One of the most complete histories of wine in France was written in the eighteenth century, a long chapter within Le Grand d'Aussy's masterwork on French food and wine (hopefully but misleadingly titled "History of the private life of the French from the origin of the nation until our days"). Le Grand starts with the Gauls, Greeks and Romans and the introduction of wine into France before discussing its development over the centuries and the appearance of the retail trade - merchants, taverns, inns - where wine could first be bought "by the pot." Starting with the first earthen vessels and...

Le Grand d'Aussy ends his three-volume history of French food with these exuberant chapters, bristling with colorful details, about how fine dining in France grew more formal and more ambitious, remaining extravagant (by today's standards) even after the sometimes stunning, sometimes laughable excesses of the Middle Ages were reigned in and more sophisticated service and entertainment replaced a host of mechanical devices, pantomimes, and outright exotica. Le Grand draws on a classic cookbook and several forgotten memoirs to bring a wealth of details on menus, table decoration, royal...

Is bacon fat meat? Chicken? Cheese? Eggs? All of these have been considered, at different times, meat or meatless foods by the Catholic Church. The eighteenth century historian Le Grand d'Aussy included several long passages on the complex history of Catholic fasting in France in his master work on the history of French food. Taken together, they explore the often surprising twists and turns this practice took from the time of the Franks to his own. Throughout the Old Regime, the distinction between meat and fast-day foods was central to French dining; the exact definitions, however, of what...

Overview Green eggs were popular once, and long before Dr. Seuss, in France. Poached eggs were served with orange juice and spices. Easter eggs inspired not egg hunts, but loud, raucous processions. Cheese might be eaten with sugar and even cinnamon. Brie and Parmesan cheese were popular long before modern times. Butter could be preserved with salt, but also by being melted and put in earthenware jars. On fast days, when meat was forbidden, sometimes eggs were allowed, in other periods they were not; the same thing was true of milk and cheese. These facts are all found in the brief but...

Overview The Gauls sat on hay (or maybe dog skins) to eat; the Romans lay on couches; the Franks preferred benches and stools. For a long time, lighting came from candles and torches. Dishes could be made of metal, marble, glass, porcelain, earthenware, and other materials. Silver and gold were used not only for platters but sometimes even for tables. The eighteenth century writer Le Grand d'Aussy takes a sweeping look at the furniture and furnishings used for meals over hundreds of years in France. In the process, he highlights some key developments in French industry: the introduction of...

Coffee, tea and chocolate were all still newcomers to France when the eighteenth century historian Le Grand d'Aussy wrote his history of French food and drink. He includes his look at what was then still their recent history in a section on non-alcoholic drinks. But first he looks at the cold ones, notably lemonade, also a relative newcomer, yet already popular enough that those who sold coffee, flavored drinks and even ice cream were known as *limonadiers* - lemonade-vendors. Some of the drinks they sold - rossolis, populo, cedar sours, vinegar syrups - have long been forgotten, while others...

Le Grand d'Aussy traces French bread history from the first Tameliers and Fourniers to the Boulangers whose bread evolved from a simple boule to the pains mollet of the seventeenth century and the long breads which already began to replace round breads in the eighteenth century. Along the way he looks at the different types of bread, typically made from wheat, and also the other grains and even other products which were used to make bread. He then presents the history of French pastry, which began, essentially, as meat pies and other foods cooked in pastry before evolving into a dizzying...