Week 1 Lesson 1: History of the Restaurant: What Ha Ha Happened Was..

There was this guy named Boulanger in France who owned an inn or tavern or whatever you want to call it. And he decided that he was going to sell some sheep's feet with cream sauce that he made himself to his guests. This was at the very beginning of the french revolution. It was a time when tavern owners weren't allowed to sell things they made themselves to their guests. Tavern owners could only buy prepared meat from government certified meat guilds or veggies from approved garde manger guilds, and the list goes on with regards to bread guilds, cake guilds, etc. These tavern owners may have bought just one thing because it is all they could afford, perhaps whatever the meat guild had prepared that day, so guests just got pig's tongue for dinner that night. Those guests would have been out of their right minds to even think they could order something they actually liked.

As more and more of the commoners were starting to get  pissed off about being poor while aristocrats were blowing tax money on bedazzled hats (gee, isn't it funny how history repeats itself?), people like Boulanger were growing a set and doing things like
posting signs saying "My Sheep's Foot Stew and Other Delicious Restaurants (Restorative Soups) For Sale Here!" He called the soups restaurants, which meant restoratives or to restore strength. These restaurants/restoratives were usually sold via broths, consommes, soups, and stocks. Because of their growing revolutionary sentiment, french people patronized places like Boulanger's. They liked having choices and bucking the guilds. And thus the restaurant, as we know it today, was born. Just like I'm hoping a new kind of recognition for learning will be born today and maybe after I die, me and this 1765 Parisian guy named Boulanger will hang out with a few bottles of red wine in our little corner of purgatory telling each other delicious tales of how we were fed up with status quo and found our own way to tell the world to stick it. I'm hoping our generation grows a few more Boulanger characters before this is all said and done.

But anyway, the French Revolution didn't officially start until about 1789, about twenty four years after Boulanger's opened. But I'm gathering that the pissed off feeling started early, in Boulanger's time. It just took a while for the people to get really good and blood thirsty for Marie Antoinette's head. Probably due to people dying from starvation coupled with witnessing and hearing about Marie's rampant partying. And the chefs, who were exclusively employed in the private homes of aristocrats, and in Marie's castle, found themselves out of work when Marie and all the aristocrats got their heads cut off and any aristocrats left aliver were running like the scared cats they should have been. The displaced chefs, following Boulanger's lead from the 1760's, opened up their own restaurants. At the start of the revolution, there were only about a handful of restaurants, but by the end of it, about ten years later, there were approximately 500 in Paris alone. It is said that the french people liked the feeling of having dinners that used to be meant only for those self absorbed aristocrats. It was a very victorious feeling to "take over" an experience that was never meant for them. It represented a lot of meaning with regards to the revolution and that is why the popularity of the restaurant and grande and classic cuisines (which we'll go into in the next lesson) grew with intensity and became modern staples of the french dining experience.

Indeed, it is very interesting to learn that the restaurant, as we know it, is a fairly new concept in the overall timeline of our humanity.  France didn't actually have the first actual place of selling food to weary travelers but, it is only where the term restaurant and the resulting kitchen and dining room structure was born (with Boulanger and another guy named Careme). Obviously, as we all know from watching The Princess Bride  and many dramatized shows on The History Channel, the commerce of taverns selling food to weary travelers is a pretty old thing. I think mother Mary even had a bowl of soup at the inn before giving birth to Christ.

But remember the distinction between the tavern and the restaurant. The structure of the kitchen, the art of cuisine, the profession of chef, and the overall organization of the menu and dining experience as we know it today were innovated in France, during the worst recession of their lives! How appropriate that we are learning about this in the worst recession of our lives! Do you have a feeling of brotherhood or sisterhood with the french yet? I'm getting there. If you're a foodie learning to be a chef, it stands to reason that one should embrace the history and bruche up on the francois! Bon to the Jour! Indeed! Now that you know how it all went down, surely you can impress your co-workers tomorrow with your newfound knowledge. The story goes over even better if you bring in some sort of french pastry (fyi: Miele Patissierie in Marlton, NJ makes the most delicious scones and madelienes you've ever had). I'm sure I left out some details but for now, but this knowledge will get you through the next lessons.

With this I bid you good reading and a link for further reading (if you like), though I'm sure you can find many more good online sources that give similar information http://www.foodtimeline.org/restaurants.html#foodservice 

And just remember, this is what other chefs have to learn. Good night my dear friends.

With Love,
Michelle