Accounting for Taste : The Triumph of French Cuisine

French cuisine is such a staple in our understanding of fine food that we forget the accidents of history that led to its creation. Accounting for Taste brings these "accidents" to the surface, illuminating the magic of French cuisine and the mystery behind its historical development. Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson explains how the food of France became French cuisine. This momentous culinary journey begins with Ancien Régime cookbooks and ends with twenty-first-century cooking programs. It takes us from Carême, the "inventor" of modern French cuisine in the early nineteenth century, to top chefs today, such as Daniel Boulud and Jacques Pépin. Not a history of French cuisine, Accounting for Taste focuses on the people, places, and institutions that have made this cuisine what it is today: a privileged vehicle for national identity, a model of cultural ascendancy, and a pivotal site where practice and performance intersect. With sources as various as the novels of Balzac and Proust, interviews with contemporary chefs such as David Bouley and Charlie Trotter, and the film Babette's Feast , Ferguson maps the cultural field that structures culinary affairs in France and then exports its crucial ingredients. What's more, well beyond food, the intricate connections between cuisine and country, between local practice and national identity, illuminate the concept of culture itself. To Brillat-Savarin's famous dictum—"Animals fill themselves, people eat, intelligent people alone know how to eat"—Priscilla Ferguson adds, and Accounting for Taste shows, how the truly intelligent also know why they eat the way they do. “Parkhurst Ferguson has her nose in the right place, and an infectious lust for her subject that makes this trawl through the history and cultural significance of French food—from French Revolution to Babette’s Feast via Balzac’s suppers and Proust’s madeleines—a satisfying meal of varied courses.”—Ian Kelly, Times (UK) Ferguson explains how the food of France became French cuisine. This journey begins with Ancien Régime cookbooks and ends with twenty-first-century cooking programs. It takes us from Carême, the "inventor" of modern French cuisine in the early nineteenth century, to top chefs today, such as Daniel Boulud and Jacques Pépin. Not a history of French cuisine, this book focuses on the people, places, and institutions that have made this cuisine what it is today: a privileged vehicle for national identity, a model of cultural ascendancy, and a pivotal site where practice and performance intersect. With sources as various as the novels of Balzac and Proust, interviews with contemporary chefs, and the film Babette's Feast, Ferguson maps the cultural field that structures culinary affairs in France and then exports its crucial ingredients--From publisher description Contents 10 List of Illustrations 12 Acknowledgments 14 Prologue. Eating Orders 16 1. Culinary Configurations 30 I. Culinary Identities 30 II. French Cuisines 45 2. Inventing French Cuisine 64 I. Between the Old Regime and the New 65 II. The Cuisine 82 3. Readings in a Culinary Culture 98 I. From Cuisine to Gastronomy 99 II. Food Talk 107 III. The Gastronomic Field 118 4. Food Nostalgia 126 I. In Search of Cuisine Lost 126 II. Country Cooking 136 III. Cooking and Chefing 146 5. Consuming Passions 164 I. Conspicuous Cuisines 166 II. Identifying Cuisines 180 III. Tasting France 189 Epilogue. Babette’s Feast: A Fable for Culinary France 202 Appendix A. Bibliography—Cookery Works by Date of Original Publication 218 Appendix B. Sample of Cookbooks—Bibliographie de la France, 1811–98 220 Appendix C. Research Notes 224 Notes 230 Bibliography 254 Index 268 Not A History Of French Cuisine, 'accounting For Taste' Focuses Instead On The People, Places And Institutions That Have Made This Cuisine What It Is Today: A Privileged Vehicle For National Identity, A Model Of Cultural Ascendancy, And A Pivotal Site Where Practice And Performance Intersect. Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 239-252) And Index. Chronicles the tasty culinary accidents that led to the creation of French cuisine, focusing on people, places, and institutions that connect the cuisine to France, and drawing on sources such as interviews with chefs and novels of Balzac. That we are what we eat explains why so many of us expend so much effort to control what we do-and do not-eat.