French cuisine is the style of cooking that all others are compared against. This cuisine is a result of centuries of political and social change in France.

It wasn't until the year 1765 that restaurants in France could make and sell food. Up until this point, foods to be sold had to be purchased from the food guilds. A tavern owner named Boulanger served soups, challenging the guilds in court, and won. Boulanger called these soups restaurants, also known as restoratives, and will be forever credited with the term we all use today.

Many great chefs of France worked for royalty, dukes and the noble families. With the French revolution and the fall of the monarchy, many private chefs were now out of jobs. With restaurant owners now able to make and sell food, many of these great chefs opened their own restaurants. Ten years later you could find more than 500 restaurants in and around Paris alone, never mind all of France.

Many of these great master chefs refined the style of cuisine we all know as Classical Cuisine. The three most important of these chefs were Francois Pierre de la Varenne, who wrote the first cookbook on French Cuisine, refining a lot of techniques. Marie Antoine Careme created the majority of Classical Cuisine's techniques and recipes. Finally - and perhaps most influential - was George Auguste Escoffie, whose work and books are still the most important references in the world of Classical Cuisine today.

Escoffier took Careme's work and simplified it, using fewer spices and heavy sauces. Escoffier is also credited with creating the brigade system for organization still used in kitchens all over the world. Escoffier is also the great chef who created a la carte dining, which is the largest style of menu in the world. Escoffier's major work was the book La Guide Culinaire, which is a classically trained chef's best resource and one of the largest books used in culinary schools today.

Intense technique, elaborate steps of service, and most importantly, obsessive attention to detail, have made this cuisine what it is today. This cuisine relies on regimented cooks and chefs following the fundamental techniques created by these great masters. The cuisine must be cooked with heart and passion, needs to be executed with perfection, and only the strong, highly trained, and most skillful of cooks can succeed.

Some doom-mongers are trumpeting the decline of French cuisine's pre-eminence. International cuisine and fashionable fusion are the gastronomic counterparts of cultural pluralism, while French wines are rivaled by the best of the rest.

One country can no longer dominate the tables of the world, or even the West, but centuries of passion are not easily effaced. The French have accommodated every crisis of the past, without ever compromising on quality. At the world's table today, their hegemony may be unsustainable, but their excellence is unshaken.

Types of Cuisine

Every region of France has its own distinctive traditions in terms of ingredients and preparation. Plus there are three general approaches which compete with each other.

Each of these three traditions are strongly represented in France, with each having its supporters and specialist restaurants. Cuisine Nouvelle is less popular than it was, while Cuisine du terroir has grown in popularity in recent years:

Classical French cuisine (cuisine bourgeoise) includes all classical French dishes which were at one time regional. Food is rich and filling, with many dishes using cream-based sauces.

Haute cuisine is classical French cuisine taken to its most sophisticated and extreme. Food is elegant, elaborate and generally rich. Meals tend to be heavy, especially due to the use of cream and either large portions or many smaller portions. There is a strong emphasis on presentation and vegetables in particular are cut with precision and uniformity. The finest ingredients are used, and the meal is correspondingly expensive.

Cuisine Nouvelle was developed in the 1970s, as a reaction against the classical school of cooking. The food is simpler and lighter. Portions are smaller and less rich; the heavy cream sauces of the classical approach are particularly avoided. Cooking is less elaborate and quicker, with more emphasis on local and seasonal ingredients.

Cuisine du terroir focuses on regional specialties and is a little more rustic in nature. Local produce and food traditions are the main focus.


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