First Restaurants, Chefs, and Gastronomy ....................................

Lecture 28

I

n this lecture, you will learn about another important set of revolutions
in consumption that are contemporaneous to those of the Romantic
movement. You will learn about what became of French courtly haute
cuisine in the 19th century, focusing on a few interconnected developments:
the development of the restaurant, celebrity chefs, and gastronomy. As you
will learn, in the 19th century, there is a burgeoning food industry—along
with a series of food critics—plus a new way of dining in style.

The Development of the Restaurant
 In the late 18th century, there were professional chefs who cooked
for wealthy aristocrats all across Europe. In order to get such a
job, you had to train in an aristocratic kitchen. There were also
taverns and inns that mostly served travelers or people who didn’t
have cooking facilities. There were also professional caterers who
cooked for parties and weddings.

 There really was no such thing as a restaurant, in which you could

sit down, choose from a menu with specifi ed prices, and receive a

meal composed of several courses that were cooked to order. There

was also really no such thing as formal training for a chef, apart

from apprenticing with another chef and working your way up the

ranks within the kitchen hierarchy.

 True restaurants that accepted customers as they arrived, seated

them at a private table, and offered a wide choice of cooked dishes

at fi xed prices only appeared in the mid-18th century. The very fi rst

was opened by a tavern keeper named Boulanger in 1765 at his

Champ d’Oiseau Tavern in Paris and served various soups meant to

be “restorative,” which is the origin of the term “restaurant.”

 In 1782, the fi rst true restaurant, La Grande Taverne de Londres,

was opened by Antoine Beauvilliers and served a wide variety