AnnMary's stove
Cooking has evolved a lot since man felt the need to eat. It is often thought that gastronomy is only related to the culinary art and the cutlery around the table, but the cuisine of the XXI century goes beyond the concepts mentioned and should be considered an interdisciplinary activity that encompasses and studies various cultural components and their environment. In such a way that gastronomy is not reduced to a sum of preparation techniques, but to a set of components of a whole service, where there is an underworld of strings that must be played with great professionalism.
I invite you to take a journey with me into the past, specifically through the Middle Ages and early modern times, stages in which I consider that they were the fuse lit to understand the metamorphosis of what is now western gastronomy and highlight key moments that will give the guidelines for the new gastronomic concept of our times.
Special mention should be made of the historical gastronomic events that took place at the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Modern Era, specifically in the 14th and beginning of the 20th centuries, which is when the ancestral heritages were consolidated and the foundations were laid for what are today the foundations of national and regional cuisines.
Considering that this stage is the main artery of the culinary art of our Era, I will name below some of the most relevant contributions and I invite you to a three-course tasting menu: starter, main course and dessert, of some passages of the period that caught my attention because I consider them the yesterday of the gastronomic today.
But before we get down to business, let's place ourselves in the medieval gastronomic environment, and remember that...
The Middle Ages, known as the period of obscurantism, an unproductive time in the history of ideas due to the iron censorship of the church, the advances were very scarce for what corresponds to a period of 1,000 years, however, in the art of cooking, this did not happen. There was a great knowledge of nature and the goodness of plants, the houses of the fiefs and monasteries were always surrounded by a garden where they grew a variety of vegetables and vegetables with which they made all kinds of products such as wines, hams, cheeses, etc.. And I ask you, what is the current trend in today's restaurant sector? Having your own garden, fresh products without chemicals and working with seasonal products, are the basis of the elaborations of most of the restaurants that have achieved their Michelin star, it is precisely this principle among others, working with the goodness of nature, which has led them to obtain it.
The Middle Ages was the time of the great aristocracies, of luxuries, of unforgettable banquets, marking great social differences. Those who had power and money showed it by consuming the finest delicacies and offering elaborate and abundant banquets. Set in this scenario, we are ready to savor the first part of our tasting menu...
As a cold starter of our menu to be tasted, I present Francoise Vatel (1631-1667), master of ceremonies of Louis XIV, who became famous for having invented the “chantilly cream”; it is said that he laid the foundations of a refined gastronomic protocol, at the height of the court. To achieve this, he chose the menus, organized the production and supervised the preparation of the orders; he also decided on the layout of the tables and the rooms. He was attentive to the smallest detail, always thinking of pleasing his guests. Vatel was a great host and an innovator in the art of entertaining. You are not familiar with his actions.
In the Renaissance, the art of the table is especially felt, in the variety and use of cutlery, plates and glasses multiplied (the art of blown glass and the famous factories on the island of Murano). The table service evolved, highlighting the French style, which knew its greatest refinement at the court of Versailles. It consists of serving the food at the same time: first service, hors d'oeuvres; second service, soups and medium entrees; and the third service, the roast and its garnishes, which allows eating according to the diner's taste. Today is our famous way of serving a complete buffet.
I could not fail to mention that great importance was also given to good manners, for which a manual was drawn up dictating the rules to be followed and which would become prescriptions in the service of social distinction and in the process of civilization.
The French Revolution was the direct cause of the birth and proliferation of restaurants. Of course, the cooks in the service of the aristocratic houses found themselves unemployed from one day to the next, some left the country, others went to the service of the bourgeoisie and some opened their own food businesses.
“Venite ad me ommes qui stomacho laboratis ego restaurabo vos”, was the legend written by Monsieur Boulanger on the window of his establishment in 1765. The prices were aimed at the bourgeoisie, the new emerging class, in order to become an exclusive place, not for the people. It is from this offer of restoration that the word restaurant comes from, which in French means restaurant, which internationalized very quickly and with this new model of service demanded that the previously so used French style service was changed for one more adequate to the needs and demands of the clientele of the restaurants, the Russian and American style. In the first case, the food is cut in the kitchen and placed on hot platters from where it is served to the diner's plate at the table, and in the second case, the food is served directly from the kitchen to the diner. From that time until today, the creation of the restaurant concept has not stopped, changing only the themes of the same and adapting them to the era of knowledge and demands of the same.
As we move forward with our story, our interest in knowing the gastronomic yesterday of today, also advances, but we will have to make a break in our menu, due to formats, we will take it up again in the next sagas, if you allow me, of course. Stories like the ones I have shared with you, there is plenty of time. We will meet again very soon, and get ready for the main course and dessert. This was just an appetizer.
«Bon appétit.
Bibliographic references
Mojica, José (n.d) Historia de la cocina desde la prehistoria hasta Auguste Escoffier. Retrieved https://www.historiacocina.com/es/historia-de-la-gastronomia-2
Neirinck, E. and Poulain J.P., (2001). History of Cuisine and Cooks. Culinary techniques and practices in France, from the Middle Ages to the present day, Editorial Zendrera Zariquiey, Barcelona, Spain.
Neirink, E. & Poilain, JP (2020) History of cooking and cooks. Retrieved from https://www.librosgastronomia.com/index.php/2020/03/08/historia-de-la-cocina-y-de-los-cocineros-neirinck-y-poilain/ (May, 2020)
