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A History of the Gourmand

For the better part of 4 years, I dated a chef. When he was an apprentice, I dressed his burns and tended his cuts. When he worked as a baker, I would rouse myself at 2am to the aromas of rye, sourdoughs and almond croissants, pad down the stairs to the kitchen and pop on the kettle to have a rare, brief encounter with the bright-eyed boy whose passions fuelled my own. As he transitioned to the fine dining industry, I began to research the origins of his profession and found that it has not only did it influence and modernise the way we consume food in our society, but also provided a unique lens through which to view the rise of the public social sphere. 

Mystery surrounds the origin of the first restaurant, as there are few scholarly records regarding its initial development. Legends that tend to circulate the industry often indicate that the restaurant was a by-product of the French Revolution, which I don’t believe to be entirely accurate. By examining the works of historians like Rebecca Sprang, translating notations from famous cookbooks and examining restaurant reviews of the period, my prevailing theory is that the first restaurant had its roots in the last few years of the Old Regime with a man known as Messieurs Roze.

 The Dictionnaire Universel, defines the restaurant as a medical term that means: “Food or remedy that has the property of restoring lost strength to a sickly or tired individual” (Corneille and Coignard, 1708). The term restaurant was attributed to a restorative broth served in establishments known as “Houses of Health”, the first of which is theorised to have been opened in 1766 by Messieurs Roze. Roze was a pragmatic businessman who aimed to create an economically viable industry that would aid in the reduction of national debt in France, unknowingly spearheading a new era of hospitality and cultural tastes.

 Roze was inspired by Enlightenment theories regarding the science of consumption, hoping to restore the balance of the body within the French populace by providing a healthy curative dining experience for those of a more delicate disposition, whilst providing an aura of hospitality and sensibility. This institution was similarly inspired by Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s theories regarding sensibility, as it was commonly believed that sensitive individuals who had a physical reaction to intense corporeal and emotional stimulus, would have a similar reaction to hearty fare commonly feasted upon by the nobility. This phenomenon was known as “Weak-Chestedness”. Captivated by metaphorical and metaphysical influences health had on one’s physical and spiritual wellbeing, the first restaurateurs endeavoured to adjust the diet a nation to one more suited to the Parisian constitution. Unlike the standard bullion of the time, which were predominately consumed by the plebeians of French society, a semi-medicinal bullion was prepared to a physician’s specifications. The hearty, rich meats that often graced the tables of the upper echelons of society, such as pheasant, veal, partridge and ham, were boiled for many hours and reduced to a thick easily digestible soup, to aid in the digestion. These carnal, rich meats were believed to heat the blood and restore circulation if prepared in just the right way.   Aligned with the Enlightenment ideologies, the French restaurant was primarily concerned with the elevation of the senses and improvement of the public body through reason and fashionable practicality. Akin to the emergence of coffee houses, the “Restaurateur’s Room” was a novel public space devoted to private consumption, where one could be observed while observing others, yet retain a level of discretion previous unheard of in French culture. It offered a distinct vantage point with which to analyse the internal lives of a troubled nation. The industry changed drastically during the French Revolution. With the abolition of guilds and the dissolution of Crown privileges meant that any citizen of France could establish themselves as a restauranteur. As the trend grew in popularity, dispossessed cooks who had previously served aristocratic families flooded the industry, catering to a new Paris populated by journalists, the middle class, merchants and the immigrating provincial populace eager to sample this new bastion of urban commercialism. Restaurants provided a modern public medium that allowed individuals of varying socioeconomic and cultural status to socialise under a singular roof. This revolutionary concept saw wives and mistresses dining with families, merchants and foreigners. This public-private sphere was also used to the advantage of political groups, as unlike the heavily policed cafes, the July Monarchy law that outlawed the congregation of political parties didn’t extend to this new realm.

Post-Napoleon, the restaurant no longer specialised in delicate broths, but in the experimentations of pleasure and flavour. Communal eating adapted to suit the post-revolutionary Paris and with it emerged the scientific art of Gastronomy. Eating had been elevated eating to an art form. Separate from patrician or pro-republic influences, gastronomic literature spoke of the freedom and pleasure of food. The French restaurant was remodelled into an artistic expression of French identity. Dining became an extravagant experience and restaurant reviews became as commonplace as theatrical reviews. Purveyors of gastronomic delights such as Alexandre--Laurent Grimod de La Reynière remarked upon the transition by stating in the Almanach des Gourmand;

 “The table is a stage where there has never been a flop” (Grimod de La Reynière et al., 1803).

 The gastronomic equality of the new Democratic Paris allowed for the combination of “haute cuisine” inspired rich banquets of nobility and “cuisine bourgeoise” of the common man. Accessible to all, the restaurant became a fixed entity in French culture. The French restaurant put Paris on the map and became synonymous with “Frenchness”, even in countries that still operated under a monarchy and fostered anti-French sentiment. Tourists travelled from neighbouring countries to experience this peculiar public art form and French restaurants were opened all over Europe, establishments not dissimilar to what we experience today.

 It's always a delight to discover the origins of a thing you so easily take for granted. The emergence of modern food culture provided the first simultaneously public and private sphere in which to socially operate. French restaurants were the key to the commercialization of the food industry, the mother of gastronomy and gastronomic literature & one of the most prevalent contributing factors to France’s self-identity.