How food has evolved through haute cuisine, classic cuisine, nouvelle cuisine, and fusion cuisine; with descriptions of the chefs who created each movement.
Like any other subject, the profession of cooking cannot be understood without first understanding the history of it. Many people don’t realize that we have passed through, and continue through, different “eras” of eating. The way that we eat is often in response to what is happening around us. When the population, as a whole, is optimistic and when it seems unlikely that our nation’s wealth will ever falter, the number of courses to the average meal multiplies. When we are on the cusp of war, and the future seems undecided and unpredictable, we reach for “comfort food”. When we are in the middle of a depression, we learn to make flourless cake. If we want to guess where the culinary world is headed next, we have to first look back, and then we must look around us. What is it that we are so hungry for now?
Guilds Had Monopoly on Specialty Food Items
In 18th century France, different foods were prepared by individual guilds in charge of manufacturing goods for purchase. Guilds were able to consistently manufacture and price food items for sale. Unfortunately, consistency often comes at a price. Each guild, in essence, had a monopoly on their specialty food items. The first restaurant opened in France in 1765 claimed sheep feet in white sauce as its specialty. This restaurant was closed when a guild claimed that the restaurant owner had infringed upon their rights of exclusivity. The restaurant’s owner, Monsieur Boulanger, won the suit and reopened his restaurant. This restaurant was the first establishment to prepare and serve foods on the same premises, and to cater to customers who came to an establishment simply to eat.
In the 1800s haute cuisine began to be served to the masses. Antonin Careme (known as the “chef of kings and the king of chefs”) introduced meals consisting of dozens of elaborate courses to the French upper class. These meals were extensively planned, with detailed attention given to presentation and garnishment. Careme created desserts based on elaborate architectural design, made garnishment and plate presentation an art form, standardized the use of roux as a thickener, devised an elaborate system for classifying sauces, and designed numerous kitchen tools and equipment. Careme wrote and illustrated many important books, and was the first person to establish recipes in writing.
The Epicurean
Charles Ranhofer, the chef of the first American restaurant, Delmonico’s in New York City, published The Epicurean in 1893. This book contained more than 3500 recipes, and much of the advice is still followed today – that sauces and meats shouldn’t be repeated in the same menu, that courses should follow an organized schedule, and that high quality seasonal foods should be the focus of the meal. Ranhofer invented baked Alaska and lobster Newburg, and introduced the avocado to the New York population.
In 1898, the dining room of the Savoy Hotel in London was opened under the direction of Cesar Ritz and Auguste Escoffier. Escoffier was the father of classic cuisine, a simpler and more streamlined take on haute cuisine. For example, haute cuisine classified various sauces in an elaborate system, and Escoffier reduced this system to the five basic “mother sauces”. Escoffier authored Le Guide culinaire in 1903, a collection of more than 5000 recipes and garnishes. Escoffier also organized the “kitchen brigade” system, which was, basically, a line and staff diagram for the kitchen. .
By the mid 1900s, gone were the rich and complicated dishes of haute cuisine. In their place was a new food movement based around lighter and simpler foods. Fernand Point was the master of this movement. Owner of the Restaurant de la Pyramide, Point was a man who turned away from elaborate garnishes and believed that each dish should be built around one dominant ingredient or flavor. Point believed that a true chef modified existing knowledge of cookery to form his own methods and philosophies. Fernand Point was the instructor of the chefs who brought nouvelle cuisine to great popularity in the 1970s. These chefs brought healthful eating to the forefront.
Nouvelle Cuisine
Nouvelle cuisine was eventually modified and Americanized to focus on seasonal and locally grown produce prepared in a simple manner. Chez Panisse, opened in Berkeley, California in 1971 under Alice Walker, was considered the epitome of this movement. As Water’s philosophy spread across he nation, farmers and chefs began to work together. Suppliers began to manufacture food in the United States that had previously been imported from other countries.
By the mid-1980s, fusion cuisine had taken a hold of the United States. Ingredients and preparation methods associated with various ethnicities and regions of the world were combined. Critics of the fusion movement feel that it cannot properly be referred to as a “cuisine”, because there are no specific principles to be followed. On the contrary, fusion cuisine is based on the idea of freedom to create food without boundaries of either geography or methodology.
I said that we must look back, and then we must look around us, to guess where we are headed next. Some people believe that history is a pendulum. These people would believe that we have gone as far as we can with simple food and naked flavor. People who prescribe to this system of thought undoubtedly believe that we will now move seemingly backwards, and that we will re-embrace a complicated system of classifying, preparing, and presenting food. Others believe that we will only become more focused on simplifying our food as much as possible, with the emphasis always being on nutritional quality and ecological sustainability. Are these our only two choices, then - to either move backwards or to remain static? Fortunately, the answer is a forceful “no”. We cannot ever underestimate the creativity of the food industry. Somehow the culinary world seems to intuitively know what we want before we know ourselves. It’s fun to guess what they’ll decide on, though, and knowing the history of food, and the great minds that changed this history, only helps us in this respect.
