A Brief History of French Cuisine

I will drop off some books that are authoritative guides to Tokyo’s hotels and restaurants.

As the foremost expert in her field, she was able to provide authoritative instruction.

Distilled alcohol, such as whiskey, used to be treated as a restorative medicine centuries ago.

Some Jedi are so powerful as they are able to use the Force to heal serious wounds.

Founded in 2010, Just Jerk is now one of the highly acclaimed dance teams around the world.  

Heath Ledger’s performance in The Dark Knight was acclaimed by critics and audiences alike. 

In your own words, please briefly summarize the article.

What kind of food did the first type of restaurant sell in Paris?

What were the reasons that the restaurant industry bloomed in the city? 

In your own words, describe a couple of Escoffier’s major accomplishments in regard to French cuisine.

What happened at “Judgment of Paris”? How did the event influence the restaurant industry? 

Do you agree that French cuisine is still the most influential among the culinary world? If not, which culture or country do you think is more so?

If you have a question or questions that you'd like to discuss during your class, please write them down.

Paris Is Still Busy Cooking

The Birthplace of Restaurants

파리는 여전히 바쁘게 요리 중

Despite its somewhat antiquated facade, Paris has a dynamic culinary scene that has revolutionized over the years while preserving traditional elements of French cuisine.  France is the birthplace of many things with respect to food and cooking, including sauces, restaurants, and the Michelin guide. Most American cooking schools offer curricula based on French cuisine, without English equivalents of the countless French terms that students have to learn. French cheeses and wines continue to carry on their reputation as the world’s best, and, arguably, the Michelin guide is still the most authoritative [1] list of restaurants. Up until the 18th century, the concept of a modern restaurant with a menu and table service didn't exist. Before the French Revolution, taverns and inns were the only places to eat out, and these places typically had a single menu item with changing prices and served at certain hours during the day. Around 1765, the first "restaurant" popped up in Paris. Opened by a Parisian named Boulanger, this place sold mostly bouillons restaurants, meaning “restorative [2] broths.” Therefore, the term restaurant was initially associated with therapeutic effects, as the French verb restaurer means “to restore oneself.” Also called “health houses,” these bouillon restaurants took off. As these establishments spread and diversified, other items started to show up on the menu, such as eggs, stewed chicken, and semolina cakes—their light color was believed to have health benefits.  By the 1780s, these "health shops" had loosely evolved into the kind of restaurants that we see today and established a prototype for fine dining in the following centuries. They served food without a fixed schedule and provided a printed menu on every table. The 1789 Revolution expanded the cuisine even further, as it abolished the guild system and allowed anyone to produce and sell food they wanted.  With a wide range of menu items and great service available, eating was no longer just for health–the culturally predominant purpose of eating was now pleasure. Fancy eating was no longer limited to the royals and nobles with personal cooks, and the restaurant industry started blooming.  As more chefs honed their culinary techniques and showed off delicious foods at their restaurants, the French cuisine became more and more refined, with long course meals, exquisite ingredients, and wines. In the 19th century, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Auguste_Escoffier">Auguste Escoffier</a>, one of the most critically acclaimed [3] chefs in the history of cooking, invented several systems to streamline professional kitchens.  A major accomplishment of his is defining the five French mother sauces, which would spawn countless variations that complement a wide range of dishes from salads to steak to dessert, even to this day. He also created “kitchen brigade,” a system of hierarchy that delegates responsibilities to kitchen staff members, specializing in certain menu items and corresponding tasks. One of the major positions of his system was that of <span style="12pt; color: rgb(32, 33, 36); background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">sous chef, meaning “top assistant chef,” which is  still commonly found in any fine dining kitchen.   With its sophisticated systems and recipes, French cuisine long enjoyed the reputation of being the world’s finest, well into the 20th century. Yet, other European and American cities  saw rapid developments in their restaurant industries, and some French chefs, who grew tired of buttery sauces and exceedingly intricate recipes, left Paris and its old traditions to explore more creative cookery.  Then, there was the “Judgment of Paris” in 1976, a blind wine tasting in Paris where California wines rated first for both white and red categories. This result shocked France and the rest of the world, since French wine had been regarded as the best in general, along with their food. It was also a wake up call for the French to revisit their traditions, which could sometimes work against necessary changes and progression. It was time for some change in the kitchen as well. Although the term had previously been used several times to describe fresh ideas of cooking, Nouvelle Cuisine, meaning “new cuisine,” now had definitive standards, set by a couple of French food journalists. It was characterized by a  rejection of excessive complication and a pursuit of shorter cooking times, simpler menus, and lighter sauces. In the 1970s, many elite chefs in France joined the movement and abandoned the weight of the classical French cuisine. The famous Michelin guide has awarded stars to restaurants in France since 1926, and Paris finally got its own publication in 2012 that introduced 77 starred restaurants. The number bumped up to 119 in 2020, and it was not just the quantity of great restaurants that increased, but also the diversity of the cuisine that got pushed forward.  In the 21st century, the city has seen a number of exciting culinary ideas as some chefs explore completely plant-based recipes and others fuse different cultural elements with the French classics. However, more chefs are returning to their traditions than ever, pursuing the roots of the delicious flavors of France. Many are updating the old classics like French onion soup and veal stew with quality ingredients and time-consuming techniques, with contemporary twists. Going through yet another French revolution, Paris continues to lead the world’s culinary industry as it successfully strikes the balance between the old and the new.

