A Revolution in Taste: The Rise of French Cuisine, 1650–1800 - Hardcover

Pinkard, Susan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521821991 ISBN 13: 9780521821995

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2008

Synopsis

Susan Pinkard traces the roots and development of the French culinary revolution to many different historical trends.

About this title

About the Author

Susan Pinkard holds a Master's degree and a Ph.D. in Modern European History from the University of Chicago. Since 2005, she has been a full-time visiting member of the Department of History at Georgetown University. She spent most of her earlier career as a university administrator, serving as Associate Dean and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, and as Senior Lecturer in History and Assistant Dean in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Northwestern University.

Reviews

Starred Review. The French have been inextricably tied with fine cuisine, and Pinkard's accessible and often fascinating examination of the country's culinary evolution gives foodies a rich, savory treat. Beginning with medieval cooking, characterized by strong seasonings that gave food a singular flavor, Pinkard explains how cooking was greatly influenced by early medicine, which insisted that the body's "humours" could be regulated by spices. As more fruits and vegetables made their way onto French tables, preparation methods evolved. By the mid 1600s, cooks began to emphasize tastes and textures, first incorporating the sauces now associated with classic French cooking. By the mid 1700s there was a drive toward lightness and simplicity called nouvelle cuisine, "a style that could be just as expensive, subtle and exacting to execute as its twentieth-century namesake." Though she rarely points out similarities to current trends like "slow food" and organic ingredients, the parallels are clear and relevant. Digressions on eating patterns, typical meals, the evolution of the dinner party and classic recipes (reproduced in an appendix) add interest and depth. Despite occasional ventures into academic minutiae, anyone interested in the evolution of modern cooking and entertaining is sure to find Pinkard's history a wealth of lore and trivia.
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Gourmets who venerate French cooking often have little objective idea of the cuisine’s origins or how it has evolved over the centuries. Pinkard’s first goal in her history of France’s gastronomy up until the Revolution of 1789 is to dispel myths that have clouded the historical record. Catherine de’Medici’s arrival in France in the sixteenth century with a retinue of Italian cooks has received credit for raising French cooking to new heights, but in fact it had no substantial effect on French culinary traditions. But by the end of that century, vegetables assumed a greater role at the table, especially fruits and beans arriving in profusion from the New World. New medical discoveries also changed people’s ideas of what foods to consume for optimum health. By the eighteenth century, wine became ubiquitous, production high enough that the masses could enjoy it. Pinkard provides illustrative recipes and a massive bibliography. --Mark Knoblauch

Pinkard reveals that before the storming of the Bastille a revolution took place at dinner tables all over France, when ornate, liberally spiced medieval styles of cooking were displaced by farm-fresh food prepared so that it �not only tasted, but also looked, like what it was.� Le go�t naturel is strikingly relevant to the way we eat today. For instance, the Newtonian physician George Cheyne, who pioneered a new science of dietetics, advocated the reduced consumption of corn-fed poultry and cattle and argued that vegetables be eaten according to the season. Pinkard relishes debunking persistent myths: champagne was not invented by a Benedictine monk named Dom P�rignon but, rather, caught on thanks to the invention and diffusion of the modern wine bottle. Her lively account concludes with a series of meticulously sourced ancien-r�gime recipes demonstrating the finesse with which French food is now synonymous.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521821991
• ISBN 13: 9780521821995
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 334