The Invention of the Restaurant (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Rebecca L. Spang
- First Published: 2000
- Type of Work: History
- Time of Work: 1750-c. 1840
- Setting: Paris
- Principal Characters: Mathurin Roze de Chantoiseau, Jean-François Vacossin, Alexandre Balthasar Laurent Grimod de la Reynière
- Genres: Nonfiction, History
- Subjects: France or French people, Nineteenth century, Restaurants, bars, taverns, or pubs, Paris, Eighteenth century
- Locales: Paris, France
While historians have long agreed that the French invented both the concept of cuisine and a method of delivering it, received wisdom had it that the restaurant did not come into being until after the French Revolution, which, by disenfranchising the aristocracy, had the effect of making previously private chefs who had served only the wealthy into public servants. In Rebecca Spang’s new book, however, the true origins of the culinary palace can be found in a cup of concentrated broth first served up to the French public in about 1766. This bouillon was the original “restaurant,”...
[The entire page is 1845 words long]
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