chef worked primarily for a mostly anonymouspublic. Indeed, women were welcome in Parisrestaurants from the earliest days. By the mid-19th century, chefs were becoming advocates within the newworld and new era of publicly-disseminated haute cuisine. Before that, travelers dining at roadside inns wereseated and served at a large table with all the other guests. That they were and remain among the very best also should come asno surprise. In addition, growing numbers of Americans wereincreasingly on the move by way of a new product called the automobile. The achingly slow spreadof prosperity downward - the change from exclusion to inclusion - whetherin the gradual emergence of an educated and striving middle class or thenear-cataclysmic eruption of the French Revolution, led inevitably to thespread of ideas. Indeed, costs were of concern to earlyobservers of the new trend, who praised the virtues of "prix fixe menusthat use modest ingredients and can cost just two francs." Indeed, thiswas perhaps "the most important innovation of the restaurant and the à lacarte menu: an individual, regardless of social class, has the chance toeat like a king" (Trubek 37). The French are known to this day as a chauvinistic people, and theirongoing hold on the world's imagination as the leader in the field of finefood preparation is owed in part to that. The very first provided private roomsin which women and men could dine together. "Deconstructing Dinner." Boston Globe 6 Sep. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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