<span style="12pt; Nanum Myeongjo", serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">다소 고루해진 이미지에도 불구하고, 지난 몇 년간 파리의 외식업계는 프랑스 요리의 전통적인 요소를 지키면서도 혁신을 꾀하는 역동적인 모습을 보이고 있습니다.  <span style="12pt; Nanum Myeongjo", serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">프랑스는 소스, 레스토랑, 미슐랭 가이드 등 음식과 요리에 관련된 많은 것을 탄생시킨 곳입니다. 미국에 있는 대부분의 요리학교는 프랑스 요리에 기반한 교육과정을 제공하고 있으며 학생들은 수없이 많은 프랑스어로 된 용어를 그대로 배워야 합니다. 프랑스의 치즈와 와인은 세계 최고라는 명성을 여전히 이어오고 있고, 미슐랭 가이드가 여전히 가장 권위 있는 레스토랑 가이드라는 데는 반론의 여지가 없을 겁니다. <span style="12pt; Nanum Myeongjo", serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">18세기까지, 메뉴와 테이블 서비스를 갖춘 현대의 레스토랑 개념은 존재하지 않았습니다. 프랑스 혁명 전에는 여관과 술집이 식사를 사 먹을 수 있는 유일한 공간이었으며, 이들은 하루 정해진 시간에만 매번 다른 가격으로 한 가지 메뉴만을 제공했습니다. 1765년경 파리에 첫 “레스토랑”이 등장했습니다. 불랑제라는 이름의 한 파리 시민이 시작한 이곳에서는 주로 프랑스어로 “기력을 보충해 주는 국물”이라는 뜻을 가진 “부용 레스토랑”을 팔았습니다. 프랑스어 동사인 레스토레(restaurer)는 “스스로를 회복시키다”라는 뜻이기 때문에 레스토랑이라는 단어는 초기에는 치유의 효과와 연관이 있었습니다. <span style="12pt; Nanum Myeongjo", serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“건강의 집”이라고도 불리었던 이 부용 레스토랑들은 인기를 얻기 시작했습니다. 이런 공간들이 널리 퍼지고 다양한 형태를 띠기 시작함에 따라 건강에 좋다고 여겨지던 연한 색의 음식들 - 계란, 국물에 조리한 닭, 세몰리나 케이크 등이 메뉴에 추가되었습니다.  <span style="12pt; Nanum Myeongjo", serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1780년대에 이르러 이 “건강 상점”들은 우리가 오늘날 아는 형태의 레스토랑으로 진화하며 그다음 세기에 등장하는 파인다이닝(격식을 갖춘 고급 식당)의 원형을 정립했습니다. 초기 레스토랑에서는 정해진 시간표 없이 언제든 식사를 할 수 있었으며 모든 테이블에 인쇄된 메뉴가 제공되었습니다. 1789년의 프랑스 혁명으로 상업권을 독점하던 길드(조합) 제도가 없어지고 누구든 원하는 음식을 만들어 팔 수 있게 되자 프랑스의 식문화는 더욱 발전해 나갔습니다.  <span style="12pt; Nanum Myeongjo", serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">다양한 종류의 메뉴와 훌륭한 서비스의 확대와 더불어, 음식을 먹는 것은 단순히 건강을 위한 행위가 아니고 그 문화적인 주된 목적은 이제 즐거움이 되었습니다. 고급스러운 식사는 이제 더 이상 개인 요리사를 가진 왕족이나 귀족들의 전유물이 아니었고 레스토랑 산업은 번성하기 시작했습니다. <span style="12pt; Nanum Myeongjo", serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">더 많은 셰프들이 레스토랑에서 조리기술을 가다듬고 맛있는 음식을 내어놓음에 따라 프랑스 요리는 긴 코스 요리, 뛰어난 식재료 및 와인과 더불어 점점 정교함과 세련미를 갖췄습니다. 요리의 역사상 가장 칭송받는 셰프 중 하나인 오귀스트 에스코피에는 19세기에 이 레스토랑의 전문적인 주방을 더 효율적으로 운영할 여러 가지 시스템을 개발했습니다.  <span style="12pt; Nanum Myeongjo", serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">에스코피에의 주요 업적 중 하나는 프랑스 요리의 다섯 가지 기본 소스를 정립한 것으로, 그 소스들을 바탕으로 수없이 많은 변형이 생겨나서 오늘까지도 샐러드에서 스테이크, 디저트에 이르기까지 여러 요리의 맛을 향상시켜주고 있습니다. 그는 또 “키친 브리게이드(주방 여단)”라는 서열제를 만들어 주방 직원들이 각각 전문 메뉴 분야를 가지고 그와 관련된 업무를 맡도록 했습니다. 이 제도의 주요 직급 중 하나는 “수석 보조 주방장”을 의미하는 “수셰프”로서, 이 직급은 현재까지도 대부분의 파인다이닝 주방에서 찾아볼 수 있습니다.