Culinary Chronicles

Shaping French Cuisine
Prosper Montagne’s Larousse Gastronomique, originally published in 1938, is an encyclopedic cookbook with more than 3,800 recipes which are mostly French. It has become one of the world's most famous culinary reference books and since its first release, subsequent editions have been published. Larousse Gastronomique is a product of France’s rich and turbulent history, showcasing traditional and haute cuisine and how the upper classes eating habits were continuing to stray from the lower classes. France’s culinary identity, literature, and gastronomic culture are all factors that helped cement a national cuisine.

Culinary Literature and Its Impact
Culinary literature that was written and circulated in the late 18th and 19th centuries helped to standardize a national cuisine just at the formation of state building. By the 1880’s and 1890’s, the introduction of the linotype press to Paris led to an increase in the number of culinary publications, specifically magazines targeted to female home cooks and male professional chefs. These magazines highlighted recipes that asserted French food as elite but also how French cooks had successfully adapted global dishes to French cuisine, thusly “improving” them. These portrayals limited the growth of French cuisine and caused them to rely heavily on colonial ingredients such as tropical fruits and curry powder. Ingredients like these had already been successfully integrated into cuisine and were different enough to be interesting to consumers. Their declarations of disgust were just another way to protect French cuisine and culture from a perceived threat of the unknown.

Gastronomy in France
Gastronomy and French cuisine have been intertwined since the beginning of the 19th century with the term itself meaning “the systematic, socially valorized pursuit of culinary creativity,” (Ferguson, 602). In 1803, the word “gastronome” was used to create a new social status for those who consumed elaborately prepared food which widened the social divide between the peasants of France and the elite. These social changes became a way for high society individuals to express one's inner qualities, especially gentility. The focus on gastronomy caused a broader market and almost every country had their food in Paris. It was said that “the adventurous diner could take a trip around the world without leaving the table” (Ferguson, 604). This added another piece to Frances's puzzle of cuisine, as restaurants in Europe had only started at the beginning of the 19th century. 

French Culinary Identity
20th century France was no stranger to food issues; their lack of ability to feed their citizens after WWI caused the country to become defensive to preserve what makes their cuisine uniquely French. They hold the belief that superior food is French, and French food comes from French soil which gives the impression of a strong connection between peasant and culture. In reality, after WWI, farms in the north became modernized and family farms continued to use more traditional methods. France also put emphasis on authenticity by creating a law in 1935 which allowed wine and cheese to be protected within the AOC (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée) system to preserve tradition and keep French food French. In the 20th century, food writers praised culinary traditions and their evolutions from the view of the wealthy and elite but rural France continued to eat as they had been in centuries prior. Larousse Gastronomique both demonstrates and challenges those writers' views by including other cultures recipes along with France’s and evolving the elites view of food. So as France clung to their claims of authenticity and their praise of the peasant, the upper class was evolving to something new as the peasant class were the ones who were truly being French. 

For Further Research

Janes, Lauren. "Colonial Cuisine in Culinary Literature." Colonial Food in Interwar Paris: The Taste of Empire. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016. 103–126. Bloomsbury Food Library.

Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson. “A Cultural Field in the Making: Gastronomy in 19th-Century France.” The American Journal of Sociology, vol. 104, no. 3, pp. 597–641.

Tebben, Maryann Bates. Savoir-Faire : A History of Food in France. Reaktion Books, 2020,