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French Cuisine

France has always been closely associated with food. Food is a serious subject, with more than 15 national magazines devoted to it.

Change of diet: WWI ended the gourmet golden age of the 19th-century bringing a sense of measure and even in some cases frugality. With the spread of motoring a new accent was put on regional cuisine, echoed by the famous Guide Michelin, and when in 1936 annual paid holidays became law, restaurants were at last democratized. The gastronomic variety of the provinces was soon discovered with a vengeance by crowds of foreign tourists armed, as always, with the little red book. Culinary dynasties in family inns scattered throughout France, from the Bocuse at Collognes to the Daguin at Auch, soon gained national and international status.

Culinary Revolution: A new consciousness of ecology, macrobiotics and dietary considerations influenced the cuisine of the 1960s-70s, culminating in Michel Guérard's famous cuisine minceur .Its emphasis on balanced nutrition and adventurous experiments created the subversive nouvelle cuisine . A new generation of chefs looked beyond France for inspiration. Partly due to apprentice Japanese chefs in Paris, aesthetic presentation became paramount and classic table service vanished.However, by the late 1980s the tide was turning. Too many unworthy chefs jumped on the two-carrot nouvelle cuisine bandwagon, leaving customers unsatisfied and hungry. As a result, wholesome, old-fashioned bourgeois cooking is back in fashion. Yet Guérard's techniques, applied to traditional recipies, now inspired a lighter cuisine which satisfies both sophisticated and hungry appetites.

Great chefs:

Antoine Beauvilliers, Paul Bocuse, August Escoffier, Michel Guérard, Joël Robuchon, Guy Savoy, Taillevent, François Vatel...

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